The Importance of Being Earnest - Essay Example

Your The Importance of Being Earnest The Importance of Being Earnest is a play written by Oscar Wildein 1895. It is a satirical comedy which makes fun of the Victorian manners and customs. It is not offensive but rather enjoyable as it is light and witty. The play is about double lives. There are two young men in London, one named Jack and the other named Algernon. It all started because of an inscription in Jack’s cigarette lighter. Because Jack was known to Algernon as Ernest, he had to explain the inscription why he was called Jack by a certain Cecily. Jack explained that in the country, he has a boring life and he made up another identity as Ernest (whom he says is his younger brother as an excuse to Cecily) when he is in the city. Unwittingly, “Ernest” made a fan out of Cecily as she gets interested in “Ernest”. At this time, we learn that Jack is in love with Algernon’s cousin, Gwendolen. Jack proposes to Gwendolen but then Gwendolen is more in love with the name Ernest! And just as she was accepting Jack/“Earnest’s” proposition, Lady Bracknell (Gwedolen’s mother) enters the room and interviews Jack. After learning that Jack was orphaned from a train station, she decides that Jack/Earnest is not fit for her daughter and leaves the room, making it clear that Jack/Ernest and Gwedolen are not engaged. Gwendolen professes her love to Ernest and writes down his country address. Algernon copied it down as well as he was overhearing it. Algernon went to the country and met Cecily where they flirted. He learned that Cecily was having fantasies about her and Ernest getting engaged and she invites him to dinner. So now that Jack was back in the country, he announces to the governess, Miss Prism, and Dr. Chasuble, the local reverend, that his brother Ernest died in Paris. Just then, Cecily appears and tells them that Ernest arrived. When Jack saw the “Ernest” as Algernon, he was shocked. He tried to send him away but to no avail. Algernon went on to have his name changed to Ernest. Then Gwedolyn arrives and meets up with Cecily in a local cafe. When they learned that they are both engaged to an Ernest Worthing, they got mad at each other and fought. Fortunately, Algernon and Jack arrived and revealed their true identities, revealing that Ernest was non-existent. The two women left arm in arm as they realized that they were both tricked. The two men pursued the women and they told them that they only took up the name Ernest in order for them to spend time with them. The women forgave them. But just as everyone was being happy, Lady Bracknell arrived to get Gwendolen. Seeing Algernon is with Cecily, she asked Jack (as Cecily’s guardian) how much her inheritance is and when she learned that Cecily is wealthy, she gave her consent for her and Algernon to marry. However, as Cecily’s guardian, Jack refuses to give his consent to the marriage unless Lady Bracknell allows him to marry Gwendolen. Lady Bracknell still refuses. Then Dr. Chasuble arrives, announcing that everything is ready for the men’s baptisms and mentions Miss Prism. Lady Bracknell’s attention was focused on Miss Prism. They learned that Miss Prism was once Lady Bracknell’s servant and was in charge of a baby that she dropped off in a train station unwittingly. Jack runs out and returns with a bag, the bag the he came in. Jack calls Miss Prism his mother but Lady Bracknell corrects him: he is Lady Moncrieff’s son, meaning he is Algernon’s brother! They all wondered what his real name is, and Lady Bracknell tells Jack that he was named after his father, who is, in fact, Ernest. In short, he has been telling the truth all along. Notable Scenes/Quotes 1. ALGERNON: “Nothing will induce me to part with Bunbury, and if you ever get married, which seems to me extremely problematic, you will be very glad to know Bunbury. A man who marries without knowing Bunbury has a very tedious time of it.” This passage tells the audience of Algernon’s position on leading double identities, starting with his own Bunbury as a response to Jack’s statement that he will kill off his imaginary brother and saying that Algernon must do the same thing, saying that once he is married to Gwendolen, he won’t need an imaginary brother because he will be happy. Algernon laughs at tells that married men are the ones who should have double lives. This passage implies that men at that time, especially married men, lead double lives so that they can do extravagant stuff and at the same time seem proper. It’s an attack against Victorian society, and even if Jack used his double identity to meet up with Gwendolen, the moral undertone of deceit is still there and will continue to proliferate in that society