This blog is part of an assignment for the paper 104 - Literature of the Victorians, Sem -1, 2022.
PERSONAL INFORMATION:-
Name:- Bhavyata Dhirajbhai Kukadiya
Batch:- M.A. Sem 1 (2022-2024)
Enrollment Number:- 4069206420220018
E-mail Address:- bhavyatakukadiya@gmail.com
Roll Number:- 5
ASSIGNMENT DETAILS:-
Topic:- Thematic Study of Importance of Being Earnest
Paper & subject code:- 104 -Literature of the Victorians & 22395
Submitted to:- Smt. Sujata Binoy Gardi, Department of English, MKBU, Bhavnagar
Date of Submission:- 7th November, 2022
Thematic Study of Importance of Being Earnest
Oscar Wilde wrote The Importance of Being Earnest
Birth name: Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde
Birth date: October 16, 1854
Birth place: Dublin, Ireland
Nationality: Irish
Occupation: Playwright, novelist, poet, editor, critic
Period: Victorian era (1837–1901)
Literary movement: Aestheticism
Famous Works:
The Picture of Dorian Gray (novel)
The Importance of Being Earnest (play)
The Ballad of Reading Gaol (poem)
Died: November 30, 1900 (aged 46) in Paris, France
Oscar Wilde was an Anglo-Irish playwright, novelist, poet, and critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest playwrights of the Victorian Era.
In his lifetime he wrote nine plays, one novel, and numerous poems, short stories, and essays.
Wilde was a proponent of the Aesthetic movement, which emphasized aesthetic values more than moral or social themes. This doctrine is most clearly summarized in the phrase 'art for art's sake'.
Besides literary accomplishments, he is also famous, or perhaps infamous, for his wit, flamboyance, and affairs with men. He was tried and imprisoned for his homosexual relationship (then considered a crime) with the son of an aristocrat.
The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae to escape burdensome social obligations. Working within the social conventions of late Victorian London, the play's major themes are the triviality with which it treats institutions as serious as marriage, and the resulting satire of Victorian ways. Some contemporary reviews praised the play's humour and the culmination of Wilde's artistic career, while others were cautious about its lack of social messages. Its high farce and witty dialogue have helped make The Importance of Being Earnest Wilde's most enduringly popular play.
Preface
The main purpose of Oscar Wilde was to satirize the upper-class society but it is not the only subject matter of this play. He has presented many other themes in “Importance of Being Earnest”. If this play is alive, even today then numerous themes are the reason behind it. Oscar Wilde does not only cover a single topic but also tries to present a complete picture of his society. The genuineness of the play lies in its dialogues; therefore, every theme of the play is hidden in them. Dialogues of “Importance of Being Earnest” are required to be searched in order to get a complete list of themes. However, the actions of the characters are also important regarding the theme of disputes in society. Most of the themes of this play are social, whereas others are religious. Nevertheless, religious themes can also be covered in social themes.
Oscar Wilde wrote The Importance of Being Earnest late in the Victorian Era (1837–1901). This time period was marked by very strict morals and societal expectations. Wilde actively spoke against the ruling norms of the time, arguing that much of the moral posturing of high society was trivial and hypocritical rather than sincere.
Characters of the Play
There are nine characters in The Importance of Being Earnest.
1. John Worthing,
2.Algernon Moncrieff,
3.Rev. Canon Chasuble,
4.Merriman,
5.Lane,
6.Lady Bracknell,
7.Gwendolen Fairfax,
8.Cecily Cardew,
9. Miss Prism.
The characters are interconnected in various ways.
Themes of “Importance of Being Earnest”:
Critique of Marriage as a Social Tool
Double Standard and Bunburyism
Cash, Class, and Character
Satire on the Upper Class:
Importance of Wealth:
“Life of Leisure” and “Luxurious Life”
Critique of Marriage as a Social Tool
The worse condition of Victorian upper-class society can be seen in the opening lines only when Algernon says to his servant that “Divorces are made in heaven.”
This sentence depicts a lot of the marital problems of the upper-class society in the Victorian age and Wilde was no exception to it.
After getting married and having children, he lost interest in his wife and began a homosexual affair with Lord Alfred Douglas in the following years.As the plot develops, both bachelors reveal that they have created their altered egos as their beloveds have put on the condition that their respective lovers will have the name as Earnest.The marriage on the basis of status, name, and money was quite prevalent among the “serious people”.They staked love, sacrifice, honesty for the sake of pseudo-status.
"Lady Bracknell: Mr. Worthing, is Miss Cardew at all connected with any of the larger railway stations in London? I merely desire information. Until yesterday I had no idea that there were any families or persons whose origin was a Terminus."
(Act 3)
Marriage is another aspect of Victorian high society in which Oscar Wilde saw a lot of hypocrisy. In this quote, Lady Bracknell points out that marrying Jack would be a dead-end for Gwendolen because Jack does not have a biological family. It doesn’t matter that Jack and Gwendolen are in love; Victorian marriage was often about social rank and wealth.
The hypocrisy is revealed when, upon learning that Jack is actually Ernest and is a relative of Lady Bracknell, he is suddenly an acceptable suitor, even though nothing has actually changed. He already had a good reputation and wealth. What he lacked was the most important thing in a Victorian suitor – the proper appearance of respectability.
Double Standard and Bunburyism
The play revolves around the story of two bachelors Algy and Jack. Both have a well-established life, Algy lives in London, Jack lives in the countryside as a Judge of the Peace. Being tired of their lives and hardship both create their invalids or pretends or altered egos.
