Authors, poets, and playwrights use language in different ways to achieve certain aims and express various themes. Poets may choose to use specific words, as well as unique accents to bring out different emotions, such as laughter, suspense, and love, among others. Ben Crystal provides an explanation of how Shakespeare uses language by analyzing several aspects including the accent and theatrical conventions used in Shakespeare’s work. The language aspects used by Shakespeare help to provide a further understanding of life at the time Shakespeare wrote his plays. Just as Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde employs different aspects of language to illustrate the way people lived in during the Victorian era.
Wilde uses language to illustrate a funny depiction of life during the Victorian era. In a play, The Importance of Being Earnest, the different responses given by the characters illustrate Wilde’s use of language to create humor (Wilde). One of the ways that Wilde uses language make to fun of the different aspects of the Victorian lifestyle is the use of short and witty sayings. The various characters in Wilde’s work also use short sayings to refer to the different issues in the society including issues of marriage and homosexuality. Wilde also uses language to explain the hypocrisy in the Victorian Society. The different names used show how hypocritical the Victorian society behaved. The name Ernest illustrates a paradox as the name means being truthful and sincere. The name is however used as a deception name, showing the double life that most individuals in the Victorian society. Wilde use of paradox and humor works as a tool for social criticism as well as an explanation of his life struggles.
Works Cited
Wilde, O. The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People. Stuttgart: Reclam: M. Pfister, Ed, 2012. Print.
