Born :16 October 1854
Died : 30 November 1900
He was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and the circumstances of his criminal conviction for gross indecency for consensual homosexual acts in "one of the first celebrity trials" imprisonment, and early death from meningitis at age 46.
About play :
Oscar Wilde had written during the Victorian time which was an era that laid much emphasis on moral values. It can be contended that The Importance of Being Earnest is in essence a play on morality since the major argument surfacing after its reading relates to honesty as being the best policy.
Importance of Being Earnest :
Importance of being earnest is a very famous play by Oscar Wilde, a comedy for primer readers. St. James theatre in London witnessed the first performance of the story. The drama is a farcical comedy in which the hero maintains fictitious personae. There are short and long essays written to help you in studies, exams, speeches and presentations. I hope you find them useful.
About the title :
'A serious comedy for trivial people' :
Why a Comedy ??
A major source of humour in the play is the confused source of values as displayed by the characters. In this regard, Wilde had commented about the play as being
“exquisitely trivial, a delicate bubble of fancy, and it has its philosophy that we should treat all the trivial things of life seriously, and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality,"
Wilde had impressed upon his actors to speak out their words very seriously so that the audience did not think that they were joking. Although in essence the play is a comedy that relates to protocol, it has openly used ridiculous means to minimize its significance. Fortunately the audience is ever willing to ignore the inconsistency and indiscretions in the play.
Within the structure of the play one can feel the allusions of homosexuality implied in the male characters. It is known that while he was writing this play, Wilde was leading a twin life of a married man as also of a homosexual.
The original audiences of the play were utterly shocked at the reference of such a culture in the play and unfortunately for Wilde, the success of the play was not carried too further as his well known trial began after the opening night of the play and his career began to get loose.
A trivial comedy for serious people -
Oscar Wilde accepts Victorian values however he seeks to mock and trivialise the late Victorian society in his play- The Importance of Being Earnest. He described the play as exquisitely trivial, and therefore gave it the subtitle- "A trivial comedy for serious people". His intentions were to make people think more deeply and make them more aware of the serious things in life, which should be treated with sincerity, and the trivial things with seriousness. He succeeds in mocking Victorian life by trivialising certain parodies such as marriage, society, and aristocracy, and much more, by the use of witty paradoxes and epigrams.
Wilde achieves to produce a pun out of the title, due to the mistaken identity of a character in the play Jack Worthing, and the 'earnest' behaviour of Victorian characters. The play pivots around the word 'earnest', because both women want to marry someone of the name 'Ernest', because it inspires 'absolute confidence', 'honesty' and 'responsibility'.
Gwendolen: '...there is very little music in the name Jack. The only safe name is Ernest'. However Jack and Algernon lie about their names and so are not being 'earnest', although the result is that they are both telling the truth, without being aware of it. This is shown when Jack tells Lady Bracknell that he has realised for the first time in his life-
' The vital Importance of being Earnest.'
Wilde mocks and explores how the people of Victorian society have double identities- the first identity is overly sincere and polite, however their other identity is manipulative and cruel. In the play, Wilde uses 'Bunburying' as away to expose what it means to have two identities in Victorian society. This occurs in Algernon and Jacks scenes of 'Bunburying'.
'What you really are is a Bunburyist...You have invented a very useful younger brother called 'Ernest' to allow you to come up to town as often as you like.'
Wilde mocks how confused Victorian values of honesty and responsibility were, due to the fact that they were constantly alternating between
truths, lies and earnestness, by using their alter egos whenever it was convenient for them.
Short summary of play:
Jack Worthing is the play’s protagonist. From years he has been pretending to have an irresponsible brother named Ernest who leads a scandalous life.
The story’s twist is his brother’s presence, which is just an alibi for himself to disappear for days and does as likes. Ernest is the name, Jack goes by the name Ernest in London and behaves the same way as he disapproves of his imaginary brother. The story further revolves around Jack’s friend Algernon and Gwendolen Fairfax, who is Jacks lover. Upon confrontation by his friend Algernon Jack decides to finish the character of Ernest forever. Fate had different plans for him.
