The Importance of Being Earnest: Meaning & Analysis PDF

The Importance of Being Earnest: Meaning and Analysis Oscar Wilde Dr. Suneeta Harishchandra Nirmale. Copyright © 2024 by Dr. Suneeta Harishchandra nirmale Cover by Onkar Nirmale All rights reserved. No por on of this book may be reproduced in any form without wri en permission from the publisher or author. ISBN: 978-1-304-23817-7 The Importance of Being Earnest is a comedy. It is based on Farce- Farcical Comedy, Comedy of Manners, Restora on Comedy, Sarcasm etc. types, a device, a style of wri ng, used to construct the play. Wilde chooses to focus solely on the upper classes, he made a selec on of Victorian society though small but was in reality extremely powerful. He had chosen to cri cize dis nguished soldiers, and statesmen of Europe, men of ac on who controlled the poli cal and economic des ny of millions of people around the world. Society is thus an autonomous world, a law unto itself, and Wilde ridicules its arrogant self-importance in deciding every-thing, from how chins are to be worn (‘very high, just at present’) and what is suitable for tea- me refreshment (‘cake is rarely seen at the best houses nowadays’), to which side of street may be considered fashionable. He portrayed characters and their direc onless existence is embodied in the impeccably dressed Jack and Algernon who dri from club to theater and run up huge debts in their indolent pursuit of pleasure. (P. 15) Algernon is con nuously using the Inverts-Cynical view about marriage- “Married couple is bound to be bored-hence welcome”. “Three is company and two is none”. Flir ng, aﬀairs are necessary a er marriage. It is a compe on in ﬂir ng. Being immoral in a rela onship is true love to him. According to him Gwendolen is a smart girl, she is sister to him (daughter of mother’s sister). He has overea ng habits, the cucumber sandwiches were prepared for aunt Augusta, he ate all of them, at the me which meant for slight refreshment. As per Victorian Ethics a ernoon me was meant for social visits. He escapes from the facts of life. Extra ea ng habits symbolized in the play as an expression of lust. Feeling hungry all the me means associated with greed and lust i.e., repressed sexual drives. Wilde refers to sex and vitality with the euphemism of “health”. Author shows the distress towards the facts of life, responsibili es, and escape from avoiding the facts. Algernon dislikes family reunion, par es, chaste, faithful, loyal, rela onships in between husband and wife, in any rela on. He doesn’t believe love between husband and wife would be loyal. He denied the party invita on given by his aunt Lady Bracknell. He lied to her and played imaginary friend Bunbury, (He invented imaginary friend), said that his friend is ill and that he is suﬀering from Apoplexy (disease caused by overindulgence in sexual pleasures and even par cularly caused by over ea ng). Author has expressed an example of sa re, irony that the hereditary disease suggested, ‘Severe Chill’ it shows Algy's ignorance. He wants to develop friendship on condi ons. In this way he is irresponsible, irrespec ve, a liar, pretending to be a sophis cated man, a hypocrite. Algernon in his con nuous discussion with Jack is manipula ng his informa on about Cecily, the ward of Mr. Jack, who is a guardian of Cecily. He maneuvers Jack's conversa on to the subject of Cecily and manipulates Jack into describing her. He targets him with the reference that he found a cigare e case, with the message. Jack had forgo en the case at the me of last visit, up on the slaver. It is inscribed, (P. 11) “From li le Cecily with her fondest love to her dear uncle”. The secret two names, Cecily and Earnest, are disclosed in the ﬁrst scene. Jack has the name ‘Earnest’ in town and ‘Jack’ in the country. He created an imaginary character, a younger brother Earnest also, who is wicked and bad, i.e., Bunbury. According to Algernon Jack is a fraud, absurd, Bunburist that he came on the name of Earnest to come to visit town. And he himself will invent an invaluable permanent bunbury to go down to the country. Algy commented on modern culture, about not reading. Also, he commented on literature and Cri cism. He said, English press and cheap publica on is a tedious job, “Literary cri cism happens in news-papers not in universi es”. Total unreal to the exis ng truth. Reference of Cecily rouses the inclina on in his mind so passionately. He tried to threaten and blackmail jack. Jack is 18 yrs. old pre y ward and he will tell this secret to Gwen. He tried to accept a bribe from Jack to book a dinner table in Willis, a star restaurant. He loved theater, clubs, trot around the very popular theater, ‘Empire’ in London. For example, the ‘Empire’ is associated with party culture, night clubs. But it is sa rical that being conserva ve he didn’t allow his sister to enjoy these moderni es to be in love with someone like Jack. Algernon doesn’t like to do hard work, he said, “It is awfully doing nothing”, “Hard work is boring”. According Algy “Extra-ordinary number of bachelors are present in society”. In Victorian period amusement was the credo of being ‘DANDY’. Like the Author, who spends his life in enjoyment, partying, living and ea ng in great hotels in the company of several friends to listen to him and leading them to express their applause of apprecia on on the delivery of story and joke. With an entry by Algernon, the play becomes interes ng. Playwright produces stock ﬁgures, hilarious mischief, light hearted amusing word fest, sarcasm about Victorians hold sacred. Style and Manners come under a ack by the Wilde who admired social repartee of the day, a perfect homage to style over substance, opposite of what is understood to be true. Beau ﬁca on treatment taken by Victorian women was under a ack. For example, (P. 17) sa re is produced on dyed hair of Lady Harbury, as Lady Bracknell remarked about her friend. Lady Harbury is looking young a er the death of her husband. Jack commented she must have dyed her hair to look young and more a rac ve. An era represented by change according to moderniza on. Few prominent conven ons have also been added. Aristocra c families followed dress-codes, like probably the a ernoon dress consisted of gray trousers, dark coat, and waistcoat. They would change in the evening for the sake theater going, for the dining out, the evening dress was black trouser and tail coat, waist coat, white shirt and e, jacket of ﬁne fabric elaborate trim. Club culture depicted the urge of being dandy in the presence of young protagonist Algernon. Wilde cri cizes he is under debit to expend money lavishly for indolent pursuit of pleasure. Most fashionable men at the me belonged to be a member of one of the many clubs. Which were created to fulﬁll speciﬁc poli cal and social interests. Oﬀer their members the opportunity to socialize with people of similar backgrounds. They used to meet over a drink or meal, specially, bachelors in par cular. It was a second home for them. One of the examples is ‘The Empire’ the theater opened at Leicester Square in 1883 and was very famous for its music hall, especially popular among men in town. They have a custom of how to consume liquor, sipping sherry, a kind of wine before dinner, a fashion of the aristocra c circle. Food mes consisted customarily existed dinner me, evening out etc. smoking is compulsory fashion. ‘Supper’ is a light evening meal. ‘Dinner’ is a meal prepared at the me of midday or night. At the end of the play Jack complained about the ill nature of Algy to L. Bracknell of ﬁnishing his vintage wine, Perrier Jouet Brut 89, a champagne. Algy is a spoiled person. (P. 28). Algy produced the new theory of Music, (Author’s comments on contemporary music): According to Algernon people usually love bad music, French Drama, it showed adultery, vulgarity of themes, and pen themes about sexual conduct. According to moralists in the Victorian period this kind of music had a corrup ng inﬂuence. But the fact was that French Dramas were extremely popular. Though they were not deligh ul, not in respec ul language. According to Algernon, the German language is a respectable language. So, he would prefer German music. He is playing “Wedding March” by German Pianist Felix Mendelsson (1809-47). Actually, Jack commented that Algy has a bad taste in music. Jack feels it ghastly, idio c. Author had punch on the music at the me of the Victorian period, that music overpowered by conversa on in the par es which denote the pathe c condi on of, plight of musicians. It shows false pride of being an aristocra c person. It is also mirrored in their domes c rela onships, lifestyle, e que es