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.
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