because of strict societal codes. And even if Jack strips off his “Ernest”, he would still find another identity as a need. 2. ALGERNON: I love hearing my relations abused. It is the only thing that makes me put up with them at all. Relations are simply a tedious pack of people, who haven't got the remotest knowledge of how to live, nor the smallest instinct about when to die. Algernon talks about his family, specifically his Aunt Augusta or Lady Bracknell. This talk about family is a comment of the British familial relations, especially on inheritance. It must be noted that Lady Bracknell is always financially attuned, and this irks Algernon. This statement is also a critique on the rich’s greed for money, which is the constant conflict in the play, as per Lady Bracknell and the others. 3. Lady Bracknell: “I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. 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.” This passage talks about the futility of education in England. The passage says that if the education is competitive, then the rich would have to be overpowered and overruled by the masses. Lady Bracknell is a part of the rich, and in this passage, she does not want the poor to be any better so as not to rattle her status. This is reflective of her character throughout the play. 4. Miss Prism: The plain facts of the case are these. On the morning of the day you [Lady Bracknell] mention, a day that is for ever branded on my memory, I prepared as usual to take the baby out in its perambulator. I had also with me a somewhat old, but capacious hand bag in which I had intended to place the manuscript of a work of fiction that I had written during my few unoccupied hours. In a moment of mental abstraction, for which I never can forgive myself, I deposited the manuscript in the basinette, and placed the baby in the hand bag. This passage states that Miss Prism has suffered a mental abstraction, because of her own-self-authored book, which led her to lose the baby that she was supposed to take care of This may be because of her dreams as a writer. Her romantic dreams of being famous led to the disastrous mistake. The author implies that some of our dreams, especially romantic ones, can lead to big mistakes. 5. Jack: On the contrary, Aunt Augusta, I've now realised for the first time in my life the vital Importance of Being Earnest. This is one of the best lines in the play. The line literally states that it is good to be honest, but then again, this can be taken as a pun; he is named Ernest. Is he referring to being honest or to being an Ernest. His life was a deceitful one, although accidentally truthful, but still, he lied about his younger brother. Is he pointing out honesty, or the goodness of being an Ernest? III. News Article Congressman says he did not post lewd photo on Twitter June 01, 2011|By the CNN Wire Staff A liberal Democratic congressman who came under fire for a lewd photo that briefly appeared on his Twitter account over the weekend told CNN Wednesday that he did not post the image. Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner spoke to CNN's Wolf Blitzer a day after a contentious exchange with reporters in which he refused to directly answer any questions about the picture. On Wednesday he said he had hired a law firm to look into the matter. But he declined to directly answer whether he appeared in the photo. Explanation: Anthony Weiner’s story is a lot like The Importance of Being Earnest, although his case would be the tragic version. One of the major themes of the novel is about marriage since it is the major motivation of the plot. Deceit comes second, then the constraints of the rules of society. In Weiner’s case, like Jack, he leads a double life: the first one was that of the married, responsible politician and the other one was a womanizer. This is what Algernon pointed out to Jack: he will need to have a double life when he is married. Now, Weiner’s behavior caused his marriage to be put under stress (although their still well); he deceived everyone by taking up another person’s character (which is Weiner-esque) and the last one, noticing the rules of society. See, Weiner resigned as being a congressman because he was humiliated by his actions. This humiliation was socially sanctioned. Morally, posing naked is not that a mistake but socially, many people were scandalized. Unlike Ernest, his deceitful plans did not produce affirmative results. IV. Other Representations of the Book 1. Comic Book 2. Film (2002) 3. Film (1952) 4. Theater V. Literary Criticism: An Excerpt “None of the major characters is governed by conventional morality. Indeed, part of the humor--the play, as it were--of Earnest is the inversion of conventional