The other reason for this double standard is that Algy goes to the countryside in order to meet Cecily, his beloved, (Jack’s cousin) while Jack visits London in order to meet Gwendolen, Algy’s cousin.
Both these ladies are self-conscious, emancipated, educated and support their individuality but their narrow-mindedness can be seen when each of them claims that “my idea has always been to love someone of the names of Earnest”.
“Earnest” in a sense (a surname for high-class people) becomes the condition for love as well as for marriage. Thus this condition too becomes important for Jack and Algy for creating their other-self.
Cash, Class, and Character
The Victorian society in which Wilde lived was concerned with wealth, family status, and moral character, especially when it came to marriage. Lady Bracknell's interrogation of Jack's proposal to marry Gwendolen demonstrates the three “Cs”—cash, class, and character. First she asks him about his finances and then his family relations, a measure of his class. That Jack has none—no family relations, or family name, reflects poorly on his character. Upon finding that Jack has no “relations” she exclaims, “To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune…to lose both seems like carelessness,” (as if it were Jack’s fault for being an orphan.)
In the Victorian world one’s name was the measure of one’s social capital, so the fact that Jack doesn’t have any family is an insurmountable obstacle to his marrying Gwendolen, a daughter of the titled gentry. According to Lady Bracknell’s marriage standards, Jack has the cash, but he doesn’t have the class, so his character comes into question. (Although of all three “Cs,” character is probably the least important of Lady Bracknell’s criteria, since income and family take precedence in her line of questioning over Jack’s actual intentions for her daughter, which might more accurately reflect the content of his character).
Nonetheless, Lady Bracknell’s scrutiny of Jack’s socioeconomic status is reflective of the Victorian world in which she was created. Her evaluation of cash, class, and character is one that Wilde interrogates throughout The Importance of Being Earnest, especially through the relations between classes. In Act I Algernon comments on Lane that the lower classes should set a “good example” of “moral responsibility” for the upper classes, otherwise they are of little “use.” Algernon’s statement is odd precisely because he seems more concerned with the morality of his servants than with his own moral compass. Meanwhile he continues to lead a deceptive and excessive lifestyle, never bothering to question the ethical implications of such a life. Algernon’s fixation on the morality of his subordinates actually reveals the shortsighted outlook of the aristocratic class. This class scrutinizes the behavior of others so much that it fails to examine its own flaws and foibles. By pointing attention to Algernon’s lack of self-examination, Wilde further undermines the Victorians’ criteria for character by suggesting that it is inherently faulty.
Satire on the Upper Class:
The dramatist targeted the Upper Victorian Class the most. He talks about the follies of his neighbors. He has presented a society, which has lost its values. Three major characters of this play belong to the upper middle class. At the end of the play, the audience observes an increase in quantity. It is revealed to the audience that Jack also belongs to the same class. Lady Bracknell Satire of the Upper Class Lady Bracknell Algernon, and Gwendoline are the remaining characters. Lady Bracknell's character is the most important in this regard. She is a typical lady of Victorian society. She focuses on personal benefits. Apparently, she is a sober and respectable lady but deep down the audience knows that she is foolish, arrogant and class conscious. Through Algernon, the dramatist adds more satire in the play while showing his immature attitude towards his responsibilities. Jack and Gwendoline do the same.
Hence, the satire on the upper class is one of the clear themes of “The Importance of Being Earnest”.
Importance of Wealth:
Wealth, indeed, has its own importance. Lady Bracknell wants a wealthy son-in-law. Proud of class and wealth are her two major characteristics. She wishes that Gwendoline should follow her in grabbing money. In the same way, Algernon wants money to survive. He does not care about his bill yet he wants money to pay them. Jack is living a prosperous life because he has wealth. He runs from his liabilities. He has created an imaginary person “Earnest” and does not care about earning money. Lady Bracknell first rejects Jack but subsequently accepts him as husband of Gwendoline just after knowing that he is in possession of a good fortune. Thereby, in one way or the other, it is shown that wealth has much importance in one’s life. Undoubtedly, “Importance of Wealth” comes at fourth in the list of themes of “Importance of Being Earnest”.
“Life of Leisure” and “Luxurious Life”
Jack does not do anything to live. Algernon is in debt but does not care about it. He is a bachelor and enjoying luxurious life. He wants money but does not want to work. We rarely find any character in this play, who works for a living. Every single person in this play is free even then we cannot say him jobless. It is because no one wants to work. Another minor character is important in this context i.e. “Chausable”. He is a religious person but he instead of performing his duties flirts with Miss Prism. It seems that the Victorian class wants a life of leisure. They want respect but without doing anything good for themselves and for the society. Therefore, the life of luxury and life of leisure are obvious themes of “The Importance of Being Earnest”.
Conclusion :
To conclude, Oscar Wilde has focused on reality. He has presented these themes in “The Importance of Being Earnest” because he wanted to reform his society. Oscar Wilde wants them to do something good for the people. He wants morality in society. Algernon and Jack are living double lives. The idea behind it is to protect their apparent respect. Apparently, they are pious but in reality, they are wicked. Hence, the difference between appearance and reality is also in the list of themes of “The Importance of Being Earnest”. In addition to it, “absurdity”, “greed”, “snobbery” and “pride” are also some relevant themes of “The Importance of Being Earnest”.
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