Thinking Activity-The Importance of Being Earnest

 The Importance of Being Earnest 

This blog is on thinking activity assigned by Dr.Barad sir.

(Que:The play repeatedly mocks Victorian traditions and social customs , marriage and the pursuit of love in particular . Through which situations and characters is this happening in the play.)

In this play The Importance of Being Earnest Wilde satirises the Victorian age. By making a mockery of the Victorian ideals, Wilde threw a satirical spotlight on the Victorian age as a whole. Victorian society fell in a passionate love with the idea of earnestness. The idea of living in an earnest manner was the topmost ideals of Victorian society. Earnestness was held as the virtue sublime in Victorian society.

(This YouTube video is stage play on 'The Importance of Being Earnest'. )

First performed in 1895, The Importance of Being Earnest is a play by Oscar Wilde. Though on the surface, the play was merely a frivolous comedy, its deeper meanings directly attacked the basis of Victorian society. Many different aspects of literature were portrayed in the play, helping aid in the comedy. The play was a Horatian satire that criticised characteristics of England such as class, countryside, marriage, love, women, and education. In The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde mocks education in the upper Victorian society using satirical elements such as juxtaposition, extension, tone of mock seriousness, and irony.

Extension and tone of mock seriousness are important to satirising education in this play. Again, this quote can be used to portray another aspect of educational satire: “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.” When Lady Bracknell says this, it is over-exaggerated and blown out of proportion. Stating that education does absolutely nothing for England, is a very bold statement; one that is hard to believe. It most likely would be having some effect, just not an incredible amount. 

When Lady Bracknell says this, it is over-exaggerated and blown out of proportion. Stating that education does absolutely nothing for England, is a very bold statement; one that is hard to believe. It most likely would be having some effect, just not an incredible amount.

Idea of marriage:

The society was so attached to the fake ideals of earnestness that it was ready to pay any price for it. This frenzied and frantic thrust towards the ideals pressurised individuals to live a double life. People became double dealers in an attempt to earnestly. The late nineteenth century British people gradually became hypocritical in their fashionable and faddish struggle to obtain the ideals of earnestness. This line of rush for the earnest life made people compromise with anything. Ugly, selfishness, unnecessary pride, false sense of self-worth and dangerous haughtiness developed as evils which corroded the simple charm and unspoiled nature of people. The Victorian society was outwardly flowery. It was artificial and hollow within.

Hypocrisy:

Both man and woman became the victims of hypocrisy, and the vice of double dealing. These evils persisted in Victorian society. Particularly, the upper middle classes were encumbered by the folly of rushing for the hollow ideals of earnestness. Both Jack and Algernon represent the upper middle class. Their lives were full of vices and follies.

Oscar Wilde has attacked the Victorian age for its attachment to loveless life. The love defined by the Victorian society was devoid of love. In the play Wilde shows Jack and Algernon are in loveless love with Gwendolen and Cecily respectively. Even Gwendolen and Cecily love their respective lovers for their noble names Ernest only and not for them. We are ashamed to hear such a declaration of love. Love for the name of the beloved and not for him/her becomes the driving principle of youth. This love devoid of emotional depth is satirised by Wilde in the play.

Bad practices:

Families had a big say into the marriage of two people. In the upper-class marriages, the wife often brought a generous Dowry and enticement for the marriage.The effects Victorian ideas of marriage had on women was felt by them in both the public and private spheres and influenced women's roles.

Standard of people :

In the play, Wilde reveals the double standards in Victorian society by developing a relationship between two couples: Jack Worthing and Gwendolen Fairfax, Algernon Moncrieff and Cecily Cardew. The plot describes the marriage proposal of two men – Jack and Algernon. Both characters intend to please their beloved ones, pretending to be Ernest. In the finale, they are exposed, discovering that Jack and Algernon are siblings, and one of them is called Ernest.

The moral consciousness of the Victorian people can be known a bit from the religious commitment of Dr. Chasuble. Chasuble is the sort of priest who gives sermons repeatedly with a view to satisfy the moods of the attendants. Unstable moral consciousness of Dr. Chasuble reflects from his surrender to the affections of Mrs. Prism. From Chasuble's moral predicament readers come across the satirical standpoint of the dramatist regarding the wavering moral faith in the Victorian society.

Life in Victorian society was full of hustle and bustle. People were anxious. Much more business kept people confined in their own privacy. The deeply hidden anxiety made Victorian people absent-minded. Miss Prism is a victim of Victorian absent-mindedness.

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