Monday, November 26, 2012

"The Importance of Being Earnest" as a Satire


The Importance of Being Earnest as a Satire
            The play titled The Importance of Being Earnest is a short play which was written by Oscar Wilde, who lived during the Victorian Era. The play itself has a very deep meaning, criticizing the people of the Victorian Era. However, people from the Victorian Era did not realize that they were the ones being criticized, since it was Wilde’s most successful work. This shows that Oscar Wilde was a very clever man, who elusively managed to trick the people’s minds. The Importance of Being Earnest is a cleverly subversive criticism of the audience it was meant to entertain.
            The people of the Victorian Era were true hypocrites. The Victorian Era was also the age of the Industrial Revolution. The revolution caused poverty and worst of all, the cleanliness of the workers. They are forced to separate their private lives and their behaviors in the public. This caused hypocrisy to rise during the Victorian Era[1].
            To this day, people know the Victorian people as being hypocrites. The people of the Victorian age are greatly known for being “moralizers”. They felt like they could lie all the time, but then when someone found out, they would try to find a way to escape. This kind of things happened especially among the middle class and the upper class. Their reason for doing that was they had that sense of urgency to keep their reputation. It seemed like the only people who could find their insane “morality” are the poets and authors[2].
            The people of the Victorian Era also wanted respect from each other. Then, sex was therefore, a taboo subject to talk about. As an example, if someone from the working class talked about sex, somebody else from the upper class or middle class might hear it, and they might thought of how inappropriate that was, even though they wanted to talk about it as well. All they cared about was reputation[3].
            The daily life during the Victorian Era was very restricted. In some ways, appearance also became a major thing for the people of the Victorian Era. Men had to restrain themselves for gambling, swearing, or drinking. People are expected to dress formally, both in their public life and their private life. The people of the Victorian Era had lost their integrities for some reputation[4].
            To state his opinions, Oscar Wilde used his skills in literary style. For example, he used puns. One of the examples of his puns would be the title of the book itself. “Earnest” in the title of the book, meaning very genuine and open, is a pun because Jack who pretends be Earnest, is not earnest at all. He pretends to be Jack in the city and Ernest in the country[5]. This proves that he wanted to show his audience that they are hypocrites because the way they acted in the public was different from the way they acted in their private lives.
            Another example of his skills in literary style would be epigrams and contradictions. He used epigrams throughout the book. One of the examples is the character Miss Prism. She said, “No married man is ever attractive except to his wife[6].” First of all, she states the obvious. However, married men can also be attractive to other women. Here, Wilde tries to attack marriage during that time. An example of his contradictions is the line of Algernon, “What a fearful liar you are, Jack. I have not been called back to town[7].” This is another form of hypocrisy, where Algernon seems to contradict himself. He lies to everyone about being his brother, Ernest. Now he says that Jack is lying that he has been called back to town. This proves that Oscar Wilde was a clever and witty man with critical thinking and hard opinions about the people of the Era he lived in.
            Oscar Wilde also used his characters as cleverly subversive symbols. One of the examples would be Jack. Jack himself is a hypocrite in many ways. He pretended to have a brother called Ernest[8], so that he is able to do whatever he wanted and still keeps his reputation. He considers many things a taboo subject to talk about, such as modern culture[9]. This is the example of people who demanded respect, but wanted to do unrespectable things.
            Another significant character that shows hypocrisy is Lady Bracknell. She is a symbol of the upper class of the Victorian Era. At first she disagrees that Algernon should marry Cecily[10]. However, when she finds out that she has “a hundred and thirty thousand pounds in the Funds[11]”, she totally changes her mind when she says that Cecily is “a most attractive young lady[12]”, now that she looks at her. This shows that Lady Bracknell only cares about money. She even thinks that her daughter’s and nephew’s partners should have wealth.
            The Importance of Being Earnest is truly an impressive work of Oscar Wilde. It is a clever book, a very subversive one too. It was supposed to criticize the audience it was meant to entertain. The historical evidence of the Victorian Era supported this because they are hypocrites who needed to be criticized. Wilde criticized his audience by using clever literary style and hidden symbols in his characters. Therefore, the purpose of Wilde’s work, which was to criticize his hypocritical audience, was successfully achieved.   

















Works Cited
“Victorian Age.”  Amicicg Altervista. 05 October 2012
Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest. Ed. Moliken, Paul, and Lisa Miller. Prestwick,
House ed. Clayton, Delaware, Prestwick House, Inc., 2006.


[3] Ibid
[4] Ibid
[5] The Importance of Being Earnest, pg. 17
[6] The Importance of Being Earnest, pg. 38
[7] Ibid, pg. 43
[8] Ibid, pg. 17
[9] Ibid, pg. 17
[10] Ibid, pg. 63
[11] Ibid, pg. 63
[12] Ibid, pg. 63

"The King's Speech" review


The movie The King’s Speech is a movie that tells the story of the King of England, who is slow in speech and stammers when he tries to speak. The movie then introduces the audience to this character Lionel Logue, who teaches the King how to use proper practical rhetoric. During the last part of the movie, England declared war with Germany. The movie shows the importance of rhetoric and also shows the non-fictional historical facts. Even though the King has the highest position in England, he feels rhetoric is very important and he needs to give an encouragement to his people so they stay calm and win the war against Germany. To a King, rhetoric becomes rather important. Frankly, as a King, he cannot be slow in speech and has to have great quality in his speech. If that does not happen, the King is considered as not a good king. He cannot even speak to one person properly. He also stammers a lot during his speeches. After his training with Lionel, he fluently speaks on air at the end of the movie. His point of his last speech is to encourage his people to stay calm and trust God to prevail against Germany. Kings of England are recorded to be good public speaker. If the King cannot speak fluently publicly, there is a huge problem. One of the requirements of a King is that he is able to speak fluently publicly. The King in this movie shows great need for rhetoric and therefore searches for the right person to teach him practical rhetoric. After his rehearsals, he successfully encouraged his people at the end of the movie to trust God to win the war against Germany.