and manners as a device ﬁt to appear a comedy of manners. Algernon is cri cizing his sister Gwendolen’s behavior that she has a habit of refusing boy-friends. Also teasing Jack his friend and he challenged Jack to defeat in chasing his love with Gwendolen. Because (Lady Bracknell) his aunt would not give her consent, permission to his marriage proposal, as well as he himself will not approve it, showing his self- centered behavior demanding dinner in star hotel. In his ignorance and irresponsible thinking is refusing an advantageous Match to his sister. Algernon thinks superﬁcially and immaturely, very carelessly. This behavior of the young genera on is cri cized by the playwright for the absence of virtues in aristocra c families. (P. 29) “I love hearing my rela ons abused”, said Algernon. Wilde alludes to his own example and cri cizes all fathers in his me, causing strained rela onships to him in his unusual love-rela onships with his boyfriend. Boy-friend’s father Alfred Douglas caused serious problems and made an arrangement for punishment, lodging a judicial complaint against Wilde to imprison him. This manner reﬂects, according to the Victorian sense, dandy. Meaning it was typically wi y without being serious, languid, leisurely, and above all, a man of fashion and fas dious taste. But Wilde, in his public image, went a step further, he epitomized the spirit of dandysm in the larger social sense – ‘an ultra-sophis cated social philosophy for the superior misﬁt’. For this theory of dandysm as a philosophy of life, Wilde was indebted to Jule Barbey D’Aurevilley who, in his long essay Du Dandysm et de Georges Brummell (1846), extolled the dandy as an individualist using his acidulous wit to shock society into an awareness of their own smugness and stagna on, and also to Charles Baudelair and his cult of self as a kind of revolt against the established norms of society. In the importance of being earnest, Wilde uses the dandy as an ar s c principle of sorts. By playing on the audience’s response to this ﬁgure, he explores the tension between illusion and reality. Algy with his ready wit and obsession with food and clothes, is a larger-than-life representa on of the typical dandy and would consequently have struck a chord of recogni on among many in the audience. The fashionable clothes worn by Jack and Algy, the allusions to the clubs and restaurants they frequent, their a tude to the lower classes, and their mannerisms and speech, all combine to produce a stage illusion which would have been barely dis nguishable from reality. In fact, fashion has reputedly inspired several real-life dandies who would study them minutely before ordering their own clothes. The boundaries between life and art are thus blurred, and the two become mirror images of each other. As Wilde himself, put it, ‘Life imitates Art more than Art imitates life’ (The Decay of Lying, 1889) Marriage in Victorian society is kind of business made for status, stuﬀed with sexual a rac on, homosexual atmosphere. For example, Jack had “come up for pleasure” to the town. Lane and Algernon “call that business”, to be in love is roman c, but a proposal is never roman c, because “one may be accepted, marriage brings about an end to the roman c excitement of ﬂir ng” Wilde corrupts the maxim as in the statement “Two’s company and three’s crowd”. Algernon said that, in married life “three’s company and two is non”, it is “misunderstanding” (P. 6) Marriage means demoralizing, trivial, nonsensical, unwise act. Marriage is a fashionable pose of cynicism. He wants to marry but on the terms of forge ulness. So, he used comic wi y reversal that in the place of well-known idiom, “Marriages are made in heaven” reversed as “Divorces are made in heaven”. He is describing further that (P. 35) only pre y and innocent who are not or will not create a problem, problem crea ng girls are material of love. For sake of ﬂir ng with Cecily the country girl, he wrote her address on his shirt cuﬀs secretly, which he get it by chea ng Jack. He blackmailed Jack saying that he has girl-friend in country along with one more girl-friend in city i.e. Gwendolen. His remarks are “Girls never marry the men they ﬂirt with it is amusing varia on of the usual belief that “Men never marry the girl they ﬂirt with”. further he uses cynical inverts as (P. 15) “Marry Farquhar ﬂirt with her husband, in condi on when couple bound to be bore”. For him it looks enormously increasing scandalous, indecent and bad like, (P. 14) “Washing one’s clean linen in public” Washing one’s clean dirty linen as in comic wi y reversal. Lady Bracknell is pre-eminently the voice of, representa ve of the upper class, Wilde chooses to focus solely on the upper classes. He shows us a narrow minded social class almost fana cal in its obsessions with the superﬁcial trapping which characterized it- tles, rank, birth, lineage, and wealth, inherited, not acquired in the ‘purple of commerce’. Wilde sa rizes high society’s obsession with creden als by liberally bestowing tles on his major characters, and simultaneously concoc ng an absurd background for Jack. The contrast between aristocra c preten ousness of Lady Bracknell and Jack’s apparently obscure origins is vividly brought out in the interview scene, and summed up in Lady Bracknell’s contemptuous dismissal of the proposed marriage as an ‘alliance with a parcel’. For in this closed world marriages are arranged for social approval, and devia ons from the arbitrary dictates of society could jeopardize one’s posi on in it. Hence Lady Bracknell’s sage advice: ‘Never speak disrespec ully of Society, Algenon. Only people who can’t get into it do that’. P. 16. 17. She believes in conven ons like ringing of bells in Wagnerian manner which must be imperious that Richard Wagner was a German composer who had forceful music style. Ladies in Victorian society grieved against the mail dominion, exploita on. She enumerated an example of her friend Lady Harbury that she was wai ng for to be free from her under dominance life of her husband. According to her a er the death of her husband she looks young and fresh. She ate ‘Crumpets’ which symbolizes an exact tea me breakfast in Victorian mes. P. 17. (a light so bread, curled in shape, baked in a ﬂat pan over a ﬂame, usually eaten toasted at tea- me.) P. 19 She is very conserva ve and conven onal in her opinion and approach to life. The example is she wanted to decide her daughter’s marriage as per Victorian ethics. Such as there are ‘two seasons’ to make an arrangement of marriage proposals or match making. Mothers carried these proposals on behalf of their daughters and sons, bride-grooms. Mother should a end the town gatherings, in winter seasons, and warmer months. First condi on is they tend to ﬁnd matchmaking of their daughter to the sons of the family with the equal posi on and status, luxuries of life, property etc. second for an engagement woman accepts a man’s oﬀer of marriage. Third Victorian believed that marriage should be arranged in advantageous matching according to property, income, social connec ons. Fourth, girls are not allowed to make their own decisions to marry, prior to parental consent. Fi h, mothers should draw up a list of eligible bachelors, young men, by a ending the ‘seasons’, par es. Sixth proposal should be forwarded with an ‘Interview’ of suitable young bachelors by the girl's bride’s parents. Jack is an orphan, 29 years old. It fulﬁlls the condi on to call a play a farce, farcical comedy. He is simple man with country culture uninterested to city culture, modern deﬁni on of love and romance, never mind anything related to e que es and manners. Directly proposed to Gwendolen to marry him. Acts as directed by Gwendolen to express his true love. Jack is very wealthy man he is magistrate in country. He owns 7 to 8 thousand pounds interest of fortune. He belongs to upper-middle class family. He earns 1 thousand pound income per year. Owned 15 hundred acres of land, cul vated by poachers (illegal hunters on the others property). He owned his own home in posh area in London, Belgrave Square 149, like Grosenvar Square, at present hired by lady Bloxham on six months-no ce. (P. 24 to 38) By poli cs he is Liberal Unionist, Tories. Never possessed with bad habits, fad and fashions, smoking. He is very clean unpolished, less sophis cated. He is nurtured by Late. Mr. Thomas Cardew (man of charity with kind disposi on). He named a er cket for Worthing (place in Sussex), seaside resort. Because Jack found to Mr. Cardew in black leather hand-bag in clock-room of Victoria Sta on, owns by mistake along the Brighton Line, brings complica on in love line. Though he expressed