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.” Analyse the quotation (word and sentence level) and explain how humour is created. How does Wilde explore Victorian attitudes in through the character of Lady B. Write your answer ?
In the importance of being earnest Lady brackenell is one of the characters that is shown in a very typical light as Wilde intended.This character says such things like 'ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit' .Wilde uses this phrase to somewhat mock people of this era for being openly ignorant and so he uses Lady B to show the essence of Victorian attitudes to many situations, one of them being the interview for Gwendolyn's possible marriage .
more over Lady B's attitudes to things like marriage allows us to create in idea that Victorians were of that persona in that era . Wilde uses dialogue mostly between Jack and Lady B to allows us to believe that Victorians all think alike.Oscar Wilde also creates humor by displaying the inventiveness of the characters personas, one of them being lady Bracknell's image of Jack.Jack told Lady B that he was 'found in a handbag', the reaction from Lady Bracknell was understandably shock, however the way she suggestively comments on money and status seems to be a turn for ironic and i believe this was put deliberately to make the audience laugh.
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12 years ago