'Importance of Being Ernest'- Paper 104
- 1. 1 By Gopi Dervaliya ❏ Themes of "Importance of Being Earnest":
- 2. ● Name : Gopi Dervaliya ● Roll no.09 ● Enrollment no. 4069206420220009 ● Sem : 1 ● Paper Name : Literature of the Victorians ● Paper no. : 104 ● Paper Code : 22395 ● Submitted to : S. B. Gardi Department of English ● Email : gopidervaliya02@gmail.com Personal Information
- 3. 3 ● Oscar Wilde was a 19th cent dramatist, author and Poet. ● He was born on Dublin, Ireland on October 16,1854. ● Wilde's first successful play, ‘Lady Windermere's Fan’, was produced in 1892. ● The following year he wrote ‘Salome’ and ‘The Woman of No Importance.’ ❏About the Author :
- 4. 4 ● These, in turn, were succeeded by ‘An Ideal Husband’ and ‘The Importance Of Being Earnest’ both produced early in 1895. ● ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ is a comedic play written by Oscar Wilde. It tells the story of Jack Worthing. He is the play's protagonist.
- 5. Themes Satire on the upper Classes The triviality of Marriage Victorian Manners Importance of Wealth Importance Of Indentity
- 6. 6 ❏ Satire on the upper Classes: ● The dramatist targeted Upper Victorian Class the most. ● He has presented a society, which has lost its values. ● Three major characters of this play belong to the upper middle class. ● Lady Bracknell, Algernon, and Gwendoline are the remaining characters. ● She focuses on personal benefits. ● Apparently, she is a sober and respectable lady but deep down the audience knows that she is foolish, arrogant and
- 7. 7 ❏ The triviality of Marriage: ● From the very beginning of the play, we realize that marriage has no importance in the society, which has been presented by the dramatist. ● Lady Bracknell has a list of wealthy persons and she is going to interview them one by one in order to choose a life partner for Gwendoline. ● This act of Lady Bracknell shows that marriage is just a contract instead of a serious love relationship. ● Likewise, Gwendoline and Cecily want to marry a person whose name is "Ernest".
- 8. 8 ● For them, the name "Ernest" is enough to spend a whole life instead of love. ● Algernon and Jack want to live bachelor life. They do not support marriage. ● Oscar Wilde instead of focusing on the importance of marriage has focused on its unimportance in order to show the thinking of society. ● Wilde's most concrete critique in the play is of the manipulative desires revolving around marriage.
- 9. 9 ● Lady Bracknell presents the usual old ladies of the upper class. Algernon presents young bachelors. Gwendoline and Cecily are representatives of young ladies. ● In that society: old ladies want money; young men want to remain bachelors and want to enjoy life without doing any work; Gwendoline and Cicely are fashion conscious ladies. ● This play does not depict both sides of Victorian society; rather, it shows us only the negative side. Perhaps the dramatist wants to say that positivity does not exist at all. ❏ Victorian Manners:
- 10. 10 ● Wealth, indeed, has its own importance. Lady Bracknell wants a wealthy son-in-law. ● In the same way, Algernon wants money to survive. Jack is living a prosperous life because he has wealth. ● He has created an imaginary person "Earnest" and does not care about earning money. ● Lady Bracknell first rejects Jack but subsequently accepts him as husband of Gwendoline just after knowing that he is in possession of a good fortune. ● Thereby, in one way or the other, it is shown that wealth has much importance in one's life. ❏ Importance of Wealth:
- 11. 11 ❏ Entertainment : ● In this movie male protagonist Akhil has no money so female protagonist Sakshi's father refuses to marry him but when Akhil comes to know that Pannalal Johari is his father, who is a billionaire in Bangkok and after his death Akhil becomes the owner of all his properties. ● Seeing this, Sakshi's father arranges the marriage of both of them.
- 12. 12 ● Gwendolen's mother disapproves of her engagement to Jack because of his unknown origins. ● Discovering that Jack was discovered in a handbag in a cloakroom when he was a baby, she insists that her daughter will not ''marry a parcel,'' insisting that Jack must discover who his relatives are before he can marry Gwendolen. ● This problem is resolved when Lady Bracknell recognizes Miss Prism, as the maid who lost her sister's baby. Because it is revealed that his first name has in fact been Ernest.(Name & Identity in The Importance of Being Earnest: Theme & Quotes) ❏ Importance of Identity :
- 13. 13 ❏ Conclusion : ● To conclude, Oscar Wilde has focused on reality. He has presented these themes in "The Importance of Being Earnest because he wanted to reform his society. ● Oscar Wilde wants them to do something good for the people. He wants morality in society. ● Algernon and Jack are living double lives.Apparently, they are pious but in reality, they are wicked.
- 14. 14 ❏ Work Cited : ● Grinstein, Alexander. “OSCAR WILDE.” American Imago, vol. 37, no. 2, 1980, pp. 125–79. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26303564. Accessed 17 Oct. 2022. ● Name & Identity in The Importance of Being Earnest: Theme & Quotes." Study.com, 6 October 2017, study.com/academy/lesson/name-identity-in-the- importance-of-being-earnest-theme-quotes.html ● Wayne, Derek. Nolan, Rachel ed. "The Importance of Being Earnest Themes". GradeSaver, 27 April 2006 Web. 17 October 2022.