his true love to Gwendolen directly and told his friend. He is engaged with Gwendolen, he calls her ‘Trivet’ (balanced/ quite all right, a pot on the ﬁre on a three-legged stand). He had shown his regret, calling Lady Bracknell (Mother of Gwendolen) a ‘Gorgon’ (Mythologically three frigh ul sisters Stenos, Euryale, Medusa-they use their black magic to transfer the person in front of them in to stone, in their fury.) a monster in present day he said it to Algy. P. 19 in the opinion of Gwen in their private conversa on Jack begins his conversa on inapplicable to lovers. Although this was right, beginning to talk with “charming day” usually. He expresses his love towards Gwendolen, admires her, and feels amazing and happy. She loves his name Earnest. So, he tried to convince her that she should accept him and his true love with his real name Jack but unfortunately was not successful. Gwendolen teaches him the rituals of love and the style of expressing it. Love Scene: Gwendolen: (P.22, 23) she dislikes Jack’s typical English Man’s habit to talk on weather. She is very comfortable in the company of Jack. But she has her own theories of love, insensible, foolish, and makes us laugh. For her, the expression of love is a public demonstra on, not a private ma er, the right expression is a status symbol. She only loves the name Earnest passionately, not the person/substance. She is des ned to love this name, inspires absolute conﬁdence in her. For her Earnest is the perfect name divine, music of its own produces vibra ons (author is applying 16th century theory known as ‘musical spheres’ when planets are in perfect harmony with each other gives a certain musical vibra on.) In an ironical love-story which is lacking the true harmony, union, only name thrills her. The name Jack is plain, notorious, domes c like John, as if all deriva ve names, commonest of all the European names. It features an average man. She said, “it would be a pity on the women who married the person named Jack”. She is giving more a en on to social e que es and manners. She wishes Jack should always look at her in public. Her love is condi onal love. The news should be reached to ‘provincial pulpit’ meaning, the news should be reached from town to the countryside like church sermons delivered. It must be considered that much important and sacred. The news of love marriages should be published through magazines. It was turn taking a er the mee ng to Lady Bracknell’s rejec on of the marriage proposal of Jack. Jack is well nurtured, his upbringing denotes his manners that he passed hate comments as stylish, absurd, immature, superﬁcial, not exhibi ng anything substan al about Algy. Calling it nonsense also he worried about Gwendolen’s behavior. Had discussion about categories of people clever versus fools. (P. 30) Had discussions about his secret life, how he is Jack in the country and Earnest in town. Immediately decides about killing the imaginary character Earnest, due to diﬃculty that complica ons arouse Gwendolen Loves the name Earnest not the actual person. He keeps telling Cecily and Miss. Prism that Earnest is his brother (imaginary). (P. 30) Cecily had an a rac on towards Earnest as an imaginary character. He decides to kill his imaginary brother, will declare death caused by severe chill, apoplexy (due to loss of muscular control or block in blood vessels) the reason he denotes very ethical not like Algy’s. He has his smart moves towards his love according to him “Truths have never told to the nice, sweet, reﬁned girls”. First me Cecily introduced by Jack saying that she is not silly, roman c girl. She has capital appe te. Goes long walk, pays no a en on to her studies. She is exclusively pre y 18 years old young girl. As a guardian he is taking very good care of his ward Cecily. He believes on he tries to imbibe in nurturing of Cecily and predicted “Gwendolen and Cecily would be great friends to each other extremely within half an hour of their mee ng, calling sisters and loath to each other”. It has proven true in act III both the girls became good friends, though they falsely realized they loved same person actually to the same name Earnest, unknown to the Mistry of name there are two diﬀerent persons. Jack is workaholic distasteful for modern culture, hates clubs, theaters, talking and just to trot. Wilde’s mocking on aristocra c people, it refers to aesthe c movement, cri cs emphasized, for aristocra c style and wit is more important than substance of life. (P. 29) Algy threatens Jack that his marriage would not be successful, here is reference of divorce courts, before 19 century divorces were accessible only through an act of parliament un l the marriage and divorce act was passed in 1857. In the conversa on between Jack and Algernon there is hyperbole used, the over-exaggera ng talk of Algy about fran c le er of enquiry in Police Headquarter, Scotland Yard, refers to London Metropolitan Police. CID criminal branch. For the usual ma er of the inscrip on wri en on cigare e case by Cecily to Jack for the mere case of inscrip on. Because, ﬁrst Jack tells a lie to Algy, Cecily is his aunt and living in Turnbridge Wells, the London town for re red people because at the contemporary me the place was facilitated with a spa or springs of mineral water. Algy con nuously talking on false or opposite things of whatever is appropriate, so Jack commented as an allusion on Den st. Playwright produces a pun on the word Den st producing the meaning in two diﬀerent ways one is the task of den st happens with false impression and the other denotes that though Algy would not be able to work as a den st as an inves gator, doctor or scien st with his false knowledge, (smugness). So, he need not be worried about his threat. Also, it is an example of Sarcasm Den st’s work can be considered as false, mirror image, opposite of what is present in front of. Jack’s encounter with Lady Bracknell (P. 18) the mother of Gwendolen and aunt of Algernon. She is very cau ous, possessive for care of her daughter. She is conven onal and aggressive, very domina ve, she is living on her own terms. (Food-customs) Already she ate crumpets in Lady Harbury’s home though she wants Cucumber Sandwiches from Algernon. She is invi ng her friends and rela ves for the party but she doesn’t allow her husband to be in company with guest. She sends dinner in his bedroom on upstairs. It was customary to Victorians there should be even numbers on dining-table. When Algernon shows resentment to a end her par es and told a lie that his friend is dying. She is very rudely commented that, it doesn’t ma er to her, her party must go on. She said, it is “Shilly-shallying business”. For her music must be played in her party. Like Algernon she considered German music an obscene, and French music respectable. It is pity-full to the musicians that conversa on was louder than music, insul ng situa on to them in Victorian period. She found that Jack was on his knees (semi-recumbent posture) to propose her daughter Gwendolen. She found it indecorous. Then she turned to the marriage interview of Jack. According to Victorian ethics marriages must be arranged by the parents, through the perfect match. It was customary for the prospec ve suitor to be interviewed by the parents of the girl, Bride. Par es should be thrown for advantageous matchings. Bride’s mother should have a list of suitors i.e. eligible bachelors. Jack’s name is not in the list of Lady Bracknell, though she starts an interview with Jack. Asks ques ons on smoking habit, age, occupa on. She dislikes educa on which spreads violence, which refers to the French Revolu on. She likes ignorant people around so that she would rule them, consider them as a slave and use them for her interest, she said, “ignorance is an exo c delicate fruit”. According to her, educa on is ineﬀectual. She would love to have property as a land which will not give proﬁt. There is a pun on the word Du es; it is used for two meaning one is duty the other is tax. Discussed in detail on poli cs, like the conserva ve cycle of poli cal par es, wealthy people like Liberal Unionist and Tories. She hates Radical Par es, revolu onaries, there is fright in her mind of the French Revolu on. Revolu onaries hold aristocra c people as their enemy, referring to guillo ning of the people. The fright in her mind expresses improvement through educa on is the cause of social reform, to seek sympathy from Radical newspapers. She thinks marriage proposals are a business made to earn money, a status symbol. She has given importance to parent. Jack is an orphan so she demands any one of his parents as proof. She rejected the marriage proposal. She