His proposal to his love met with a strange request that Gwendolen will marry only Ernest and nobody else. Algernon also falls in love with Cecily Cardew while pretending to be Ernest. Another act of the play shows the meeting between both the ladies who are in love with Ernest. In the play’s climax, they all realise the truth behind Ernest’s identity and that their lovers were ready to change their names to Ernest to win their lady’s love. Gwendolen aunt is not in favour of the match between Jack and Gwendolen.
The mystery behind the birth of Jack comes to light. She clears the air about Jacks birth by telling everybody about taking Lady Bracknell‘s sister’s baby with her by mistake. Jack comes to know that he is a brother to an unprincipled younger one. His christened name was Earnest. A lie he told everyone was the truth of his life. Let us see the central theme of the story
2) In the play we saw many female characters and they all have their own identities and stutus of life but l like the character of miss Prism because it's only character who is to much mysterious in play so I want to discuss about her,
Miss Prism :
The Governess :
We first meet Miss Prism in Act II of The Importance of Being Earnest. She is employed by Jack Worthing as a governess, a type of private teacher, to his ward Cecily Cardew.
You've probably heard of a governess before and have a pretty clear picture in your head of what they are like. Stern might be the adjective that comes to mind, or straight-laced. It would be wrong to say that all governesses are strict disciplinarians and morally incorruptible, but most fictional representations of them seem to want us to believe they are.
Miss Prism is no different. When she first appears, she is nagging Cecily to return to her studies. The fact that she is pushing Cecily to work on her German might be a coincidence, but Oscar Wilde wasn't one for coincidences. German, a language and culture with a reputation for sternness, implies a similar hardness in Miss Prism's character.
As the scene continues and the conversation turns to the unfortunate Mr. Ernest Worthing, Miss Prism's morality and stiffness become more apparent. ''I am not in favor of this modern mania for turning bad people into good people at a moment's notice. As a man sows so let him reap,'' she says. It's a phrase and judgment she will repeat several times throughout the play.
When Algernon, pretending to be Ernest, is presented with a large bill and turns to Jack for financial help, Miss Prism opposes Jack paying the debt. ''There can be little good in any young man who eats so much, and so often,'' she proclaims. She even goes as far as saying, ''this proposed incarceration might be most salutary. It is to be regretted that it is only for twenty days.'' Pretty harsh, don't you think?
This harsh personality is important. Miss Prism is the only major character with it. Unlike Jack, Algernon, Cecily, and Gwendolen, who are all quite whimsical in their approach to life, Miss Prism seems to have her head on straight. The audience can identify with her more easily because of this, and she creates a contrast to amplify the sentimentality and absurdity of the other characters.
From this introduction, it is easy to assume that Miss Prism is indeed one of those strict, morally incorruptible governesses. However, that façade cracks somewhat when Dr. Chasuble appears.
The Love-Sick Girl
For all of her bluster and stern judgment on Ernest Worthing's character, Miss Prism turns out to be just as sentimental and romantic as the rest of the cast. Her interactions with Dr. Chasuble reveal a different, slightly softer side of her personality.
In Act II, Miss Prism tries to uphold her strict educational standards when Dr. Chasuble enters but is soon swayed into neglecting her duties for a stroll with the man she's in love with. She does leave her pupil with instructions to study political economy in her absence. In her instructions, we see that even this softer side of Miss Prism still has some iron in it. She says, in a somewhat allegorical way, ''The chapter on the fall of the Rupee you can omit… Even these metallic problems have their melodramatic side.''
And indeed, the metallic Miss Prism does have a melodramatic side that continues to surface just below her stern exterior. It's especially evident in her relationship with Dr. Chasuble, but when her involvement in Jack's original story is revealed in Act IV, we realize she's just as hopeless as the rest of the cast.