"Winston Churchill: Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat" Analysis

     Winston Churchill tried to inspire his fellow British to go to war against Germany. He was a member of the parliament in England and later he became the Prime Minister of England. He lived during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, who gave him many awards. He went through World War II. Churchill then realized that Adolf Hitler and his Nazi were coming to England to invade her. Unfortunately, the previous Prime Minister let Hitler took the lands that he wanted, which caused Hitler to want more. Winston Churchill made a speech called “Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat”, and he managed to convince the people of England to go to war. Winston Churchill inspired his people through the emotional language that was contained in his speech, and his speech also affected them, making them confident and fiery to go to war.
            In his speech, Winston Churchill definitely used a lot of emotional language which later affected his people greatly. For example, he said, “Blood, toil, tears, and sweat” (Howat, 196). That phrase itself indicates Churchill’s vow to his people that he will work to his hardest not only to defend England against invaders, but also to win the war against Germany. Another emotional language that he used is he repetitively repeated the words “victory” and “survival”. When he said this, he gave a huge inspiration for his people. British people obviously wanted not only victory, but they also wanted to survive this invasion. Next, he used the phrase “dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime” (196) to describe Hitler. This phrase has a very deep meaning: as human beings, everybody sins; but Hitler was worse. This made his people believe that being oppressed by Hitler must be worse, and they were more convinced to fight back. The speech that Winston Churchill made gave a huge inspiration and hope for the British to fight back and win the war against Germany.
            When Winston Churchill got this epiphany, he knew what had to be done. He knew what was coming. He immediately took drastic actions. His speech, “Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat” managed to inspire many British. He gave hope and inspiration to the British to defend and win the war against Germany. That is the reason Winston Churchill won many awards, and became an inspiration to many people.

Adolf Hitler was a very influential and proud man, who used propaganda and demagoguery to persuade his people. He then became a dictator in Germany, killing millions of Jews and still, his people loved him. In his speech, Germany’s Claims, he used propaganda to persuade his people that the League of Nations was terrible because they forced Germany to stop manufacturing what they manufactured best, weapons. He made the Russians look bad, by saying that they had “gruesome ideology of destruction”. (205, 9) He also said the League of Nations was irrational and their proceedings are unreasonable (205, 8). His propaganda managed to convince his people to hate other nations other than Germany.
            His speech was also epideictic. His audience was all German people (last sentence). It is ceremonial because they were in an occasion that they were not allowed to make weapons. He wanted to prove that Germany is honorable and praiseworthy by saying that Germany “should be presented as models to these democratic apostles.” (203, 1) In the same quote, he also dishonored the other nations by saying that they are “democratic apostles.” (203, 1) By honoring Germany, he also praised the Germans, making them feel that they were the best. Also, by dishonoring other nations, he blamed them, especially the League of Nations, making the Germans hate them more. This proves that Hitler wanted the Germans to feel proud and he wanted them to look down on the League of Nations, Russians, and Jews.
            Hitler’s thesis statement was found in paragraph four which says, “I had the right to turn against everyone who, instead of helping, thought his mission was to criticize our work” (203, 4). Every other paragraph in his speech tried to prove this statement. His later paragraphs talk about how the League of Nations is to him, a league that is against equality and a league that made use of other people. His thesis was so strong, it managed to change everyone’s hearts. He was a proud and influential demagogue, who used propaganda to persuade his people for the benefit of himself. Besides being propaganda, his speech was also epideictic. He honored and praised Germany, and dishonored and blamed the League of Nations, Russians, and the Jews. He was a famous man back then, and an infamous man today.

Significance of the Bible


Christians believe in the Word, which is contained in the Holy Bible. In the Old Testament, God directly speaks to the prophets, and the prophets speak to the people. Therefore, God indirectly speaks to the Israelites. However, in the New Testament, God speaks to Paul and later he writes letters about God and Christ. Even though God speaks to His people indirectly, there must be significant and important meanings behind His word.
            The communications between God and His people are often indirect. The choice that God made to communicate with His people in the Old Testament is that He would not show His face, but He shows His back once to the Israelites. In the book of Exodus 33 verses 12 to 23, God speaks to Moses face to face. Then, at the end of the chapter God says, “Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen” (New International Version, Exodus 33.23). Another example from the Old Testament is from Deuteronomy chapter eight verse three, which says, “one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (NIV). In the New Testament, however, Father decides to let Paul speak through his letters.
            The reason that God does that is probably He wants His people to believe Him. For Christians these days, it is easier because His words are contained in a book, The Holy Bible. It contains every word that God speaks, directly and indirectly. Of course, all of His words are significant. In conclusion, God wants believers to have faith in Him fully.