refers here to ‘social indiscre on’ i.e. illegi mate children. As Jack found on the railway sta on, it is out of status to accept one of abandoned children as son-in -law. Rejected him as an alliance with parcel. It is very insul ng to her to have Jack as a son-in-law in her home. She would love to be connected to the rich who inherit ‘purple of commerce’. Sarcas c remarks passed by Jack he said masses were the rank traders reach than aristocra c, and she considered them to be classes. The implied meaning is for the use of words ‘asses….classes’ by the playwright to create ambiguous statements, to laugh on upper- classes i.e. fools. Lady Bracknell misunderstands asses as masses and classes as refers to aristocracy. She le the room in indigna on. Because Jack’s secret and orphan life takes a serious turn. Gwendolen possesses a balanced nature, though she cri cizes her parents saying, “Elders respect is dying, less a en on is given to child’s opinion”. Also, she remarked to her mother saying that, “inquisitorial” is called ruthless. It refers to social transforma on, as revolt against arbitrary thoughts. In 1820 in order to detect and surpass heresy, the Roman Catholic Church was abolished and it was established in 1478. Their manners were associated with an increasingly notorious tribunal of the me author alludes to them to compare the adamant nature of Lady Bracknell. Author has used an excellent example of the character sketch of Gwendolen. She has dazzling ability, the combina on of mood and style. She is an example of drama c romance. The suspense is provided through parental opposi on in romance and marriage. There is a sudden switch in opinion of Gwendolen though she loves Jack ready to accept him as her groom. A er rejec on from her mother, she tells him she may not marry him because she respects the opinion of her parents. Gwen. Recognize people as per their ﬁrst impression. She likes Cecily. Cecily doesn’t know her father because in Victorian society men were recognized by their domes city, men made home a rac ve. And women by their out-door du es. This was the sign of change towards women's freedom that Wilde emphasized. Her mother doesn’t like educa on; she loves to wear glasses. She made an inquiry about Cecily’s rela ves. She speaks candidly but has straight forward nature, called Cecily an aged person and very plain. She was shocked to hear that Jack for her Earnest keeps secrets. She praises Earnest as an upright person, soul of truth, loyal, away from decep on, noble, moral, extremely suscep ble, inﬂuencing others, has physical charm, and modern. She doesn’t like historical ﬁgures, these are painful. For her history is unreadable. She has doubts that Jack/Earnest never men oned about her brother. This thing creates confusion. Both the girls considered there is only one person named Earnest and both of them are in love with the same character. The device, the truth described on diﬀerent planes of reality which created laughter. Cecily declared that she is in love with Earnest; she is engaged and the news will appear in the country news-paper. For her Earnest is entrapped into a foolish promise she must rescue him. She added further he made an engagement with her yesterday at 5.30 she shows the diary to Cecily. As men oned before, keeping a diary is fad to the Victorian modern women. She doesn’t have regrets about being a person from the city, she loved to be. Bothe girls have discussions on site scene, views of the countryside. She complimented the garden view in front of the manor house. According to her mother, educa on brought short-sighted nature. EPIGRAMS: there are unexpected changes in decisions. Love transferred in immediate failure. Parent-children rela onship are diﬀerently maintained on straight-forward ground direct resentment as well as respect. There are features of comic-melodrama. Sad par ng of lovers due to parent’s rejec on. Gwendolen used the phrase, “marries o en” gives humorous twists in love rela onships. There is secret of name Jack or Earnest. Secret of Cecily is an old woman or young girl. Secret of rela onships, rela on in between Jack and Cecily, has shown the resentment and suspicion of Algernon. As a brother of Gwendolen, he has doubt on the character of Jack. It seems restlessness of Algernon to disclosing of the secret of name O li le Cecily. Secrets are disclosed like birth and parentage of protagonist, gives excitement to stuﬀ of roman c scenes. Also, there is the secret of playing Bunbury/Dandysm, both heroes are playing imaginary characters in disguise with the same imaginary name Earnest which both the girls are a racted to, which produce hilarious laughter in act III to the audience that entanglement of lovers. Author has used a common formula of love and romance. Infused daily rou ne of the characters, as natural visits, le ers etc. Clash in between classes: aristocra c class and lower class in the ﬁrst act Lane the servant in the Algernon’s lavish home is a lower-class person. He has no right to take part in discussions going home between Algernon, his owner and Jack as a guest. He is away from basic happiness like wife children he is divorcee calls marriage as a, “misunderstand”. Their duty is to take care of each order of their owners. Making an announcement of the approach of guests, producing them food, liquor as per Victorian schedule. And forbear all the nuisance of his master without fail or complaint. Must listen to the bad, harsh piano of his master, drink cheap quality liquor. To hide the mistakes of their owners in front of their guests, as he announced there are no cucumbers in the market, he lies to Lady Bracknell. Layers meanings: play depicts social cri cism-values, refers to homosexual community and its culture, locals and landmarks, familiar to audiences, short wi y sayings, puns for humor and social cri cism. Characters have given a en on to self-gra ﬁca on, stuﬃng against the repressive Victorian Values of duty, virtue and lust, the topic not discussed in polite society. It explored the theme of hopeless triviality based on the mo f that society never cares about substance but instead reverse style and triviality. Playwright created the imaginary character Earnest, turning this connota on upside down. Wilde used this character for decep on, double life. Author created a pun out of these ﬁgura ve techniques. Wilde emphasized Bri sh Culture names that molliﬁed the burden of cri cism. Storage of 8 bo les of champagne, night par es is an upper- class delicacy. But they didn’t like their servants to drink and discuss with them. Author cri cizes low opinions, ill-informed treatments for art, literature, press and modern journalism. He tried to jus fy for survival/existence everything is acceptable as included in Darwin’s Theory of survival of the ﬁ est”. The phrase “Not absolutely Indiﬀerent”-celebrated understatement of English Pa ern, double nega ve emphasizes the posi ve. Act II Wilde held a low opinion of the educa onal system of his me: ‘Educa on is an admirable thing. But it is good to remember from me to me that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught’ (CW, p. 1203). It certainly can’t be taught by Miss. Prism who, represen ng the educa onal system, shows a singular lack of both imagina on and prac cality. By showing her to be incapable of dis nguishing between a baby and a manuscript, Wilde ques ons her ability to kindle any interest in academic subjects. As a teacher in the moral sense, too, she is a failure, instead of understanding and broad-mindedness, she can only display a rigid intolerance with her moralis c refrain, ‘As a man sow, so shall he reap.’ Miss Prism the teacher of Cecily and governess in the Manor House in the country. (P. 37-38) Bothe, Cecily and Miss Prism are discussing on the lessons and about Mr. Earnest (an imaginary character as the younger brother of Jack) both of them are discussing on how much Earnest is wicked, bad person. Prism is using the Idiom con nuously, ‘As a man sow, so shall he reap.’ The concept of punishment which is a reference from Old Testament. Which believed that bad people should always be considered bad. Also, author alluding diﬀerent philosophers he puts them in the mouth of Prism to show her emp ness, hypocrisy, she remains unwise being a low-class person though more broadminded people like Jack are giving them opportunity to upli themselves. She always remains immature, hypocrite and unacceptable by the people from upper society like the priest who is moles ng her to sa sfy his lust, intent passions. Prism is teaching all subjects to Cecily her student e. g. German, Poli cal economy etc. it is reference about home-schooling of the children from aristocra c families in 19th century. And 19th century economical concept, ‘U litarianism’, the economist Bentham and Mill are taught, U lity means worth of ac on. Also, she is teaching dull and diﬃcult subjects, were based upon profound knowledge philosophical theories by Johann Shiller his theories based on German idealism included high classical style. For example, ‘William Tell’ play by Schiller, a struggle happened in Switzerland against tyranny. Also, she is teaching a lesson on ‘Fall of Rupees’ which refers to Bri sh Government decline in India 1873 to 1893. Bri sh government closed the mines in India as a remedial measure to come out of the loss of rupee. Miss. Prism wrote a three-volume novel. She added further it is good ended ﬁc on, had meted out thoroughly conven onal approach, moralis c a tude and strict no on of jus ce. Miss. Prism abandoned the manuscript. It is a pun made on the word ‘abandoned’ it is missing the intended meaning, a book is an immortal always, it contains good as well as bad characters. It refers to the approach of wri ng of Victorian people on intricate plot, innumerable characters and based upon more melodrama c themes. For example, contemptuous reference is in ‘The Cri c as an Ar st’, anybody merely requires complete ignorance of both life and literature, like Miss. Prism. Author tries to poke fun at the teacher like Prism who herself is immature, lack of deep knowledge. She has lost a small baby 28 years before. She was governess in the house of Lady Bracknell’s sister, Moncrieﬀ’s house. She lost her sole crea on, manuscript a novel in careless manner. Even she didn’t accept the honor given by Mr. Jack at the end of the play when Jack called her as his true Mother though Jack knows well, she is unmarried, when he knows that the owner of the lighter handbag is Miss. Prism. She remembers stains and scratches on the bag but didn’t remember the live child and her own crea on of a novel. Author tries to poke fun of modern, advanced, educated women in Victorian society. Absurd nature depicted her lack of ac on and invi ng dry subjects in discussion is the specialty of Miss. Prism. This point supports the background of women's development in Victorian society and their empty thoughts. One of the intellectuals G. B. Shaw supported radical trends in the 19th century and his ra onalism, women’s movement etc. from this me socialism-based ac vi es had been started. She is characterized as a modern-women with her crea on of new words and applying new domain to these words. E.g. The usual word is womanthrope and the crea on is ‘Misanthrope’. Which shows the stylish crea on of the economy of words used by the playwright. The other word is ‘hor culturally’, the word gives the sense of sarcasm, it means ripeness, green nurturing. In this love story the couple; Miss. Prism and Chasuble lack these quali es. In the following phrases ‘young women are green’ ‘science of cul va ng’ produces the tangled metaphor. These symbols denote rejuvena on, freshness, and blooming of life but actually the couple is approaching their old age they are elderly people. One more social Change depicted in the dialogue of Miss. Prism, according to her, uneducated people caused social problems, e. g. it gives a wide panorama of truth about uneducated people and their opinions toward development of the contemporary social resurgence of Victorian society, Miss. Prism commented on contracep ves, family planning, the approach of poor and uneducated people to their restraint to look at the developments, inven ons in 1788. When Jack declared that his brother Earnest died, she oﬀered condolences to the dead Earnest. In this sad demise she feels comfortable, death is proﬁt to her, because for her Earnest lived to get pleasure, she is pretending to be a moral upright person actually she is a hypocrite. She is governess to the aristocra c family though she considered equal to them, forgot her duty. She doesn’t give a en on to teaching, spending her me ﬂir ng with the priest. She is misusing her intellectual support, power to the immoral act, which doesn’t suit her profession. Wide sa rizes the world of high society, he also mocks the inadequacies of more established social ins tu ons like religion and educa on. All the Wilde considered wrong with Victorian religion is caricatured in the person of Chasuble, who is shown to be pompous, expedient, hypocri cal and self-serving. The canon unques oningly accepts what amounts to a mockery of Chris an ritual, acquiescing to the ludicrous proposal to christen ﬁrst Jack, then Algernon. He speaks with a pompous show of virtue, and a conspicuous absence of true sympathy, against the proﬂigate Earnest. He is more interested in impressing the bishop with his long-winded and abstruse sermons than in providing spiritual comfort to his ﬂock. Bumbling, he engages in a kind of sophistry, ﬁrst ci ng and then abandoning the teachings of the Primi ve Church in his confused rela onship with Miss. Prism. Dr. Chasuble is a hypocrite working as a well-wisher for country people. He has forgo en his honorable posi on as a priest in Victorian society. From this glorious and legal life and posi on is trying to seduce Prism, a lower-class person. She is blindly accep ng misbehavior, insults done by high class people, and priests. Author has chosen Dr. Chasuble, a literate person, to show hypocrisy, hollowness of the legal authority like church at the me of Victorian society. Dr. Chasuble pretends to be a sincere person but actually he is trying to seduce Miss. Prism. First, he changed her name from Egeria to Lae a. He wants to talk with her in private. Miss Prism loved him. She tells Cecily the reason for the headache, lies. Both exhibit aﬀairs, forge ng piety of the Church. Dr. Chasuble is a hypocrite. He misuses the posi on of the Church on the name of religion and moderniza on, chea ng poor and illiterate people in the countryside. Christening is a ritual for the naming ceremony of a new- born baby. He is prac cing this ritual to rename Jack an elderly person. He is doing it for his greed for money and to maintain good-will in the eyes of the rich people. Jack says christening is necessary for every child. This is a kind of refusal, revolt towards the rigid rules of the religious ins tu ons. Dr. Chasuble is abusing privileged posi ons in society. (P. 37, 38) ‘Were I fortunate enough to be Miss Prism’s pupil, I would hang upon her lips’. He used symbolic, considered himself as bee, word ‘bees’, the sentence has double meaning depicts naughty ambiguousness, bee would suck nectar from the ﬂower, sugges ng lust, seduc ve statement, a passionate kiss. He is moles ng the dignity of the woman and dishonoring his posi on. The other meaning is wan ng to draw the last drop of knowledge from the teacher. It is an example of metaphor. It exhibits his hypocrisy he calls Miss. Prism Egeria, is a classical allusion based upon Pagan (heathen, pre-Chris an, non-Chris an, i.e., Greeks and Romans) authors. e.g. in 384 to 322 B. C. Pagan Philosophers, the Epicureans in ancient Greece elevated the pursuit of pleasure to a philosophical doctrine. Greek philosophers upheld modera on as a golden mean. According to church laws lending money at high rates of interest was a sin, considered as 7 deadly sins. The other reference is brought forth from mythology, Egeria was the female advisor, companion, counselor of the Numa, second king of Rome. Primi ve church was against matrimony, e.g. suppor ng nuns. Invited Miss. Prism at the me of evensong, (evening prayer service in Anlican church is called as Vespers, meant to read or sung). He is ﬂir ng and not willing to marry Miss. Prism, because a er marriage he will not remain an a rac ve person, carries false belief. Because an unmarried man is a center of a rac on. It is a metaphorical idea. He considered her ‘green’, unmarried so tried to woo her. In fact, being a priest, he must be chaste in his love, romance. His duty demands he must help common people who are ‘interment’, ‘aﬄic on’ in agony. P. 43 He must perform, preach sermon related to ‘manna’ a holy prayer, spiritual nourishment, as Sunday sermon, direc ons given by Old-Testament in primi ve church, for diﬀerent occasions like burial, harves ng, christening, conforma ons, humilia on, festal days etc. When he saw Jack in mourning clothes, he said it was a terrible calamity. When Jack declared his brother Earnest dead, he oﬀered condolences to the dead Earnest. He had given an appointment for christening to Jack to rename him. This ritual is made for the naming ceremony of infants. For him preaching a sermon is an act of sprinkling of water, not a holy