Miss Prism is also intellectual, but in a literary way. She is a creative writer and a parody of "a woman with a past." She clearly had dreams of becoming a sensational romantic novelist, but, alas, she must make a living, so she is instead the jailer of Cecily and the guardian of her education and virtue. She, like the minister, makes constant moral judgments. Her favorite line, even to dead Ernest, is "As a man sows, so shall he reap." Repeating this often allows Wilde to show how meaningless and clichéd religion and values have become. As an instrument of the aristocracy, Miss Prism educates Cecily to conform to the dry, meaningless intellectual pursuits designed to keep the status quo. But, like Chasuble, beneath her surface she has a hedonistic streak; often her language slips when she ventures outside her Victorian appearance. She persists in inviting Chasuble to discuss marriage, pursues him diligently, and falls into his arms at the end.
Miss Prism is an appropriate character to uncover Jack's true history because she also is not what she seems. Wilde uses her to show what happens when dreams cannot be pursued in a society of strict social structure and stringent moral guidelines. Both she and Chasuble with their lack of social opportunities become servants to the system, promoting its continuation.
3) Victorian tradition and social customs marriage and pursuit of love in particular character suitable is Mr. Worthing and Gwendolyn, Algernon and Cecily.
Marriage and love :
There are three pairs of lover in the paly importance of being earnest .They all are searching for love and perfect relationship destination .Thought they all reached to there way of marriage but they had to faces some obstacles .Those obstacles are not major but it makes the source of laughter and humor to the audience.
Marriage and its nature are a central theme in “The Importance of Being Earnest” . At the beginning of the play, everyone but Jack seems to treat marriage more like a business proposition.
Algernon at the beginning of the play even states that he sees engagement as very unromantic. He speaks of marriage as an end to the all the excitement love creates, leaving both the husband and wife bored and generally miserable. Later in the same act, Algernon and Aunt Augusta discuss a Lady Harbury who has become more beautiful and vibrant following the death of her husband. Already, the audience is given an idea of how many of the characters view marriage as a generally unpleasant fact of life rather than union between two people who are in love.
In the game of love that Wilde plays throughout The Importance of Being Earnest, Jack and Algernon, who strive for love, are pitted against the fickleness of the women they desire. Even though Wilde assigns stereotypical gender roles to each sex—Jack and Algernon are suave dandies, while Cecily and Gwendolen are vapid beauties—when it comes to marriage and love, he places women in a position of power because they are able to actively choose their mates and influence their partners’ behaviors. In the Victorian world women were rarely afforded this influence, as their male elders—fathers, brothers, uncles, etc.—had tight control over the men with whom they interacted, even dated. Yet Gwendolen and Cecily wield a great deal of power over their suitors. For instance, Jack and Algernon strive to christen themselves “Ernest” precisely because Gwendolen and Cecily threaten to withhold their affections from any man who does not hold this name. In doing so, they effectively compel Jack and Algernon to change their names.
Even though Gwendolen and Cecily’s engagements are restricted by a patriarchal system of cash, class, and character, it is important to note that Lady Bracknell, not Lord Bracknell, is the one who becomes master of matrimony, dictating who may marry whom. The general absence of male patriarchs points to the diminished presence of men in Wilde’s dramatic world, thereby highlighting women, like Gwendolen, Cecily, and Lady Bracknell in positions of power and prominence.
Oscar Wilde that engages themes such as marriage, class, social expectations, and the lifestyles of the English upper class. The play focuses on two men, Algernon and Jack, who are both leading double lives. Algernon and Jack are both members of England's upper class and are therefore under social pressure to behave themselves in public. In order to escape this pressure from time to time, each has created another identity in another community. Things become complicated when both Jack and Algernon fall in love; Jack with Algernon's cousin, Gwendolen; and Algernon with Jack's ward, Cecily. Gwendolen believes Jack is named Ernest, and Cecily believes Algernon is named Ernest. Predictably, hilarity ensues.
