The Importance of Being Earnest as Timeless Social and Political Satire [For All Generations] The Importance of Being Earnest was written in 1896 by famous playwright, Oscar Wilde, and is a timeless masterpiece that transcends time because it has satirical elements that target social and political issues that are still invariably controversial in today’s society. The play consistently parodies issues such as the relationship between romance and marriage and one’s socioeconomic status and marriage. In the traditional sense, romance and marriage probably should fall hand-in-hand, and though one’s socioeconomic status probably should not be the decided factor of a marriage, it is the play’s mission to satirically suggest otherwise. While romance and marriage should inherently fall hand-in-hand, looming faithfully overhead is the idea that romance suddenly disappears shortly after the wedding. Perhaps the inevitable experience of coming to terms with the thought of living together forever procures an uneasy feeling and puts an impression on newlyweds that marriage turns into a series of routines and monotony.
The play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde is full of irony. John (Jack) Worthing and Algernon (Algy) Moncrieff, the protagonists in the play, get themselves into a complex situation called Bunburyism. Jack and Algy pretend to be someone that they are not to escape their daily lives. They are dishonest to the women they admire and ultimately the truth is uncovered. Irony is first observed when Algernon (Algy) Moncrieff accuses the protagonist, John Worthing, of being a “bunburyist” (Act I).
They bring in a lot of content which fits into to comedy criteria as well as enable the plot to develop fully. Firstly, the aspect of comedy ' servants and masters' is one where The Importance of Being Earnest fits perfectly as Lane and Merriman are both butlers of Jack and Algernon-the main characters of the play. They show the contrast between the lower and upper class in the Victorian Era which is a theme often found in comedic plays. Additionally, the relationship between Lane and Algernon could possibly represent the theme of youth and age-the generation gap. This is shown when Algernon asks Lane, " Is marriage so demoralising as that?"
Context is extremely relevant in ‘The Importance of being Earnest’ and ‘Master Harold and the Boys’, particularly when it comes to the audiences overall understanding of the play INTRO: Without first understanding the context of the texts ‘The Importance of being Earnest’ by Oscar Wilde and ‘Master Harold and the Boys’ by Athol Fugard, the satirical yet critical nature of both plays would be insubstantial and overlooked, washed under the dramatic irony, exaggerated characters and animated dialogue. The historical, social, cultural and economic context is crucial in understanding the overall concept of the plays, as they are both written as sophisticated parodies of the values within past societies. ‘The Importance of being Earnest’ satirizes Victorian values in the late 1800s, criticizing social construct, morality, superficiality and the vast economic disparities between upper and lower classes. Fugards’ ‘Master Harold and the Boys’ explores the 1950 Apartheid, as well as the effect segregation had on social construct, the economy, education and close personal relationships. PARAGRAPH 1: Oscar Wildes’ ‘The Importance if being Earnest’ makes several references to contemporary historical events throughout the play, such as the threat of a revolution similar to the French Revolution.
Shakespeare used “smoke raised” which suggests that although his relationship has the associations with “smoke” and “fumes”, he still wants it to be “raised” which shows his Petrarchan roots and the fact he is still a courtly lover. In this line of the play, Romeo also presents the idea that courtly love is not the only component that makes an arranged marriage fail. This is shown by saying “with” in the middle of the line. There are two things represented in the line: “smoke raised” and “the fume of sighs”; Romeo shows that courtly love is “smoke” created by the population. It is indicating that the courtly lovers among the people in the Elizabethan era were “sighing” out the courtly love “fumes” into the atmosphere making the “smoke rise”.
The presentation of society and social class are significant in Oscar Wilde's 'The Importance of Being Earnest', written in 1895, and George Bernard Shaw's 'Pygmalion', written in 1912. Each author uses a variety of techniques to explore the extent in which characters and events portray society and the social class in the era of which they are written. Morality in society is a significant aspect in which both Wilde and Shaw present through characterisations.Wilde uses Algernon’s character to make witty comments such as “more than half a modern culture depends on what one shouldn’t read”. This suggests the restrictions and assumptions which create a strict moral code existing in Victorian society; furthermore, this use of epigram allows Wilde to emphasize the mockery towards social morality. This view is supported by David Parker, who establishes the play as “Restoration Comedy”, implying Wilde does not deal with the problems of society in an orthodox manner as most plays do but
AP English Literature 4 April 2013 Victorian Era Satirization in The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde creates a light, yet well constructed, piece of timeless literature through The Importance of Being Earnest with strong characters and themes that satirize the Victorian era and its views. Aspects of Victorian society that are expressed very clearly throughout the text include society’s pride in status and arranged marriage, the importance of manners, and how people could find themselves stuck inside their own world of upper class and their mind. Wilde took these themes and brought them to extremes in hopes of showing the absurdity that he believed was behind the values of the time period through his characters and how they interact with one another with regard to Victorian values. Being of high class himself, Wilde was able to identify and understand the different variables of upper class society well and express them through his writing. Marriage, during this time period, was arranged by the authorities of the household and chosen to push someone higher up on the social ladder.
Time is of the essence: break down of “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell The poem, “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell, is considered a carpe diem (meaning seize the day) kind of poem. The author really gets into the character of a man trying in vain to convince a young lady to engage in a sexual relationship with him. His motivation appears to be animal like desire rather than true love. The man in the poem is a very passionate guy.. The persuasion used in this poem is very aggressive with clear intentions.
Although being earnest is supposed to be the basis of social interaction, it is more aligned with deception by putting up a front in order for people to like you. In The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, he explores the themes of marriage, social status and class, and courtship. By doing this, he shows how the characters mislead each other while trying to make a good impression by implying they have both manners and class. They do this with a desire to keep up appearances so everyone will accept them. The Importance of Being Earnest shows the behavioral differences between the upper and lower class.
He expressed his feelings, emotions, will and concept through the scarlet letter” A”, some natural scenery, and some of the major characters. The use of symbolism gives romantic thoughts and great subjective ideals to readers. This paper researches the symbolism in the novel from the following aspects: the changing symbolic meaning of the scarlet letter “A”, the colors, prison, the forest, the names of the major characters described in the novel to make the symbolism clear to the reader. Key words: The Scarlet Letter, symbolism, sin 摘要 霍桑创作象征主义小说的独特天赋触及人类的道德的最深根源，其代表作是《红字》。 它也是最能代表其思想和艺术风格的杰出作品，被视为美国第一部象征主义小说。它是少数卓有建树的作品之一，因为它涉及疏远，罪恶，惩罚及内疚，或是那种使一代一代人们所感受的感情。在《红字》中那个牵动着读者内心的鲜红字母“A”贯穿全篇，并被作家赋予了丰富的象征涵义。霍桑通过鲜红的字母“A”，通过大自然中的一些景象，表达出了自己的某些感觉、情思、意志和观念，使作品充满了丰富的浪漫主义想象和强烈的主观色彩。本文主要从以下几方面研究《红字》中的象征主义: 红色字母A、颜色、监狱、森林的象征意义在文中做出阐述。 关键词: 红字 象征意义 罪恶 Ⅰ Introduction Nathaniel Hawthorne is considered to be the first greatest American fiction writer and his greatest symbolic contribution is The Scarlet Letter, which is regarded as the first symbolic novel in the American literature. In the novel, each word, image, and event works toward a single effect.