Re-Read the Extracts from the Entry of Lady Bracknell and Gwendolyn. How Does Oscar Wilde Make Lady Bracknell’s Entrance Such a Memorable Moment in the Play?

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Oscar Wilde creates Lady Bracknell to be a highly comedic and traditional Victorian woman. He does this by giving her distinct characteristics and attributes that distinguish her from the other characters in the play. At first she enters the room and straight away she takes over the situation and becomes centre of attention. When Lady Bracknell says ‘I hope you have been behaving well’, Jack replies ‘Yes, I am feeling very well. After Jack says this Lady Bracknell is quick to point out that the question she asked received a completely different answer which shows that she may be quite bossy as well as being very dominant most of the people she knows. Once again her bossiness is portrayed when she says ‘Now I’ll have a cup of tea and one of those cucumber sandwiches you promised me’, this quote shows her dominance once again in deciding what she wants to do even at another person’s house which may be seen as very rude or discourteous. Her dominance and importance may also be shown through her name which is considerable length whereas the others have short names i.e. Algy or Jack. She also has complete control over Gwendolen at all times, ‘Gwendolen, you will accompany me’ this is a very definitive statement to which Gwendolen replies ‘certainly mamma’. This shows that Gwendolen may be afraid to say no to Lady Bracknell. In the presence of Aunt Augusta we also get the impression that Algernon is always trying to impress her and show her that he is dominant over Lane. When Lane says that there were no cucumbers on the market Algernon said to Aunt Augusta how upset he was that there were no cucumber sandwiches for Aunt Augusta to eat. Another point to add about this is how over the top they go about this which in a way symbolises upper classes back then, they did not have much worrying subjects to talk about. Oscar Wilde again shows Aunt Augustas dominance because

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