The Importance of Being Earnest Free Essays

TOPIC : THE ACT OF BUNBURYING IS THE CENTRAL TO THE THEME OF THE PLAY. DISCUSS WHY WITH REFERENCE TO QUOTES WITHIN THE TEXT AND THE ERA THE PLAY WAS WRITTEN IN. BUNBURYING- A WORLD OF CHIMERA :- Bunburying was just a way for Jack to break-out of his social duties and responsibilities by giving an excuse to meet an imaginary person (Ernest) created by him itself. We will write a custom essay sample on The Importance of Being Earnest or any similar topic only for you Order Now The bunburying allows both Jack and Algernon to live an untruth, to give an impression assist the highest ethical standards, while be at fault without any such consequences. Even whenever Jack and Algernon are caught in their lives. They never went through any punishments. The situation never came off for them to kill there imaginary friend Ernest . This shows the Victorian societies real values. The Victorian values did not exhibit truthfulness, accountability and benevolence for the less privileged people. For instance Lady Bracknell:- Well, I must say, Algernon, that I think it is high time that Mr. Bunbury made up his mind whether he was going to live or to die.. In this Lady bracknell shows no sympathy for Mr. Bunbury and does not exhibit pity for him as he is less privileged then status. It is befitting that how cursory is Victorian values. BUNBARING AS A CENTRAL THEME :- Marriage:- It is of principle importance in the story both as a chief plot and also a topic of debate. The issue of marriage came for the first time when Algernon asks Lane† Is marriage so demoralizing as that ? â€Å"(Pg 7). They discuss the attributes of marriage and discuss whether marriage is a substance of â€Å"business† or â€Å"pleasure†. The Lady Bracknell talks about engagement and marriage . According to her engagement should come as a something amazing and as a surprise. Jacks proposal can be assumed and so it shows the conventions of Victorian ethics and responsibility and thus shows his status in society. Lane tells about his own marriage that it is a pleasant but then says due to misunderstandings it did not work out between him n his wife so it became an unpleasant experience for him. Algernon takes his views as slack. His views were like that till he met Cecily. Jack expresses remorse to Gwendolyn as he has always been saying truth. She accepts his apology and feels sure that jack is going to change which shows Gwendolyn’s doubtful thoughts about marriage and men The Dual Life:- Bunburing for Jack was just a way to escape for his duties and social-responsibilities. Similarly Algernon’s imagery friend Bunbury was to break away from the country. As he says â€Å"Nothing will induce me to part with Bunbury, and if you ever get married, which seems to me extremely problematic, you will be very glad to know Bunbury. A man who marries without knowing Bunbury has a very tedious time of it†. Page 41 act 1 Jack says this when he wishes to finish Ernest and suggests Algernon to finish Bunbury as now he is in love with Gwendolyn. He wants to be completely loyal and honest as now he is going to marry her. Algernon says it is the married man who needs bunbury the most to escape at times. Both have different views about marriage and both take bunbury as their life saver. Bunburing with Algernon:-It’s the cigarette case , when Jack goes and meets Algernon in a party and there Algernon tries to clear the doubt of a girl named Cecily . As the cigarette case that was missing from few days of Jack was with Algernon. Jack tells him to give it back to him as it is his. Algernon says it is not because it was given by Cecily to some called Uncle Jack. At that point Jack’s faking Ernest was caught . Algernon says that Jack is known as Ernest and has introduced him to everyone as Ernest. He also had a proof ,a visiting card naming Mr. Ernest Worthing. So Jack explains that thus his name is Jack in country and Ernest in the town. And the cigarette case was given to him in the country. ALGERNON:- You have always told me it was Ernest. I have introduced you to every one as Ernest. You answer to the name of Ernest. You look as if your name was Ernest. You are the most earnest-looking person I ever saw in my life. It is perfectly absurd your saying that your name isn’t Ernest. It’s on your cards. Here is one of them. [Taking it from case. ] ‘Mr. Ernest Worthing, B. 4, The Albany. ‘ I’ll keep this as a proof that your name is Ernest if ever you attempt to deny it to me, or to Gwendolyn, or to anyone else. [Puts the card in his pocket. ] JACK:- Well, my name is Ernest in town and Jack in the country, and the cigarette case was given to me in the country. Bunburing with Lady Bracknell:- When aunt Augusta asks Algernon to dine with her and Mary Farquhar. Algernon replies that he needs to drop out the plan of dining with her as he got a telegram saying his friend Bunbury is suffering from an illness and needs to see him again . ALGERNON TO AUNT AUGUSTA :- â€Å"It is a great bore, and, I need hardly say, a terrible disappointment to me, but the fact is I have just had a telegram to say that my poor friend Bunbury is very ill again. † (Pg 16 Act 1) Bunburing with Gwendolyn :- Jack expresses his feelings for Gwendolyn in the absence of Aunt Augusta. Gwendolyn replying to him says that understands the feelings of Jack and got to know about her love of her life when for the very first time Algernon told her about his friend Ernest (Jack). As Algernon introduced her to Jack as Ernest before. And continues that she always knew that she is destined to love a man named Ernest. GWENDOLYN :-â€Å" Yes, I am quite well aware of the fact. And I often wish that in public, at any rate, you had been more demonstrative. For me you have always had an irresistible fascination. Even before I met you I was far from indifferent to you. [JACK looks at her in amazement. We live, as I hope you know, Mr Worthing, in an age of ideals. The fact is constantly mentioned in the more expensive monthly magazines, and has reached the provincial pulpits, I am told; and my ideal has always been to love some one of the name of Ernest. There is something in that name that inspires absolute confidence. The moment Algernon first mentioned to me that he had a frien d called Ernest, I knew I was destined to love you†. (Pg 17 Act 1) Bunburing with Cecily :- Cecily lives in a fantasy and writes fictitious and imagery things in her diary about the romance of her and Algernon . She tells Algernon and shows him the ring that he gifted her. Cecily- â€Å"Worn out by your entire ignorance of my existence, I determined to end the matter one way or the other, and after a long struggle with myself I accepted you under this dear old tree here. The next day I bought this little ring in your name, and this is the little bangle with the true lover’s knot I promised you always to wear. † Algernon â€Å"Did I give you this? It’s very pretty, isn’t it? †page 41 act 2 Algernon pretends that he gave her that ring . NOTE: CITATION OF DIALOGUES UNDER â€Å" † PASTED FROM THE NOVEL :- http://www. online-literature. com/wilde/being_earnest/2/ How to cite The Importance of Being Earnest, Essay examples The Importance of Being Earnest Free Essays The Importance of Being Earnest Social class and public reputation are two of the most common things that influence a person in their decision making. In â€Å"The Importance of Being Earnest†, Oscar Wilde mocks a society for their reasons of choosing who to marry. Oscar Wilde expresses an ironic and satiric perspective on a society that builds a marriage upon a foundation of money, power, and deceit. We will write a custom essay sample on The Importance of Being Earnest or any similar topic only for you Order Now The play â€Å"The Importance of Being Earnest,† is one of the most perfect examples of satire in our culture. Although it is set in England, it makes fun of the upper class. The play uses dramatic irony to show how Oscar Wilde sees the upper class as too formal and snobbish. It is dramatic irony because the characters in the play obviously think that they are high class with their multiple houses and butlers even though the author thinks that the upper class is too snobbish. The play also uses hyperbole to make its point. Every character in it is exaggerated. The characters Jack and Algernon are both willing to change their names to Earnest just because the women they love say that they will only love a man named Earnest. This is an example of how much emphasis Wilde believes that society places on love and how important it is to us. In they play, Wealth is a desirable aspect in life that many people crave. Many people will venture to extreme limits to acquire riches. In â€Å"The Importance of Being Earnest†, prosperity is wanted so much that woman will consider wealth as their rationale to get married. In the book, when Jack Worthing proposed to Gwendolen Fairfax, Gwendolen’s mother refused to let her marry him. Her reasoning was since Jack didn’t know who his parents were; he would not receive an inheritance. Lady Bracknell refused to let her daughter marry someone who was not exceptionally wealthy. In this society, a person who descends from wealth is forbidden to marry someone from a lower class. It is considered disrespectful towards the family and it would degrade their self image. Power, in Wilde’s society, is also greatly commendable for a man who wants to marry. When Lady Bracknell questions Jack about his social status within the city, she is disappointed to hear that he is not of high class. Without money in the society, it is impossible to be a part of the high-class society; which is where power is attained. In this society, people marry inside of their own social and economic class. Since Jack does not have any power within the city, and does not have a lot of money to his name, he is not qualified to marry a woman of