The Importance of Being Earnest

  

 I am writing a blog about 'The Importance Of Being Earnest'.This assignment is given by Dilip Barad sir . 

Wilde originally subtitled The Importance of Being Earnest “A Serious Comedy for Trivial People” but changed that to “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People.” What is the difference between the two subtitles?

Introduction

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 theater in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae to escape burdensome social obligations.  Oscar Wilde accepts Victorian values however he seeks to mock and trivialise the late Victorian society in his play- The Importance of Being Earnest. He described the play as exquisitely trivial, and therefore gave it the subtitle- "A trivial comedy for serious people". His intentions were to make people think more deeply and make them more aware of the serious things in life, which should be treated with sincerity, and the trivial things with seriousness. He succeeds in mocking Victorian life by trivialising certain parodies such as marriage, society, and aristocracy, and much more, by the use of witty paradoxes and epigrams. Wilde achieves to produce a pun out of the title, due to the mistaken identity of a character in the play Jack Worthing, and the 'earnest' behaviour of Victorian characters. The play pivots around the word 'earnest', because both women want to marry someone of the name 'Ernest', because it inspires 'absolute confidence', 'honesty' and 'responsibility'. Gwendolen: '...there is very little music in the name Jack. The only safe name is Ernest'. 

Middle

This is because Wilde thought strongly in having a solid relationship. In Victorian society, aristocracy was extremely important. You either had class or you were nothing. Wilde satirises aristocracy through the most remarkably snobbish character in the play-Lady Bracknell. She is a Victorian lady of high class and perfection. Her snobbery is presented mainly over Jack's disreputable background. This can be seen in this very witty paradox- 'To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.' Wilde explores how having a good name and a respectable family was important to Victorian society, as it gained you a very good reputation. Wilde trivialises how if you lack a solid background or wealth, as in Jacks case, can disturb one of the upper class so greatly. Not only does Wilde trivialise aristocracy, he also satirises his view on society. He presents the empty lives of aristocracy and creates the perfect example of a hedonist, who prefers to eat, gamble, and gossip than have something better to do- Algernon. Jack: 'Eating as usual Algy.' Algy: ' I believe it is customary in good society to take some refreshment at five o' clock.' Pg 322. Wilde has described the play as about characters that trivialise serious matters and solemnize trivial matters. 

Conclusion

For example, Cecily and Gwendolen repeat the same words about their desire to marry someone of the name Ernest, and what the name inspires. And Algy and Jack repeat each other's phrases when they wish to be christened, and when they ask Cecily and Gwendolen if they would still love them if their names were not Ernest. I think that Oscar Wilde has successfully mocked certain aspects of Victorian society. His main attack on Victorian lifestyle would probably have to be through marriage and aristocracy. He cleverly illustrates how snobbish the upper class were by creating Lady Bracknell, who is not a boring stereotype, but a serious woman with a typical Victorian double identity. By mocking marriage, I think Wilde has shown how absurd class is. Also, Wilde uses dramatic irony in the scenes where we discover Jack is branded 'immaterial' because he was found at a railway line, however, this reveals his true origins. This allows the audience to accept the extreme absurdities and silly coincides that took place in Victorian society. Wilde produces even more humour, by proving how indecisive the women are over forgiving the men for lying.Although it produces humour, he explores how ridiculous romantic decisions can become muddled up with deep absurd thoughts of the mind. The triviality in the play allowed me to thoroughly enjoy a witty, interesting and well-written play.

Which of the female character is the most attractive to you among Lady Augusta Bracknell, Gwendolen Fairfax, Cecily Cardew and Miss Prism? Give your reasons for she being the most attractive among all.

I have attractive by Gwendolen Fairfax woman because Both Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew provide Wilde with opportunities to discuss ideas and tout the New Woman near the turn of the century. They are curiously similar in many ways, but as the writer's tools, they have their differences.Both women are smart, persistent and in pursuit of goals in which they take the initiative. Gwendolen follows Jack to the country — an atmosphere rather alien to her experiences, and Cecily pursues Algernon from the moment she lays eyes on him. Both women are perfectly capable of outwitting their jailers. Gwendolen escapes from her dominating mother, Lady Bracknell; Cecily outwits Jack by arranging for Algernon to stay, and she also manages to escape Miss Prism to carry on a tryst with her future fiancé. The first moment Cecily meets Algernon, she firmly explains her identity with a no-nonsense reaction to his patronizing comment.

For both women, appearances and style are important. Gwendolen must have the perfect proposal performed in the correct manner and must marry a man named Ernest simply because of the name's connotations. Cecily also craves appearance and style. She believes Jack's brother is a wicked man, and though she has never met such a man, she thinks the idea sounds romantic. She toys with rebelliously and romantically pursuing the "wicked brother," but she has full intentions of reforming him to the correct and appropriate appearance. The respectable name of Ernest for a husband is important to her. Both women, despite their differences, are products of a world in which how one does something is more important than why.

Cecily and Gwendolen are dissimilar in some aspects of their personalities and backgrounds. Gwendolen, on one hand, is confident, worldly, and at home in the big city of London. While her mother has taught her to be shortsighted like the lorgnette through which Gwendolen peers at the world, she has also brought her daughter up in a traditional family, the only such family in the entire play. On the other hand, Cecily is introduced in a garden setting, the child of a more sheltered, natural, and less-sophisticated environment. She has no mother figure other than the grim Miss Prism, and she has a guardian instead of a parent.

Gwendolen provides Wilde with the opportunity to discuss marriage, courtship and the absurdities of life. Her pronouncements on trivialities and her total contradictions of what she said two lines earlier make her the perfect instrument for Wilde to provide humor and to comment on inane Victorian attitudes. Cecily provides Wilde with an opportunity to discuss dull and boring education, Victorian values, money and security, and the repression of passion. More sheltered than Gwendolen, Cecily is still expected to learn her boring lessons and make a good marriage.

Both women seem ideally matched to their fiancés. Gwendolen is very no-nonsense and straightforward like Jack. She believes in appearances, upper-class snobbery, correct behavior, and the ability to discuss, ad nauseam, the trivial. Jack too is practical and takes his responsibilities quite seriously. While he has a sense of humor, he also realizes — especially in the country — that he must maintain a proper image and pay his bills. Cecily and Algernon are both guided by passion and immediate gratification. More emotional than their counterparts, they pursue life with a vengeance, aiming for what they desire and oblivious to the consequences. Both couples indulge in witty epigrams and are perfectly matched.

While Wilde spends most of his play satirizing Victorian ideals of courtship and marriage, he gets the last laugh with his female characters. Despite their positions in society as victims of the machinations of men, marriage contracts and property, the women are the strong characters who are firmly in control. Wilde provides two female characters who lack Lady Bracknell's ruthlessness, but who have the strength and practical sense that the men lack.

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