Dr Faustus and The Importance of Being Earnest - Essay Example

A Comparison of Dr. Faustus and The Importance of Being Earnest A popular form of entertainment in the Middle Ages and into the society of the Victorian enlightenment was the concept of the morality play. As they became more refined with the passage of time, these were generally humorous plays written primarily to entertain the ‘common man’ at the same time that they attempted to instruct him on some element of social life. This is the approach taken in plays such as “The Importance of Being Earnest” written by Oscar Wilde and “Dr. Faustus” created by Christopher Marlowe. Both of these plays contain a great deal of humor, particularly to the society already intimately familiar with the accepted social norms and expectations held in common. However, both of these plays also directly address the question of morality, or perhaps immorality would be a better term, of deliberate deception. Within Wilde’s play, more than one character pretends to be someone or something different from what they really are. They are only able to achieve a state of true happiness when they ‘come clean’ about their identities, thus fulfilling the name of the play by illustrating the importance of being earnest, which is another term for honest and sincere. Marlowe’s story focuses more on the darker elements or consequences of deception as his character perpetrates a number of cruel tricks to fulfill his own sense of amusement, fooling both himself and others until he finally comes to realize the true horror of his own doom. Although the course of events is much different from Wilde to Marlowe leading to necessarily differing conclusions regarding the consequences of deception, both playwrights attempt to convey to their audiences that deception, no matter what its form or intent, is rarely if ever worth the trouble it creates. Within each of these plays, deception is seen as the only means by which the characters can achieve their own personal inner desires from life. Approaching the lighter of the two plays first, the primary characters in Wilde’s play are Jack Worthing and Algernon ‘Algy’ Moncrieff. As the play begins, it becomes immediately obvious that both of these characters feel severely hampered in pursuing their interests by the rigid conventions of polite society. The only means they discover to escape these constraints is to invent an alter ago who provides them with the means of adopting an entirely different persona. While their individual games are not specifically designed to bring harm upon anyone, the complications that ensue when each of these men fall in love force them to finally admit their deception and repent from ever engaging in such activity again. Dr. Faustus, on the other hand, has much loftier goals in mind when he practices to deceive as he wishes to become the more knowledgeable and powerful man in the world despite having already achieved a global reputation for his intellect. Although he deceives himself into thinking he wants this knowledge in order to bring about a better world for all mankind, the devil that deceives him into selling his soul for the knowledge he seeks is aware of Faustus’ true selfish inner nature. This knowledge is manifested in the way in which Faustus spends his years of ultimate knowledge engaging in petty tricks intended to do nothing more than deceive others. As a result of these constructs, deception in each of these plays becomes most evident as a process of observation as the three main characters work to deceive the other characters within their respective stories. Jack has “invented a very useful younger brother called Ernest, in order that you may be able to come up to town as often as you like. I have invented an invaluable permanent invalid called Bunbury, in order that I may be able to go down into the country whenever I choose” (Wilde, Act 1, Scene 1). In making this mirrored deception explicitly clear, Wilde highlights the degree to which deception is unnecessary within the world of his play as each character fulfills the other’s need without it. What is needed is honesty between these two characters to discover a valid means of accomplishing their end goals – Jack visits Algy when he needs excitement and Algy visits Jack when he needs quiet. This sort of ‘innocent’ deception of others is contrasted against the more ominous form of the deception practiced by Faustus. One of the most amusing and yet cruel examples of Faustus’ kind of deception can be found in the banquet scene (III, i). In this scene, Faustus causes himself to become invisible and attends a special banquet being given by the Pope to some important guests. As they attempt to carry out their meal, Faustus grabs the Pope’s dishes out of the air and moves them about, intending to emplace terror in the heart of the ecclesiast. As the Pope crosses himself in automatic symbolic protection, Faustus warns him (with a necessarily disembodied voice) not to do so again. Faustus tells the Pope “Well, there’s the second time. Aware the third; / I give you fair warning. / [The POPE crosses himself again, and FAUSTUS hits him a box / of the ear; and they all run away.]” While each of these characters is engaged in a game to deceive others, considering themselves immensely clever for their wisdom and ability to rise above the common, the end result of their deception is to prove all three profoundly naïve in their willingness to abandon truth. In their eternal self-congratulation of their own cleverness, none of the three main characters under discussion seem capable of understanding how they themselves have become deceived by others. The audience is aware almost from the opening of the play that both men are susceptible to deception as they have managed to deceive each other for some time prior to the play’s opening. However, it is the more harmful deception of the nurse maid, who opted to vanish rather than admit her own thoughtlessness, which proves the real turning point of the play. Lady Bracknell, upon recognizing Miss Prism for someone she knew years ago, confronts her on this point: “Twenty-eight years ago, Prism, you left Lord Bracknell’s house, Number 104, Upper Grosvenor Street, in charge of a perambulator that contained a baby of the male sex. You never returned. … Where is that baby?” (Wilde, Act III, Scene II). Only once she is cornered in this fashion does Ms. Prism’s finally confess her negligence and the entire truth of Jack’s identity is brought forward. It is tempting to blame the devil’s servant Mephastophilis for the deception of Faustus, but Faustus is instead deceived by the mystical visions of Cornelius who tells him “[t]he miracles that magic will perform / will make thee vow to study nothing else” (Marlowe, Act 1, Scene 1) while the evil angel distracts Faustus from thoughts of repentance to “think of honour and of wealth” (Marlowe, Act 1, Scene 5) instead. While both Wilde and Marlowe provide their audiences with examples of individuals who practice to deceive others and are instead easily deceived by others, both plays force attention to the dangers of self-deception. Jack and Algy are both immensely proud of their own cleverness in fooling others and are astonished at the degree to which they had been deceived by others (Jack by Ms. Prism and Algy by his mother who never told him he had an older brother that was lost). The degree to which they had been deceived as compared to their own pitiful attempts at deception reveal to both men the degree to which they had been deceiving themselves in thinking they were clever. Jack makes this astonishment known when he exclaims “Algy’s elder brother! Then I have a brother after all. I knew I had a brother! I always said I had a brother!” (Wilde, Act III, Scene II). This statement reveals a deep sense that he knew something of who he was, but had deceived himself into believing he had no past and no true family. Marlowe’s character is also a victim of self-deception, continuously choosing to listen to words of promise rather than words of warning even as he struggles to ignore his own inner sense of something wrong. As this analysis demonstrates, Oscar Wilde and Christopher Marlowe had similar things to say regarding the practice of deception and the way in which it most commonly works to deceive the self. All three of the primary characters consider themselves clever because of their perceived ability to deceive others but are themselves deceived, not just by others but to a much greater extent by themselves. There is a difference, however, in the comedy of “The Importance of Being Earnest” and the tragedy of “Dr. Faustus.” Jack and Algy are both able to recognize the degree to which they’d been deceiving themselves and were able to find a happy resolution by repenting and correcting their behavior. Faustus, however, is confronted with the truth from the beginning and opts to deceive himself at every turn. Even when others attempt to encourage him to see the truth, he allows himself to become distracted and must therefore suffer eternally for his refusal to face reality. References Marlowe, C. (1616). “Dr. Faustus”. Masterplots. Ed. S. Flecher. Salem Press, Inc., 1996. Wilde, O. (1895). “The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People”. Masterplots. Ed. S. Bromige. Salem Press, Inc., 1996. Read More