The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde

Ernest D., Ernest E., Ernest G., Ernest H.

Choices of the Author● Dramatic Irony● Characterization● Fallacies

Dramatic Irony

▪ Algeron travels to the country house without Jack’s knowledge or permission (Act II)

▫ Algeron said he was Ernest, Jack said Ernest was dead

▪ Cecily and Gwendolen realize in their first meeting that they are both engaged to a man named Ernest Worthing (Act II)

▫ Unaware of the two different people

▪ The blood relation between Jack and Gwendolen is revealed (Act III)

▫ And frankly they do not care

Characterization

▪ Jack Worthing (John, Ernest)▫ Life of respectability vs. life of deceit▫ Jack follows the ideals of Victorian society more than Algernon

▪ Lady Bracknell▫ Representation of high Victorian society ▫ Lady Bracknell is one of the most powerful characters in the play

▪ Miss Prism▫ Initial interactions with Cecily reveal that traditional values and

intellectual pursuits are important to Miss Prism

▫ Hidden past revealed in Act III

Fallacy

▪ Algernon: “ Literary criticism is not your forte, my dear fellow. Don’t try it. You should leave that to people who haven’t been at a University” (Act I)

▪ Jack: “My dear fellow, the truth isn’t quite the sort of thing one tells to a nice, sweet, refined girl” (Act I)

▪ Algernon: “Now produce your explanation and pray make it improbable.” (Act I)

▪ Cecily: “ I don’t like novels that end happily. They depress me so much” (Act II)

▪ Lady Bracknell: “ To speak frankly, I am not in favour of long engagements. They give people the opportunity of finding out each other’s character before marriage, which I think is never advisable” (Act III)

Literary Lenses“Literary criticism is not your forte, my dear fellow. Don’t try it.”

-- Algernon, Act I

● Feminist● Marxist● Psychoanalytical

Feminist Critique▪ Wilde seems very cynical

about the women of his time▪ Many of the women in this

play represent this whimsical, temperamental, unpredictable, and hypocritical image of women that many Wilde quotes suggest

“One should never trust a woman who tells her real age. If she tells that, she'll

tell anything.”

“She wore far too much rouge last night and not quite enough clothes. That is always a sign of despair in a woman.”

Feminist Critique

▪ Concerned with appearances and reputation, shallow▫ G: “I like you already more than I can say. My first

impressions of people are never wrong.” (Act II)▫ G: “From the moment I saw you I distrusted you. .... I

am never deceived in such matters. My first impressions of people are invariably right.” (Act II)

▫ Only want to marry a man named Ernest▫ Use a lot of fallacy and verbal irony

C: “May I offer you some tea, Miss Fairfax?”G: “[With elaborate politeness.] Thank you. [Aside.]

Detestable girl! But I require tea!” (Act II)

THEME 1: Women are sly with the use of their power, often focusing on self image but quietly able to use their influence to manipulate people for their own purposes.

Feminist Critique

▪ Have men at their beck and call, and own it▫ Men ready to re-christen themselves as “Earnest”▫ Men pampering their ladies

▪ Manipulative▫ G: “They don’t seem to notice us at all. Couldn’t you

cough? .... They are looking at us. What effrontery!” ▫ Avoid giving in to what they find reasonable until they

get all possible repentance from the menG: “Their explanations appear to be quite satisfactory

.... you think we should forgive them?”C: “Yes. I mean no.”

THEME 1: Women are sly with the use of their power, often focusing on self image but quietly able to use their influence to manipulate people for their own purposes.

Feminist Critique

▪ Contrasts the idea of women being powerful and independent enough of men to manipulate them and prove their class on their own with negative stereotypes of women▫ From hatred to sisterhood in a matter of pages

Insults to class on page 41, and page 42:G: “My poor wounded Cecily!”C: “My sweet wronged Gwendolen!”G: “You will call me sister, will you not?” (Act III)

▫ THEME 2: Through sisterhood and bonding together, women can guard against the scheming of men.

THEME 1: Women are sly with the use of their power, often focusing on self image but quietly able to use their influence to manipulate people for their own purposes.