act, an absurd, trivial ma er, immersion of adults considered as trivial ma ers, a mere canonical prac ce. He is a corrupt priest. This so ironic a protector of society turns hypocrite, unable to provide true religious direc ons. Wilde’s awareness of social trends of his me some mes creeps into this play in a roundabout fashion, as in his portrayal of the ‘New Woman’ epitomized by Gwen and Cecily. The ﬁrst half of the nineteenth century had deﬁned womanliness as a self-sacriﬁce and sweet-tempered resigna on, an image which was reinforced by the simpering, delicate and passive heroines of popular romance, and more importantly by a celebrated series of books on feminine conduct, The Woman, The Wives, The Daughters, and The Mothers of England (1839, 43, 45, and 47) by Mrs. Ellis. The essen ality of self-nega ng view of woman which these books propounded gradually began to change in the la er part of century, largely because of the inherent contradic on between the ideal (touted by social theorists like Ruskin and Herbert Spencer), that the highest type of civiliza on was one which ‘freed’ or protected women from work outside the home, and the stark reality, that thousands of Victorian women-spinsters, wives and widows-were increasingly being forced by the circumstances to seek employment wherever they could ﬁnd it. In the late 1850s and 60s, a group of middle-class feminists began to ﬁght to educate women and restore to them a sense of self-respect and independence, with or without marriage. The legal iden ty of woman was at last established when the Mckenzi Divorce Case (1891-93) set a liberal precedent as to what cons tuted just grounds for deser on by wronged wife, and more importantly, the Married Women’s Property Act (1893) en tled a married woman, for the ﬁrst me, to enter in to legally binding contrast on her own. Simultaneously, there were such allied developments as the ‘Suﬀrage e Movement’ for the right to vote and the ‘Ra onal Dress Movement’ allowing women to dress as they pleased. By the 1890s, these eﬀorts had coalesced into the ‘the Woman Ques on’ a topic much discussed- some mes seriously, o en face ously- in a number newspapers, magazines and journals. Suddenly the public imagina on saw a diﬀerent female ﬁgure: liberated, intelligent, educated, independent-minded, ar culate, occasionally bold, crossing all class barriers, in life as well as in literature. It is an unconven onal New Woman who appears in 'The Importance of Being Earnest’ in the ﬁgures of Gwen and Cecily, both of whom woo. There would be wooers, propose to them, and even decide upon their iden ty by insis ng they must be named Earnest. Without any speciﬁc reference to the ‘Women's Movement’, Wilde shows the humor of situa ons where tradi onal sex roles are reversed. Cecily is a ward of Mr. Jack. She is taller than her age. She lived in her own created dream world. (P. 15) Jack worried about the bad inﬂuence of wicked Earnest on Cecily. She is immature, thinking so much about absurd things in a trivial manner. (P. 36) She has a habit of wri ng a diary to keep wonderful secrets of life. The absurd thing she is talking about is that she said the diary is ‘chronicles’, the opposite of what it tends to use. Diary means present. Chronicles means past. She maintained it to write dreams of her life in her diary. She likes the depressed ending of the novel. She feels her studies and each subject is horrid. When Algy came in front of her in disguise of Earnest (a younger brother of Jack). She imagined that he would look like a normal person? Because she heard from Miss. Prism and Jack that Earnest is a wicked, bad man with lack of e que es and manners. According to her, a bad person means an adventurous person, and it is very thrilling to meet such a person. This is a proud-some feeling to her to meet a bad person like Earnest. She is very glad to hear that Earnest is a reckless person. She loves to hear the comments made by Earnest, (P. 41), ‘Sense of beauty of life will vanish, to do duly by business engagement’. She doesn’t believe in sensibili es. According to her, ‘Good looks are a snare’. it is very bad for her, to lead a new life. She immediately falls in love with wicked Earnest. According to her, Jack is sending Earnest to Australia because he is wicked and bad. Playwright tries to tell us it was the approach of people in society that disreputable rela ves had sent towards the colonies to convict. At the entry of Earnest both of them feel roman c and Cecily suggests Earnest be like Quixo c, it refers to the Spanish novel Don Quixote (1605) by Cervantes; unrealis c, noble foolish and idealis c hero of the novel. She oﬀers Algy expensive food and some bu onholes with ﬂowers, Marechal Niel, a yellow rose of fragrance. She has a craze for publishing a diary. She was shocked to see Jack in mourning clothes in the garden of Manor House. She tried to convince reconcilia on between brothers and said that Jack must behave friendly with his wicked brother. She insisted him to shake hands with his brother Earnest. She is too innocent to realize the bunburying of both Jack and Algy. Cecily is always thinking the opposite philosophy of life and triviality of sensible things, of whatever she listens from the person in front of her. E.g., for her mee ng for a while caused pain, in this posi on it would be unbearable to depart each other in love. Jack returned to Manor House, to his country home from town, in mourning clothes. He talks about immigra on of Earnest. He proved it with reason that he went to London to buy an ou it, neck e for Earnest. He wants to send him to Australia. When Jack knows Algy in disguise, Earnest has reached his home already. Jack insisted to Earnest/Algy to go back to London immediately, so he ordered a dog-cart. He maintained his presence with the help of his sincerity and higher sense of duty in between Miss. Prism and Cecily (in the beginning of act II), though he was absent in his country house. Because he is a sincere, hard-working, generous person who thinks about the well-being of family and as Magistrate in the country, cares for country people. He had given a chance to Miss. Prism to up-li herself, from, as a governess to teacher. He is looking a er his ward Cecily. he has a higher sense of responsibility. He invests his demeanor towards his responsibili es. He cares about her studies, nurturing. He wants her to grow up with a proper sense of life, e que es and manners. He is away from idle merriment and triviality like his friend Algy. Anxious about his unfortunate (imaginary) brother. The decided plan was, he will not return from town ll Monday, being a country man, he used to go town for an enjoyment and fortunately falls in love with bold and beau ful girl Gwendolen in town, the sister of his friend Algy. She also falls in love with Jack but on her own terms and condi ons. But he has no condi ons at all, truly he loves her. Jack entered from the backside of the garden of Manor-house. Wilde constantly plays on the element of mul ple percep on. The spectator’s simultaneous recogni on of diﬀerent planes of reality and the impact of Jack’s appearance in mourning clothes is intensiﬁed by our dual percep on that he is ac ng and our foreknowledge of Algernon’s presence which renders Jack’s pretense both redundant and ridiculous. The scene works precisely because of our capacity to suspend disbelief on the one hand and retain a ﬁrm grip on reality and eleva on of the ridiculous. By seeming to give equal weightage to both, he turns our structured, ‘earnest’ view of life topsy-turvy. He is in mourning clothes and came across Cecily, Miss. Prism and Chasuble. He lied that his brother died in Paris. He received a telegram from the manager of the Grand hotel, from where his brother was living. He told the illness, severe chill, the cause of death, further he added he will be buried in Paris. He is a cheater. It is a dandy approach, playing bunbury in disguise as a character of Earnest, for the sake of romance and love. It represents his triviality, but excusable. Algernon’s mistakes are inexcusable. The other is he wants to christe his name as Earnest. As he is making a miss-use of authority as a country magistrate inducing the hypocrite priest Dr. Chasuble for his christening which is an unethical act. He is encouraged to break the chas ty of the religious ins tu on. So, with this example the playwright had cri cized the corrupt nature of religious ins tu ons in Victorian society and the men in authority. He booked an appointment in church to Chris anize himself with the help of Dr. Chasuble. A er the declara on of the death of Earnest, he was feeling free from the self-trapped