upper class. In addition to power and wealth being two ludicrous factors being heavily weighted for marriage, a man’s name also decides eligibility for matrimony. Jack lies to Gwendolen and tells her that his name his Ernest. When she learns that his name is not in fact Ernest, she refuses to marry him. Oscar Wilde used humor and irony when titling the play, â€Å"The Importance of Being Earnest. † Earnest describes a person who is honest and sincere, which does not describe anybody within the play. All of the relationships in the play are built upon lies and deceit. Jack Worthing’s friend also deceives the woman that he loves, Cecily. Algernon also lies about his name and creates an imaginary friend so that he can avoid spending time with people that he does not want to see. Algernon and Jack come to call it â€Å"bunburying. When a social event is occurring that Jack or Algernon does not want to attend, they fake a visit with an extremely sick friend or relative. Eventually, Cecily and Gwendolen learn of all the secrets that Jack and Algernon are keeping. At first they are justifiably outraged. But after they all have talk, all is forgiven. This is another example that shows absurdity tow ards marriage. Cecily and Gwendolen realize that the men that they are supposed to marry have lied to them about everything. They don’t even really know who Jack and Algernon truly are. Even though Algernon and Jack have lied about everything, Gwendolen and Cecily both agree to carry on with the wedding. â€Å"The Importance of Being Earnest† provides many ironic and satiric views in a society where marriage is built upon all of the wrong foundations. Marriage, in this society, is built upon wealth, power, lies, and deceit. The characters in the story are very scandalous and indecent. Men lie to their fiances and women marry them for money and power. In today’s society, this would be considered a huge disgrace and would be untolerable. ? How to cite The Importance of Being Earnest, Essay examples The Importance of Being Earnest Free Essays The Importance Of Being Earnest â€Å"Women’s roles are often tokenistic in dramatic comedy† To what extent do you believe this to be the case in relation to the play you have been studying? In dramatic comedy it can often be said that women’s roles are ‘tokenistic’ which essentially means: that women are there to serve a little more than the minimum, or may not serve much of a purpose at all, they may also follow social stereotypes during the era of this literary piece. In this essay I will be assessing this statement and come to a final decision by looking at both sides of the argument and looking for secondary sources/opinions to prove some points that will be made. I believe that women are not tokenistic in terms of comedy in The Importance of being earnest because they do serve a purpose and add to the humour but on the other hand they may only do the very minimum within the story line and many of the female characters follow social stereotypes strongly. We will write a custom essay sample on The Importance of Being Earnest or any similar topic only for you Order Now Wilde often uses characters within his plays and pieces as an opportunity to discuss or highlight certain contemporary issues, and may sometimes mock them through satire and farce. An example of this is the character of Gwendolen who is used to create humour; Oscar does this by presenting her as an inversion of the traditional female during the era Importance of Being Earnest was written. In the third act Gwendolen Says â€Å"But we will not be the first to speak† and then instantly contradicts her statement and addresses Algernon straight away after saying so, this would be found rather humorous by contemporary audiences because women were traditionally meant to be quiet and should ‘speak when spoken to’ Gwendolen recognises this, but yet she does speak first, and this is a break of a social stereotype. This is an example of a women’s role within The Importance of Being Earnest as un-tokenistic because she serves a purpose in creating humour, and also the language used in that line suggests that she is leading the conversation and in turn leading Cecily, that is because the plural â€Å"we† in the quote indicates both herself and Cecily, should both conform to her statement, she is in a sense telling Cecily what to do. Also linked to this, after the later quote she then begins to interrogate Algernon and Jack, and she is the first to do so. This shows that she is accustomed to being in a position of power, so to conclude this point: how can Gwendolen truely be tokenistic if she serves a purpose in terms of comedy and is in a position of power within the stated conversation/section. On the other hand Gwendolen seems to support the typical patriarchal society which is present in The Importance of Being Earnest’s era. It is shown by this quote – â€Å"How absurd to talk of the equality of the sexes! † And â€Å"men are