morality. "Divorces are made in Heaven," says Algy (350). Both he and Jack are ready to be christened, not on grounds of faith but on their perceived need to change their names to Ernest. One of the chief reasons Cecily is enamored with Algernon/Ernest is that she thinks he is leading an evil life: "I hope you have not been leading a double life," she says to him, "pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time. That would be hypocrisy" (382). And Lady Bracknell, who views christening as a "luxury" (431), also views Cecily as a suitable bride for Algernon only after she learns how much money Cecily has.” From: Snider, Clifton. Synchronicity and the Trickster in Importance of Being Earnest. California State University, Long Beach. 2009. Web. Retrieved November 16, 2011. Reaction: The literary criticism is quite accurate in terms of relating writing techniques to synchronicity and being the trickster. These writing techniques employed by Wilde proved that he is an innovative writer and a leading one in his prime. He is an astute observer of the human condition and these techniques made sure that he was named a great writer. Wilde was very much in touch with reality as he made this play. His observations about man in general are quite accurate. His characters are all based on his opinions; they are not moral or immoral. They are opinions of the author and they reflect his beliefs, which are mostly satirical in nature. They say that jokes (satires in this case) are half-meant. Therefore, his satirical entries, his comedies, his characters are all attacks against the society. His audiences too, are part of the farce since they are laughing at themselves. As a mark of a good writer, he employs techniques such as synchronicity and being the trickster to entertain and to mask his intentions with the audiences. In turn, the audience responds quite well, and then identifies with the characters of the play, or maybe identifies someone in the play. This is why the play has become so popular: it is too familiar with the people. VI. Poem The Double Life by Don Blanding How very simple life would be If only there were two of me A Restless Me to drift and roam A Quiet Me to stay at home. A Searching One to find his fill Of varied skies and newfound thrill While sane and homely things are done By the domestic Other One. And that's just where the trouble lies; There is a Restless Me that cries For chancy risks and changing scene, For arctic blue and tropic green, For deserts with their mystic spell, For lusty fun and raising Hell, But shackled to that Restless Me My Other Self rebelliously Resists the frantic urge to move. It seeks the old familiar groove That habits make. It finds content With hearth and home — dear prisonment, With candlelight and well-loved books And treasured loot in dusty nooks, With puttering and garden things And dreaming while a cricket sings And all the while the Restless One Insists on more exciting fun, It wants to go with every tide, No matter where…just for the ride. Like yowling cats the two selves brawl Until I have no peace at all. One eye turns to the forward track, The other eye looks sadly back. I'm getting wall-eyed from the strain, (It's tough to have an idle brain) But One says "Stay" and One says "Go" And One says "Yes," and One says "No," And One Self wants a home and wife And One Self craves the drifter's life. The Restless Fellow always wins I wish my folks had made me twins. Don Blanding was an American poet, born in 1894 and died in 1957. His poem The Double Life is similar to The Importance of Being Earnest in a sense that they are both talking about the pros of having a double life. In the poem, the persona wishes that he has a double life in order to be free from the shackles that the society imposes on him. In Importance of Being Earnest, the major characters both had their double lives, as if they were the persona in this poem before deciding about their double lives. Double lives are quite exciting because the ones leading the lives can actually escape the social sanctions that they can have when they are “proper”. Having a double life ensures variety in one’s life, especially if some actions are prohibited. Such is the environment in a Victorian setting, as in Importance of Being Earnest. References: CNN Wire Staff. Congressman says he did not post lewd photo on Twitter. June 1, 2011. Web. Retrieved, November 14, 2011. Snider, Clifton. Synchronicity and the Trickster in Importance of Being Earnest. California State University, Long Beach. 2009. Web. Retrieved November 16, 2011. Wilde, Oscar and Raby, Peter. The Importance of Being Earnest And Other Plays. New York: Oxford University Press, June 2008. Print. Read More