Assignment Number
2. Purpose Statement
Living in the name of preconceived ideas is the essential in the late Victorian London, where things are not what they seem to be, but in the end they are: people, society, class, even love, they all hide under the mask of reputation and respect, lies and deceit, pride and prejudice, for expressing the essence of being yourself, as long as this satisfies and complies with what the society needs and desires.
3. Thesis Statement
Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of being Earnest” mingles the social Moravians of the 19th century England with the British humour and wit specific to the author’s oeuvre, to mock the moral decadency of the upper class (solely concerned about wealth and aristocratic family roots) while following the line of destiny, through a humoristic philosophical discourse about how people are subjected their fate, regardless which way they choose to follow.
4. Introduction
In the Victorian age, the values and the ethic codes of conducts of England were spread towards the world, because of the Britain’s colonialism. Influencing its territories to absorb, practice and be part of a union of Victorian ethical guidelines, the principles that were developed throughout the Victorian age imposed an air of strictness, rigor, dignity and perceived moral.
Nevertheless, these valences of decency were actually rejected by the society and as a form of neglecting these Victorian attributes, people expressed their discontent in relation to the imposed codes of conduct, by changing the society after their own taste. As such, during the Victorian age, there can be observed new social forms of acting: the erotic spirit was publically expressed and during this time the prostitution develops, gender relations changes, and women are more confident in showing their sexuality (Walkowits, 1980).
Notwithstanding, there was still a very strong the old – fashioned society, usually specific to the upper class, which condemned the changing society and these rejections of the Britain’s class distinction and Victorian noble values. As such, a visible separation appeared between classes and ideas that each class sustained and promoted.
Studying the Victorian society and the Moravians of that age is relevant for understanding Oscar Wilde’s humour and his wit and for comprehending that although the action that the dramatist exposes in his play occurred two centuries ago, the people’s spirit is not changed and the ideas are quite similar. This is to say, that “The Importance of Being Earnest” is an evergreen representation of humankind, of human society, an image that is constantly available, because at its roots, society always has the same background, formed by ideas about status quo and class distinction.
Likewise, the play is important for the audience for learning how destiny functions. The play has an oedipal function, revealing the fact that no matter how hard one tries to escape his/her fate, in the end the fate reaches everybody.
5. Body
If Jack Worthing developed an alter – ego for himself in order to escape of the social dull implications that his aristocratic position involved, living a double life, he later wanted to eliminate his self-created alter ego, Ernest, because he wanted no further association with a man that could compromise his chance of marrying Gwendoline, in the end it proved that he, Jack Worthing was actually, by birth, named Ernest. He accepted this as a fact, in order to satisfy the society and the woman that he was in loved with. Society wanted him to be Ernest, the son of Mrs Moncrieff, Algernon’s elder brother (Wilde 2010).
Regarding the social needs and standards, Wonner perceives, “Lady Bracknell the embodiment of [the] upper class” of Victorian London society, entrenched in righteous moral values specific to the aristocracy, expressing an elitist arrogance a narrow – mind and diffusing social snobbism through her entire being (2007, p. 11).
She, and the ones similar to her are being mocked of in Wilde’s play, through the character Earnest who acts like a muster of puppets, playing with the values and distinct moral of an elitist society, revealing the faults of a self – centred and narrow – minded society, which drowns itself in the rigor of etiquette and in preconceptions.
Lady Blacknell is, of course, interested in Earnest’s fortune, as a pretender of her daughter’s hand and she meticulously investigates the man regarding his social behaviour, his welfare and his family roots.
“To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like a carelessness.() I would strongly advise you, Mr Worthing, to try and acquire some relations as soon as possible ” (Wilde, 2010, p. 34).
The importance of being related to significant people of society is visible in the late Victorian society, in the aristocratic circles. Although Earnest was a man of good wealth, he was not indulged to merry Lady Blacknell’s daughter, because he could not demonstrate that his family was of any aristocratic range.
The importance of being a member of the high society, having solid aristocratic roots, as well as the significance of owning impressive wealth is what Lady Blacknell, and those similar to her, are searching for, when looking for husbands to give their daughters’ hands. The character of Mr Worthing is less important to her.
