During the Victorian era, men and women searched for an ideal relationship based on the expectations of a De Indian society. Cecil and Secondly fall in love with a man named Ernest. They both simply fall in love with him because of the appeal his name. Cecil mentions, “…
Always been a gig relish dream of mine to love someone whose name was Ernest,” (Wiled 76). When Cecil state d this she was just meeting Algerian, pretending to be named Ernest so this shows that the women of the Victorian society develop relationships in their head rather than experiencing them in life. Lady Barracker, Leghorn’s aunt mentions, “… I’m not in favor of long engage . NET.
They vive people the opportunity of finding out each other’s character before Mari age, which I think is never advisable,” (Wiled 99). Wiled pointing out the way women living in Victorian Era rather marry a man before they get to know them. Wiled shows marriage as something not cherished but rather inconvenient and bothersome throughout the play. Lance, Leghorn’s servant says that married couples often have an inferior quality of wine compared to bachelors. 2. Identify the main arguments the play makes about romantic love.
The main argument shown throughout the play is the debate of whether love is business r for pleasure. This argument is first introduced when Jack and Algerian rag uh about whether or not Jack’s proposal to Condoled is business or pleasure, “ l though HTH you had come up for pleasure?… L call that business” (Wiled 30). In addition, Lady Barack Nell believes that marriage is only permissible when the bachelor has money and was born of a respectable family; which is shown when she interrogates Jacks history.
She asks him ma NY personal questions that show whether he group up with money or if he worked for his money. Lady Breakneck says “ An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pile Santa or unpleasant, as the case may be” (Wiled 44). Also Lady Breakneck proves the rag unmet of love being pleasant or business, her belief in marriage shows that she believe s that it doesn’t matter if her daughter is in love if the suitor is not eligible. Overall, throughout t the entire play the main argument is whether love is business or pleasure which is a maim n part of the Victorian society which the play takes place in. .
Understand why Jack and Algerian felt it necessary to adopt dual identities. Jack and Algerian felt it was necessary to adopt dual identities because they anted to fit in society and be suitable bachelors in order to marry the women they love. Jaw KC feels the need to create an alter ego named Ernest to keep his honorable image intact. Ernest enables Jack to escape the boundaries of his real life and act as he wouldn’t dare to UN deer his real identity. Ernest provides a convenient excuse and disguise for Jack, and Jack f eels no qualms about invoking Ernest whenever necessary. He uses Ernest to escape from his real life. Similar to Jack’s alter ego Ernest, Algerian has invented a fictional character, a chronic invalid named Bunny, to give him a reprieve from his real life.
Bunny prop ides Algerian with a way of indulging himself while also suggesting great seriousness and s ensue Of duty. After Jack explains that he is going to kill of his brother, Ernest Algerian mentis ions, “ Nothing will induce me to part with Bunny, and if you ever get married, who chi seems to me extremely problematic, you will be very glad to know Bunny. A man who marries without knowing Bunny has a very tedious time of 36). He is saying g that all men in the Victorian era have a double life because the marriages are arranged who chi means that they did not necessarily marry the love of their life. Both felt the need to adopt t dual identities to escape from there real life and live differently. 4. Identify where and how gender identities are reversed. In The Importance of Being Earnest, the question of each genders role in socio TTY often centers on power.
By Wiled having his female characters take on the roles of men and his male characters take on the roles of women; it seems that Wiled does a good job Of turning Victorian values on their heads and showing their faults. In the Victorian socio TTY, men are allude for their intellect and judgment, while women are attractive to men for their beauty and chastity. However, Wiled raises interesting questions about gender roles I n play, by putting women like Lady Breakneck in positions of power and by showing that men can be irresponsible and bad at decommissioning. Lady Breakneck has complete control over her daughter, Genderless future. She says in Act l, “ When you do become engage deed to someone, l, or your father, should his health permit, will inform you of the face t,” (Wiled 44). Even though she does acknowledge that her husband should be part of the d excision, she laces herself before him and also belittles him by commenting on his poor h lath. The girls Condoled and Cecil also exhibit similar reversed roles.
The two gig rolls take some masculine control of their lives by accepting the proposals of Jack and A leghorn without consulting their guardians. Condoled describes her father’s life, that he is a home body, and that she thinks he is right and manly to be so, going as far as to say, “ And certainly once a man begins to neglect his domestic duties he becomes painfully femme ante” (Wiled 35). This seems to be a clear indication of role reversal in the plot, where Gee doled, a woman, clearly states that men become effeminate when they abandon their “ domestic duties,” which are usually seen within a woman at that time period. Jack and A leghorn also take on more female roles in this story, although they are continuously com meting on their own masculinity and being praised for it by others. In the beginning of the boo k, Jack waits for Condoled so that he can propose to her. Instead of actively seeking her out, he takes a more passive role and waits and later he even asks her if he can propose to h err. Also Algerian allows Cecil to dictate their love for each other.
Role reversal is very important in the play because it describes how the characters personalities are and how the eye act. 5. Identify several of the plays most farcical moments. Oscar Wiled included many farcical moments in the play to keep a little homo throughout the play. In Act 2, Jack is in full mourning attire for his ‘ brother’, w hen we as the audience know that Algerian, in disguise as his brother has just arrived and introduced himself to Cecil.
This serves to undercut Jack’s pretend mourning and make I t ridiculous and a comic situation for the audience. Another farcical moment was when C icily revealed to Algerian that she has already been ‘ engaged’ to him for the last three moon this, despite not meeting him. Wiled is contriving this plot twist to maximize the humor of the scenario. As it easy to see the comedy in Cecil because she bought herself an engagement r inning from ‘ Ernest’, and wrote love letters to herself signing off that as if Ernest sent to he r.
The meeting Of Cecil and Condoled is characterized by its farcical elements also. Wiled h as the women declare their great friendship despite their only recent introductions, but the I argue part of the race is reserved for the confusion over identities, which is often a common m OTF in comedic plays. The plays title comes into place when Condoled and Cecil show how important it is to them to be in love with a man named Ernest. 6. Identify comic stereotypes in the play, suggesting how these stereotypes count rebut to the basic comic plot.
The basic comic plot shown in the play was the idea of marriages and the characters beliefs. Wiled uses comic stereotypes when Cecil talks about how the fell in love with Algerian prior to meeting, “ l daresay it was foolish of me, but I fell I love with you Ernest,” (Wiled 74). Also when Algerian proposed to Cecil, she meet intoned memories that she had written in his diary. Cecil also discussed how she and “ Ernest’ have been engaged since February 14th and mentioned the love letter he had wrote to her. This is shown as a stereotype because women in the Victorian Era had fantasia deed romances, which provided high expectation of a man. Cecil did this exact HTH Eng in her diary because she fantasies her engagement with “ Ernest”.
7. Recount the plot, explaining how Wiled has structured the play to conform to lilacs dramatic structure.