infinitely beyond us† Both in Act 3 also the use of the word infinitely emphasises this driving Gwendolen’s further. Gwendolen indirectly mocks the idea of ‘new women’ which was a  feminist  ideal that emerged in the late 19th century and had a profound influence on feminism well into the twentieth century as well. It can be said that her role knocks back equality, which then leads to us thinking she is indeed tokenistic. But her role and this particular quote draws attention to the unfairness and importance of the issue at hand. This could be another example of Wilde using characters and satirical mocking to highlight certain issues, so therefore she again does indeed serve a purpose and an important one at that, so she may be un-tokenistic. Another example of roles of women serving a purpose is Lady Bracknell – â€Å"The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square† on page 20 act 1. This is an example of Oscar Wilde’s satirical mocking technique, directed towards the upper classes and the education system, through characters such as lady Bracknell and Gwendolen. Also the use of language and words such as ‘radically’ and ‘theory’ emphasises the satire because they are fairly emotive or serious words, contrasting with the absurd bigoted point. â€Å"Lady Bracknell is the main character to portray this satirical technique, as she believes the upper class to be much more educated than the lower class, purely because of social status† – hubpages. com/education, this point taken from an online website agrees with the idea that Wilde uses characters as a way to highlight issues and mock them. This is shown in the wording. And in turn this point suggests that if characters used to mock and highlight issues within society, then they are serving a purpose and are important to aspects of comedy within the play, examples of such characters are, Lady Bracknell and Gwendolen. So how can they be tokenistic if they are doing so? This shows that they are un-tokenistic. On the other hand Oscar Wilde often uses stock characters to enhance comedy and have no real purpose. â€Å"A  stock character  is a  fictional character  that relies heavily on  cultural types  or  stereotypes  for its personality, manner of speech, and other characteristics† – Fritzfreiheit. om, this shows that characters following stereotypes could be considered tokenistic, such as Lady Bracknell, who is described as â€Å"a symbol of Victorian earnestness and the unhappiness it brings as a result. She is powerful, arrogant, ruthless to the extreme, conservative, and proper. In many ways, she represents Wildeâ₠¬â„¢s opinion of Victorian upper-class negativity, conservative/repressive values, and power† – Cliffnotes. com, this shows that Lady Bracknell follows contemporary social stereotypes and only serves a minimum purpose and that is to make the audience laugh. So she may well be tokenistic. Also many other stock characters are considered to be tokenistic because they are only used to enhance comedy, not to add to the story or to highlight issues. Examples of a stock character with a minimal role is Miss Prism she is an example of a stereotype of an aspiring romantic novelist, she is the typical woman of the time with a dream that is suppressed. This means she both abides by contemporary social stereotypes and in no way highlights issues as much as Gwendolen or other characters may. So this could be suggested that indeed she is tokenistic due to the later points made. In conclusion I believe that female characters in Oscar Wilde’s Importance of being earnest such as Gwendolen and Lady Bracknell both serve a purpose in terms of comedy by enhancing it with the use of; farce, satire, and mocking. Linked to this he also uses the humour created by these characters as well as the actually characters themselves as an opportunity to mock or highlight issues and ideals, for example Lady Bracknell and the upper class. But on the other hand it could be said that any female characters are stock characters which follow stereotypes and therefore produce a minimum affect, examples of this are Miss Prism and Lady Bracknell who has proven to be most contradictory and can be used by both sides of the argument because she does serve an important purpose. Over all I believe the large majority of female roles within The Importance of being earnest are not tokenistic because they most serve a purpose and enhance comedy. By James Rae Bibliography – Importance of Being Earnest * http://rachira. hubpages. com/hub/The-Importance-of-Being-Earnest-Mocking-Education – Author: RachiRa (username) – Date of citation: 14/3/13 * http://fritzfreiheit. com/wiki/Stock_character – Author: Fritz Freiheit – Date of citation: 14/3/13 * http://www. cliffsnotes. com/study_guide/literature/importance-of-being-earnest/character-analysis/rev-chasuble-miss-prism. html – Author: Susan Van Kirk – Date of citation: 14/3/13 How to cite The Importance of Being Earnest, Papers