Lady Blacknell’s daughter, Gwendolen Fairfax was, just as Cecily, Worthing’s pupil, fascinated by the name Ernest and they both wanted to merry Ernest although none of them really knew him. The mystery that surrounded this name, made the two ladies very intrigued, at a point of pulling their nails at each other, when they find out that they are both engaged to Ernest. The fact that the two women are very similar says another thing about the English society: it raises a prototype of girls, all sharing the same values, the same principle, all having the same interests.
Jack and Algernon’s alter ego – Ernest, respectively Bunbury, take the place of the men real feelings and attitudes about life, which sound tremendous unconceivable for the high society in which they lived. Living in a world where everything should be impeccable, the two men develop fantasies that they actually embrace, under other names. They hide under the masks of some obscure characters that they themselves concoct in order to live as they feel like and to show their repulsion about the standards raised by the aristocracy that they are part of.
The development of these alter egos symbolizes the nature of the British society of the 19th century – a society built on lies and deceit. While in public the good name, the reputation and the traditional values must be strictly kept, in particular the things are quite different. People explore new ways of behaving, of acting, of being, laughing at the aristocratic values and imposed social standards (sursa).
The morals and the ethical behaviour of this society is practically compromised because of the self – imposed superiority. Aiming to keep up or to overcome the self – imposed standards of superiority degenerated the human morality and created people solely interested in money, social position, class, and in maintaining the appearances. People belonging to upper class, which Oscar Wilde mocks, solely live for these artificial interests and they do not seem to be interested in humanly aspects: the announced deaths of Mr Bunbury, or of Mr Ernest.
Through this duplicity, indicating a multiple personality disorder of an entire society (as there was stated already that Ernest represent the symbol of duplicity and deceit that dominates the subconscious levels of the British society), Jack (Ernest) “disturbs the equilibrium if a system, embarrassing the conventional values of their own stodginess” (Donoghue, 1988, p. 237).
When both Jack and Algernon are taken for Ernest they observe that the bad morals that Ernest stands for are actually appreciated and mythicized. Both Cecily and Gwendolen fall in love with a name and with a reputation that they associate the name with.
“Jack: I don’t think the name [Ernest] suits me at all. Gwendolen: It suits you perfectly. In is a divine name. it has a music of its own. It produces vibrations” (Wilde, 2010, p. 27).
This passage indicates the shallowness of the London life, where girls are raised to worship the embodiment of a social construct. A name like Ernest holds a reputation, a mystery, an elegance, a distinction, a social standard and Gwendolen learned to associate him with these values if an deceitful world. Just as her mother, Lady Blacknell, she intentionally remains blind at Ernest’s well known social behaviour, for the sake of being associated and accompanying him, a man who, despite his faults, or precisely because of his faults, is very popular and has an aura of mysticism around him. In addition, he is quite wealthy and has many things to offer.
In fact, referring to the amorality that the play reveals, Ellmann observes that the appearances and the surfaces are highly appreciated for what they are, because during the Victorian age everything had an envisioned sense of itself and maintaining this self – envisioned sense of self implied letting oneself mastered by the received ideas (in Dodoghue, 1988).
6. Conclusion
The world of preconceived ideas creates shallow characters, who will develop a hypocrite society, who fails to see the importance of knowing people for what they are, but rather for how wealthy they are or how strong their social position or aristocratic roots are. The current essay has elaborated upon the self – imposed values of Victorian age, which hided moral and social flaws under the mask of the perfect rigor and decency.
This play examines the decline of the social morals in a past society. Nevertheless, does the play limit to the Victorian age? Doesn’t it, in different levels, represent an image of the nowadays society also? The Ernest character, desiring to escape the burdensome of the social convections can actually reside in all of us, and at one point, we all develop a secondary character to represent us, when wanting to take a break from the society we live in. Is he not?
References
Donoghue, D. (1988) England, their England: commentaries on English languade and literature. University of California Press, Ltd.: London.
Walkowitz, J., R. (1980) Prostitution and Victorian society: women, class and the state. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Wilde, O. (2010) The importance of being Ernest. Biblios Books Ltd: London.
Wooner, B. (2007) Oscar Wilde: “The importance of being Earnest” – making fun of Vuctorian values and society and parodying dramatic conventions. GRIN Verlag: Auflage.
