The Importance of Being Earnest Essay -- Literary Analysis

Oscar Wildes The Importance of Being hot is a perennial comedy of manners in which two young, light-hearted men, pretend their names be Ernest in a bid to impress their love interests, who both imagine the name Ernest bestows magical qualities on the possessor. Throughout the play, Wilde uses a mix of kind drama, melodrama and farce to appeal to the audience. Through his gentle use of parody Wilde is qualified to ridicule his contemporaries and attack the values and attitudes of Victorian society, such as wealth, hierarchy, respectability, morality and self- interest. Via satirical dialogue and dramatic irony Wilde is able to stag the moral hypocrisy at the heart of the Victorian era. The title The magnificence of being Earnest places an ironical impressiveness on a temporary hookup about men leading double lives, lying to family and friends about their secret lives, so they can take trips away and do the things they really ask to do. Both Jack and Algernon lead a double feel, a heart separate from their family and friends Jack uses his imaginary brother Ernest to escape his life in the country. Whilst Algernon uses his imaginary friend Bunbury to escape social gatherings, suggesting that both men experience the stresses of society and their lives extremely restrictive, and in order to escape the constraints of society they essential lie or deceive. Via his play Wilde claims that the majority of Victorian society wears few sort of social mask. Many critics have argued that each character show in the play is an extension of Wilde himself, and that Algernon and Jacks double life represent Wildes own alter ego which hid his homosexuality and many another(prenominal) of his illicit affairs from a society that frowned upon homosexual acts. Through his p... ...being Earnest and other plays page 325 http//www.shmoop.com/importance-of-being-earnest/writing-style.html Oscar wilde the importance of being earnest and other plays page 304 http//ww w.thefreedictionary.com/earnest http//www.sparknotes.com/lit/earnest/themes.htmlDonohue and Berggren 1995, p.281 http//www.indiastudychannel.com/resources/111841-The-Title-The-Importance-Being-Earnest.aspx Kumaraditya Sarkar York notes, the importance of being earnest, pg. 6 The importance of being earnest and other plays Page 297http//www.gradesaver.com/the-importance-of-being-earnest/study-guide/about/ 22/04/2012http//sexualityinart.wordpress.com/2009/02/27/the-importance-of-being-earnest-a-comedy-of-manners-and-culture-revealing-double-lives-and-universal-truths/ 6/04/2012http//dreamhawk.com/inner-life/the-importance-of-being-earnest/ 6/04/2012