Oscar Wildes life

Oscar Wilde was an Irish  poet and writer born in October 16 1890,he is mostly remembered for is epigrams  ,plays and witty way of criticizing the Victorian society through his pieces of writing and to circumstances this led to his imprisonment. Wilde parents were successful dublin intellectuals .Oscar Wilde became fluent in french and German early in life ,he became known for his involvement  in philosophy and other subjects that he later led into in university .


Oscar Wilde had attended trinity college Dublin ,during his time in the  college he produced some of the attributes and attitudes that made him famous .Literary and artistic acclaim were slow in coming to Wilde .In 1884 ,when he maried Constance Lloyd ,Wilde's writing career was still a work in progress.He had gone a lecture tour of North America and been lampooned in the 1881 Gilbert and Sullivan operetta patience as the self -consciously idiosyncratic philosopher -poet Reginald Bunthorne ,but he was celebrated chiefly as well -known in personality and a wit .He may have been the first person ever to become famous for being famous .

lady Bracknell speech to Gwendolyn

I am slightly concerned about my daughters rather interesting taste in men .Upon meeting with jack the other evening,i must say that the fact that he was  born in a cloak room startled me ,and to add on to the horror ...he has no relations .You would think if he had the audacity to ask for my daughters hand in marriage that he would have at least some higher guardian to speak of.I must confess ,that i have quiet a high expectation with men ,especially men whom want to marry my dearest daughter,and i am having some trouble telling whether jack would fit into my self proclaimed list of eligible men .


One of the things i have noticed very recently is the close relationship bonding with Cecily and my Gwendolyn ,never have i thought the two would be such great friends,and all too fast!with jack as her guardian it is quite strange, wouldn't you agree, Gwendolyn has expressed to me some worries about this, Cecily being very attractive and so,my dear daughter is quiet afraid that jack will be whisked away from her.not a chance in the world, Gwendolyn,as i am myself,is perfectly capable of keeping someone on a tight leash,even if ...i where to allow her to marry this man that's is .


I mean,you'd have to be practically very eligible ,to be asking for her hand in marriage ,in this society we live in today,mothers and daughters are only to walk in each others steps .As successful as i was at marriage ,i would only want the very same for my Gwendolyn . And i know that i could possible do something for her poor friend Cecily ,i'm sure her and algernon will be a perfect match ,and perfect distraction from Gwendolyn's worries ,i'm very sure .

Gwendolyn extract

Dear diary 


Well,i guess i was  expecting quiet a situation here ,i am terribly afraid that mother will not accustom to my soon to be husband ,i have not a clue if there conversation was the awful cause of this .Jack is the one i decide to spend the rest of my life with.I know i'd rather love someone more if the person be named earnest,jack isn't...and i'm quiet o.k .I feel it is my ultimate destiny to meet and marry someone of the name earnest,strong honest and willing ,yes...that would be exactly him .Although the other day jacks proposal was such a pleasant surprise ,even though i would have liked him to be more romantic and sincere about it, it was really all i'd expect from such a man;my man .


He is the very aspect of what i am all about,kind caring and affectionate ...isn't that what girl could do for in our age and time ,men cant honestly be asked to give more then that ,right?
and why on earth would jack ask me why i could possibly like the name earnest,as if he could see through my very mind ,yes.I do like the name ,very much ...is that what you'd prefer to hear,jack? that i imagine you to be someone you quiet frankly aren't.Along with this ,i find it very strange that the notifications and connection of jack and and earnest have being appearing up in conversation a lot ,maybe its my over analytic mind but that evening he asked me about the name ,earnest ...i then heard it from Cecily ;not to mention the brother jack kept in the dark .


i believe there are many explanations for jacks interesting secrecy ,it is really and utturly fascinating being with him,and going on with many lists of things i would find of him,will really do me no good .It makes me more anxious of him. I cant say much of what i would want and what i would terribly like ,but i do know that i can at least talk to my mother ,about jack because this marriage is going through and what i might say or do for it to happen ,will just about be erratic .

gwendolyn and cecily

The importance of being earnest is a play of triviality; it repeatedly mocks Victorian morals and social customs, marriage and the pursuit of love in particular. In the extract that i am currently going to explore we also see those very aspect of Oscars inversions & humour when Gwendolyn and Cecily are having a conversation.

In this element Gwendolyn says ‘outside the family circle, papa is quite unknown i think that is how it should be ‘.the writer creates an inverted characteristic of her father, normally it was good in Victorian society for women not to be too ‘well known’ however in this section of the play the language tells us that Oscar Wilde wants to create humour in the fact that normal thoughts on women and men are reversed to make us think in a different way.

in addition i view this to be unusually sarcastic because women in the Victorian era never use to think of men in that sort of way .In the sentence of the first quote the last word of ‘that’s how it should be’ tells us that Gwendolyn is very opinionated, it notifies us that she may be a feminist at heart and might not have the same moralistic view on  men and women as others in Victorian society usually did .this translates to us that there is also an inversion crafted through this gender switch.