Marxist Critique

▪ Constant appearances and disappearances by servants

“[Enter Lane.] L: Mr. Ernest Worthing.[Enter Jack.][Lane goes out.]”

“[Enter Merriman.]M: Miss Fairfax.[Enter Gwendolen.][Exit Merriman.]”

▪ Serve only to suit their masters

A: Is marriage so demoralising as that?L: I believe it is a very pleasant state, sir. .... I have only been married once. A: I don’t know that I am much interested ....L: No, sir; it is not a very interesting subject. I never think of it myself.

THEME 1: The servants in both country and town homes are shown at a distinctly lower level than their employers through their brief and complacent appearances.

Karl Marx the Spot (in Society)

▪ Trust between Algernon and Lane, and Jack and Merriman:▫ Servants are NOT part of the proletariat, they are employed.▫ Shows upper class hierarchy in story, as they can afford

servants. ▫ Algernon shares with Lane that he is going bunburying

(dramatic irony to Jack). ▪ Historical status of Victorian upper class servants (hierarchy).▪ Working class is supposed to facilitate a Marxist revolution led

by intellectuals. HAHAHAHAHA! ▪ Servants have potential insights (e.g.: Cecily and Gwendolen’s

confusion), but restrain them (restraining power).

THEME 2: The master can be inferior to the servant in many ways, including conformity to social hierarchy.

Don’t be A-Freud

▪ Theme 1: Our basal desires come from our environment and status in society.▫ Manipulation of Algernon’s ID at various points in the story,

versus Jack (shows more ego). ▪ Comedic effect comes from the fact that the most important

lesson learned in the play is so trivial!▫ Bunbury: Algernon’s superego reveals useful information to

Jack about his relationship with Gwendolen.▪ Lady Bracknell as a superego reference figure.▪ “I love hearing my relations abused. It is the only thing that makes

me put up with them all…” (19).

Ethos Superego

Logos Ego

Pathos ID

A Helpful Analogy...

Freudian ExamplesJack:▪ Shows restraint around

food.▪ Flirts with Gwendolyn, a

more complex individual. ▪ Has a practical use for

Ernest initially.

Lady Bracknell (the practical benefits of marriage): credibility from family

● “To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness. Who was your father?” (16)

● “A man should always have an occupation of some kind. There are far too many idle men in London as it is” (15).

Algernon:

● “All women beome like their mothers. That is

their tragedy. No man does. That’s his” (19).

● “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” (18).

● “Yes, but it’s hereditary, my dear fellow. It’s a

sort of thing that runs in families. You had

much better say a severe chill” (20).

Miss Prism: betraying the class

● Initially reasonable; corrupted by Dr. Chasuble

● Facilitates Cecily’s betrayal of her class

Too Jung to Marry?

▪ Flirting is a motivator of a range of behaviors:▫ Algernon’s impersonation is a complex focused on Cecily

▪ Unconscious is specific to our ancestral past:▫ Animus: argument between Gwendolen & Cecily vs. Jack and

Algernon after Jack’s name is revealed to Gwendolyn.

▪ Past experiences + future aspirations = cause of behavior:▫ Existential crisis: using Algernon’s masquerading to help Jack.▫ Jack is a liar who is actually tellling the truth about Ernest.

▪ Collective unconscious structures the couples in the story:▫ Eating, flirting, degradation of values to trivialities

Theme 2: Our thoughts influence our actions,

ironically so if they work against us. The level

of rigor of a matter depends on the amount of

thought required before action upon it.

Attachment Theory: John Bowlby, Hazan and Shaver (1987)

▪ Cecily’s vs. Gwendolen’s reciprocation of coquetry.▪ Proximity Maintenance:

▫ Romance in Adulthood: safety when lover is nearby (Lady Bracknell is antithesis)

▫ Characteristics: discussion of intimacies, “baby-talk.” [VIDEO!]▪ Secure Base: knowledge that you can rely on someone

▫ Examples: Jack isn’t true to himself and lacks this▫ Loss of Jack at train platform sets up his character in part

▪ Discussion Question: Who is weaker, men or women?

The distortion of the line between

childhood and adulthood is important in

the play.

VIDEO

https://youtu.be/jO40ca6HVMg?t=4m37s

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others

whenever they go.