Marriage obviously plays a central role in The Importance of Being Earnest, since both Jack and Algernon are trying to marry their respective love interests. Over the course of the three acts, Wilde explores the idea of marriage in three broad ways: how it relates to love, how it is viewed among the upper classes, and how people choose their mates.
Satire in the Novel :
Satire, in the time and context of the novel The Importance of Being Earnest, refers to a comedic style in which the behaviors and beliefs of a particular social class are made fun of. In The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde pokes fun at the upper class by showing them to be fickle, dishonest and snobbish. Let's look at how he does this by considering the various aspects of the Victorian life that he ridicules.
Proper Social Conduct :
In the Victorian era, people were very focused on how one behaved in public. Both Algernon and Jack make up false identities in order to get away with some of their less than ideal behaviors. Calling cards and formal invites formed a part of everyday social life in those times, and we find mention of these in the play. Algernon even goes as far as to state that Jack's 'carelessness' in not sending him a dinner invitation when he wants to avoid dinner at Lady Bracknell's, is foolish and annoying.
The British at this time considered themselves vastly superior to the French (which is why several novels at the time had villainous French characters). The play pokes fun at the idea of French promiscuity when Jack refers to 'corrupt' French Dramas.
''I attribute it to the superior quality of the wine, sir. I have often observed that in married households the champagne is rarely of a first-rate brand.''
Algernon notes that this observation does not speak well of marriage. When Jack arrives, Algernon goes further in his critique of marriage. Jack explains to Algernon that he has come to town to propose to Algernon's cousin, Gwendolen. Algernon replies:
''I thought you had come up for pleasure..I call that business.''
Algernon goes on from there to argue that flirting and courtship is romantic, but marriage is not. This theme continues throughout the play, even as the characters move closer and closer to their own marriages. The point appears to be that romance leads inexorably to marriage, even if all are aware that it might not be sustained there.
The Victorian Era :
Named after Queen Victoria of England, who reigned from 1837 to 1901, the context in which Oscar Wilde was writing was characterized by Victorian values and society, which saw increased wealth, political stability and strict cultural norms. The rules of conduct that developed during this time had a strong influence on one's social standing, motivating people to behave in a socially acceptable way in public.
Women were seen as weaker, but more nurturing than men, and were therefore expected to run the household. Men were seen as stronger and more rational, and they were therefore considered better suited to the world of business and politics. Within each of these realms, a strict set of rules dictated how both sexes were expected to behave in order to be considered moral.
Class-division was also particularly apparent during this time. With the increase in industry, many middle-class families were starting to move into higher society. In order to do so, the need to conform to the expectations of this society became even more pronounced. In sharp contrast, people from the lower classes were viewed as 'deservingly poor' and were treated badly based on the perspective that their poverty was the result of improper conduct.
Conclusion :
The significance of the last line in the play: “On the contrary, Aunt Augusta, I’ve now realized for the first time in my life the vital Importance of Being Earnest.”
In the last line of the play Wilde attempts to tie back the whole play together. From this line we can tell that Jack has been telling the truth throughout the play and his name is Ernest and he does have a brother, Algernon. This last line also proves Jack’s “earnestness”. If it was revealed that Jack’s lies throughout the play have truly been lies than he wouldn’t have been in this position at the end of the play. But the fact that his father’s name luckily was Ernest, Jack claims himself to be earnest because his lies were actually the truth.
Through this final line Jack also successfully emphasizes on the importance of the name Earnest. It emphasizes how he also believes with Cecily and Gwendolen’s statements that a man named Ernest is the only man worth marrying. Earlier in the play both Gwendolen and Cecily state to Jack and Algernon respectively that the name Ernest is the ideal man’s name and they are both overjoyed that their to-be-husbands name is Ernest. This also reminds me of Lady Bracknell’s quotes, “We all live in an age of surfaces.” This is because taking the interpretation of the importance of the name Ernest, it shows ho even Jack only believes in the outer (name) to be shown or projected to society for a good position in society. The importance of the name does not really hold a valid significance for one’s personality or ones inner depth.
Words count : 3000
References : https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/earnest/themes/
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