The apostrophe used when Gwendolyn said ‘outside the family circle,’ is used to give a effect of a pause in emotion it showed us that she was directly addressing her ‘papa’ and that what she said is something she was probably meaning to say to her own father .I fell that it gives her a higher status to herself,personally when she says that ,she seems as though she is saying it directly to her own papa ,but she isn’t .Gwendolyn goes on to say ‘I think that it is quiet as it should be .And certainly once a man should neglect his domestic duties he becomes painfully effeminate ‘.We view Oscar Wildes persona entering into this as it is viewed that he probably neglected his domestic duties as a family man ,this writer has explored characters through his personal experiences and knowledge many times however in this extract he enters upon his sexuality also when Gwendolyn articulates  ‘and certainly once a man should neglect his domestic duties he becomes painfully effeminate ‘ on this part of the conversation the style in which she said ‘painfully effeminate it tells us that she feels strongly about what is said and has obviously thought about this previous.

Furthermore i  view there being some literal language present, this is due to the fact that Gwendolyn extends her meaning of what she finds effeminate ,she believes that domestic duties make men more manly than womanly ,in retrospect the sentences and manner that her attraction to this sort of type of ‘men’ is placed ,tells us that she is very biased on what she finds desirable .the sentences are always lined with an apostrophe ,to me it seems that she pause after every statements to express her scrutiny or collect them into a final view of men in society.

Gwendolyn seems to be confronting her personal views on her parents ,through the first part of her conversation she uses her father to explain what she doesn’t like of  men and their affirmative roles and duties and now ,on the second part of the conversation she goes on to describe what she doesn’t like of her own mother .’short sightedness ‘ is the word she describes her upbringing of her mother ,In the Victorian era mothers were very important and mostly weren’t criticised however Gwendolyn states that her mother’s upbringing was to blame of her opinions and views on society  .when Gwendolyn says ‘mama, whose views on education is remarkably strict has brought me up to be extremely short sighted ‘.the two words ‘mama and extremely ‘ are emphasised to give the  sense of Gwendolyn channelling frustration  in them .It is an inversion that makes the character seem resentful of her mother in many ways .throughout the whole conversation Cecily isn’t saying much ,and that to me gives remembrance of the roles the ‘listener and the confessor ‘ .Gwendolyn declares what she feels are socially normal for her and Cecily listens ,this shows that they are both close enough to be having this conversation in the first place .more over i have viewed that when Gwendolyn says ‘it is part of her system ‘ the short sentence seemed as though it was a fact of truth ,that her mother is simply the way she is ,and that Gwendolyn ,although expressing some dislike due to the tone of her words ,has learnt to except it .however in the last quote ,’so do you mind me looking at you through my glasses ‘.This phrase  is metaphoric ,because Gwendolyn expresses that she wants to shatter her mother’s influences and wants to be acquainted with only her personal viewing .

given this fact, it shows a lot about what this character feels ,in contrast to Cecily ,these two characters are very similar for the reason that they both have authorities in their life they do not agree with, meaning they have their own sight set for them and they want explore it .like Cecily being a romantic and having enough of an imagination to love someone she doesn’t know well, or Gwendolyn wanting to break out of her mother’s influences ,and wanting to view people from her perspective .

in the first act of importance of being earnest algernon is sitting down and having an interrogating conversation in which jack is the centre.He probes jack to tell about his cigarette case.On one particular quote ,algernon conforms the identity earnest and compares it with his own. 'you have  invented a very useful younger brother called earnest ,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 .Bunbury ,in order that i may be able to go down into the country whenever i choose .Bunbury to go down into the country whenever i choose .


This tells us that algernon is attempting to make a comparison between the two of them to make it sound more expectable to have two identities . also there was another quote about educated people and non educated ,when jack said 'i am sick to death of cleverness .everybody is clever nowadays .I wish to goodness we had a few fools left '.This shows us that Oscar Wilde uses the language to be viewed as very 'harshly honest' ,when really jack is clever himself ,and so it also connects to the fact that he is fed up of the  typical sensibility of Victorian society and how educated people have become a 'public nonsense .oscar develops this to say that 'fools' are more interesting ,maybe due to the fact that they don't aren't really educated and don't
 talk about the bore of materialistic items .The repetition of the word clever insights us how he feels about  intelligent people . Humor is created by the reversed way in which jack feels clever people aren't of his liking ,this makes the audience because the language in that quotation was serious but had some humor in it .




This ideology links to the memorable quote in the novel  were lady brackenell had her conversation with Gwendolyn and said that 'education produces no effect whatsoever '.I feel that notion of the novel is that educated people aren't really liked .The irony of this is that if oscar Wilde suggest that Mrs prism isn't very important either however she is .This connects with the other quote because its shows us although they are living in the Victorian era , Oscar wilde shows the opposite from what the audience might think 'education' may be viewed by people .


Tthroughout act 2 scene 1 You seem to be displaying signs of triviality. 'on the contrary ,aunt Augusta. I've now realized for the first time in my life the vital importance of being Ernest .in this quote the form of lexis is very serious but pun intended ,because jack exposes himself in way only he could see . Oscar made jack perceptive in the in which he finds a great deal of his secret identity  .