serious problem and a er christening he will be Earnest. He will win Gwendolen’s love; he hoped that the path of marriage would be achievable. But there is sudden thrash of approach of Algernon in disguise of Earnest. He is trying to get rid of him but in vain he sensed that Algy was in love with Cecily. Jack put a condi on to him that unless Algy gives his consent to the marriage of Jack and Gwendoln as a guarding he will not give his consent to the marriage of Algernon and Cecily. Finally, both the men begged for the love of the girls. Playwright most interes ngly entertained the audience with his comic technique to create humor of repe ve statements, and skill of crea ng a visual-elements, the cat-ﬁght in between the two girls and the greediness of Algy. It was shocking to Jack that Algy was begging for Cecily’s love, pretending to be polite in communica on with Cecily. Algernon is representa ve as a dandy person, a very bold, fashionable, irresponsible, self-centered person. He is in debt for ea ng in star hotels, is careless and spoiled nature. He is a greedy person who loves diﬀerent kinds of expensive food, ‘pate de foie gras’, an expensive French delicacy paste from goose liver. He is a very sophis cated strict follower of manners, when he met beau ful girl Cecily; he asked her to bu onhole. Fashionable, stylish life is most important to him; he is ready to do anything. For the stay of a single day, he brought ‘Portmanteau’, a very big size leather suitcase, containing two hinged compartments, dressing case, hat boxes, lunch basket, holding grooming like toothbrush, comb, shaving kit, hairbrush like equipment. At the end he was punished for his fashion, sophis ca on for his debit. Wilde depicted the lust and greed of the young modern genera on, a hopeless situa on, a sheer nonsense debit on the ma er of ea ng for spoiled and extravagant nature. In Manor house he is chea ng Cecily, pretending to be a nice person of e que es and manners but actually he is ﬂir ng with her. In disguise of Earnest as miss. Prism said he was a shameful extravagant person, disappeared abroad. Situa on appeared confusing to the audience, readers, that, it creates suspense and laughter. Jack killed Earnest saying he died abroad in Paris, but he appeared in Manor House, in the garden pretending to be very polite and wise in front of Cecily. Playing tricks to meet her, secretly wrote an address on his shirt cuﬀs and went there to ﬂirt with Cecily but suddenly falls in love with her. He is ugly, immoral, scoundrel as Jack abused him, yes! but harmless. He is only dandy, cheater, and careless. He is doing everything to escape from the responsibili es and rigidity of home, society. He is lazy, doesn’t want to do any duty. Wanted to spend his life very luxuriously, irrespec ve and too, irresponsible. The image of Earnest/Algy raised by Jack in front of the Miss. Prism and Cecily, the perfect Dandy person. The man of fashion and fas dious taste. But wicked, not an upright person like Wilde. He makes fun of the person in the mourning clothes. Feels grotesque. To mourn for a living person, he said however he knows the reality of both Jack and himself both are playing Bunburing. Demands friendly nature from others as cheaters. He is very selﬁsh though he knows well that Jack’s mourning is unreal, to stay longer for the sake of love of Cecily in Manor House, he is falsely showing crocodile tears to people in the mourning. He is over-dressed (P. 51). He is Oxonian as L. Bracknell refers to him, over-educated, Graduate bachelor from Oxford. Act III In discussion of Lady Bracknell on the topic of Cecily’s looks and appearance, an interview for a marriage proposal. Wilde has referred to the new dress of the modern mes, referred to i.e., ‘Ra onal Dress Movement’. Women started wearing new and stylish dresses like ‘Bloomers’. Playwright talks about new modern dress codes for women like loose trousers, short skirts, invented in the name of American social reformer 1818-94, Amelia Bloomer. The conven onal, tradi onal dress women wore, had shown the odd and unﬁt nature, an old pa ern dress, Victorian style of dress, the fashion was extremely restric ve, appeared with huge, very long trailing gown with hooped shirts worn over ghtly laced corsets and several voluminous pe coats. Playwright advocated that the truth is now onward hems were no longer dragged in mud, with long hem of gown dress. Gwendolen reached the Manor house to crosscheck Jack’s proﬁle. When she reached the garden she met Cecily, thinking that she was Jack's girlfriend. She talks about Earnest's behavior that he has upright nature, a very soul of truth, he respects; gives honor, away from decep on and disloyalty. She talks on other philosophical ma ers like for her style is important not sincerity. Also, she talks on ‘German Skep cism’ a kind of doctrine held by Hegel and Kant from England that absolute knowledge is una ainable. She is a stylish girl from the city, wearing ‘lorgne e’, special eyeglasses which are used to see opera. These glasses have handles, it was fashionable in Victorian society to elderly society ladies to wear. She tries to examine Cecily from these eye-glasses. She uses the word ‘machina on’ to prove her doubt, to clear her doubt, she visits Manor House. It happens because she found Cecily a beau ful young girl, saying she fell in love with Earnest. She sensed that Cecily is a 42 years old lady, because she is a very simple country girl. She came here for ‘evil plo ng’ on her lover to save her boyfriend from this evil eye. According to her, it is to be improper outside of home because forward women are very bold, their sole reason should be mee ng men and entrap. Men expected to stay at home. She is describing the topsy-turvy world. Considering that Cecily loves her Earnest/Jack. She had shown her engagement date to Cecily, also she told her she would declare her engagement with Earnest in the newspapers, ‘The Morning Post’. Cecily thought that Gwendolen loves her Earnest/Algy. Both considered that they love a single person. There is a dispute on who wins the love of earnest. Both are ﬁgh ng without using words. The use of visual elements, diﬀerent planes of reality technique as well as mul ple percep on worked in a highly successful way. It creates hilarious laughter. Which is allowing ac on to speak for itself. In crisis food becomes indulgence of emo ons. Ironically refers to the e que es and manners of the rich people. Both the girls remain silent in cat-ﬁght in front of the servants. Both of them reference the diary which shows craze for publishing diaries. All women are wri ng and maintaining it as a pres gious thing for them. It was an enormously popular prac ce of young girls in Victorian society. Both of them talk on news of marriage, engagement in the news-papers, sarcas cally showing the cheap kind of reading and publica on habits of people in Victorian society. Cecily talks of Gwendolen's nature as an ‘agricultural depression’ this refers to strain on migra on of farm workers to Industries, people were migra ng to ci es to seek employment in industries, trade and import their materials. These are sarcas c remarks on boredom of ci es found in 1870s European countries due to industrializa on. lovers: Immediately Cecily and Algy, a racted to each other, fall in love. (P. 53, 54, 55) Cecily is already a racted to him. During the conversa on in the speech of Miss. Prism and Jack, chief topic of discussions was the man who is wicked and bad. Algy immediately a er mee ng in the garden of Manor House, declared that Cecily wants to speak with her privately. Looks gay and debonair. Called himself reckless, not wicked. Accepted to be a bad pleasure hunter. Again, lying with her he came there on business appointment, but actually to ﬂirt with Cecily. Falls in love with Cecily immediately. (P. 41) Cecily says that Jack would send him to the next world, Australia. He said this world is good enough. This refers to the change and reform of the contemporary period. Possessed with madness of modern culture and custom. Demands for bu on-hole with the ﬂower ‘Marechal Niel’ pink rose. Cecily immediately sa sﬁed his wish because she is already a racted to him as a wicked Earnest. Asked to her for breakfast as a sign of lust and greed that Wilde wants to cri cize the lust of modern men. He commented on Miss. Prism’s teaching that short-sighted old lady teaches ethics to Cecily. Make her feel comfortable calling her pre est. He called Cecily an obsolete perfec on, wonder full, incomparable beauty. He tells her he is in love widely, passionately, devotedly, and hopelessly. He was successful in playing a trick, he is over-smart in chea ng, ﬂir ng with her. She doesn’t know him as a spoiled man. He expressed his true love to Cecily, and asked Cecily to marry him. She believes him blindly. She is too innocent. Already she is in love with Earnest/Algy. She loves his curly hair. Enjoying his kissing, calling him dear, sweet, li le darling. A er listening to Cecily's wish that she loves the name ‘Earnest’. He is trying to convince her Algernon is an aristocra c name. She is adamant on her wish to be in love, the name Earnest. So, he decided to christen his name as Earnest. (P. 67) He keeps himself very close, hand-in-hand with her. She is wri ng a diary and entered every word of Algy’s talk in it. She would love to create volumes of her diary. She wants to write every expression of gesture as cough, and warns Algy about ﬂuency in his speech. Reform comes to mean the possibility that dissenters can be taught to see the error of their ways and conform to the status quo. Cecily’s educa on is grooming her to be a member of upper class, mindlessly repea ng its virtues. She oﬀers to reform Algy, ac ng with forward zeal. She plans to turn Algy into perfect Earnest, a man who will be like other men and propose correctly, protect and support her ﬁnancially, and stop his single life in the town. The love scene con nues with explora on of the fantasy world. She talks about imaginary engagement and break ups. She broke the engagement two months before to test her lover. Cecily confessed the date of love, started on 14th February last and broke it up on 22nd of last March, felt charming. She imagines her lover that he has curly hair, his kiss in her dream which inspires her absolute conﬁdence. She loves the name Earnest so she is feeling pity on those married women without their husband’s name Earnest. Her only girlish dream is to love someone whose name was Earnest to live in a fantasy world, it shows the trapping of romance. She wrote love-le ers to her unreal lover. She wrote these le ers herself from the side of lover. She posted it in the name of lover, three mes a week. She kept them safely in the box ed up with blue ribbon. Her lover had gi ed her engagement ring, also gold bangles, with turquoise and diamond heart. Algernon tries to convince her and accept the name Algernon, for him his name is an aristocra c name but she was immovable. So, for her sake, Algy decided to christening his name to book an appointment to Dr. Chasuble. Cecily’s remarkable opinion shows the hypocrisy of the priest, as she says he is a learned man but never wrote a book, as Dr. Chasuble is ignorant of how much the learned man knows about the rituals in the church as a priest. She expresses her doubt to the country priest. Above all she is observing the priest's ﬂir ng with her teacher Miss. Prism. The scene creates hilarious laughter interwoven with the roman c event which has juxtaposi on of serious and mundane occurrences. The laughter is produced Cecily is wri ng every word of their conversa on, gestures, u erance, sound of cough, warning for ﬂuency in speech, and over all she wanted to publish it volumes. The worst situa on is that the publica on is cri cized by the author. According to Cecily, the diary is meant to be published not to keep it private. Again, we can observe the opposite opinion of Cicily: what is to be appeared right. Cecily also tries to sense the rela ons between Jack and Gwendolen; she remarks that uncle Jack goes to the city to do his ‘Philanthropic’ work, she believes her uncle helps needy people and does his du es on humanitarian ground. Cecily will not marry ll her age 35 without her Gardin’s-Jack- permission. She asked for permission from Jack to marry Mr. Algernon. Cat-ﬁght of girls: (P. 65, 68) the device is used to create laughter that misiden ﬁca on, misconcep on and lovers are misunderstanding each other. Dilemma is created through visual elements. Complexity in the path of love has produced, it seems like the climax scene is more interes ng that girls are ﬁgh ng for the same name not for a person. The play upon absurdity and improbability created hilarious laughter. Cecily u ered the name Earnest, praised him, she is telling Gwendolen that Earnest is the younger brother of her ward Jack. Gwendolen knows no Jack in this situa on. Gwen considered that Cecily also loves her Earnest, both of them are thinking there is only one person whose name is Earnest and both of them are in love with the same person. Both of them showing distress to each other. Cecily tells reasons of why Earnest’s love turned towards her in the place of Gwen. Earnest proposed to her two minutes ago. He might have mental physical anguish with Gwen. so he might have changed his mind. He wanted to be freed himself from unfortunate entanglement, also he had reproach, forge ul about whatever happened. They wanted to quarrel, at the same me, maintained silence in front of servants, behaving according to e que es and manners, keeping quiet in their presence. Wilde seems to be asking what the Bri sh upper class would do without the stern but calming inﬂuence of its servants. Due to their hard work and endurance the usual event seems to be a tea ceremony. Both of them are very confused and angry. Though Cecily is trying to be good host to Gwen. Ask her for tea, express anger by ac on by pu ng four cubes of lumps of sugar in to tea cup meant for Gwen. Gave her cake in the place of bread and bu er. Gwen. Bites her lips and beats her foot, she has aside talk says that Cecily is uninteres ng. But on surface shows politeness. She was taun ng Cecily as a poor family girl not having fashionable sugar without cake says that cakes seen in best houses. Asked Cecily for bread and bu er which she loves. Became angry, indignant with shows grimace. Both of them are quarreling directly with Gwen. Said that she is extraordinarily sweet to Cecily she warns Cecily for her misbehavior. She got ﬁrst impression of Cecily that she is distrusted, false, decei ul, and decisive, because Cecily put cake in her plate which she doesn’t like it and Cecily put it deliberately. All this treatment given by Cecily is totally opposite of the wish of Gwen. U ered the name of Earnest saying he is poor, innocent, trus ng. She would like to save him from the city girl like Gwen. Gwen. Shows regrets by thumping her feet on the ground. Gwen. Sugges ng Cecily to leave the mee ng. The cat ﬁght ends with the entry of Jack in the garden breakfast scene. In his approach Jack was poin ng towards Gwen. Finally, she got conforma on of her rela onship with Jack in disguise of Earnest. Jack described Cecily his ward as sweet, simple and innocent. Comedy created by visual elements as well as sarcas c remarks like, ‘agricultural depression, news in London newspaper’, which shows the girls fad to be popular and sensa onal, they wanted thrill in the nonsensical ma ers. When Jack entered in the garden from church she goes near to him and allow him to kiss her and wants clear her rela onship with Jack. Cecily men oned his name is Jack he is her guardian, uncle. And from Gwen. She discloses iden ty of Algy as her cousin and he is Algernon Moncrieﬀ. Immediately both girls forgot dispute and express union. (P. 66 Gwen.) Said ‘A gross decep on has been prac ced on both of us…neither of them is engaged to be married to any one..’ both of them disliked the boys chea ng and called them coward, distasteful, unpleasant. Don’t want to be speak ﬁrst. Decided to maintain silence but spoke immediately. For them style is important not substance of life. Asked rhetoric ques on producing immediate answer of their wish. They have the opposite philosophy of everything which is right. Playwright turned upside down technique to cri cize the modern girl. Girls are courageous to express their love in the place of men. The iden es are reverted showing girls are domina ve and adventurous and boys are less adventurous. (P. 90) Jack discloses the secret of Bunbury, in front of girls. Also he tells true name that is Jack to Gwen. The scene is provide meaning on diﬀerent plains of reality, levels percep on, girls understanding is diﬀerent and audience already know about fact who is who so it created more laughter. (P. 65) Algy: (looking round) To what young lady? Good heavens! Gwendolen! Cecily: Yes, To Good heavens, Gwendolen, I mean to Gwendolen. Playwright makes use of repe on in the dialogues of the pair boys together and girls together. (P. 69) Jack: ‘I wanted to be engaged to Gwendolen, that is all. I love her. Algy: ‘well I simply wanted to be engaged to Cecily. I adore her. (P. 70) Algy: ‘Yes, but I have not been christened for years. (Jack: ‘Yes, but you have not been christened. That is the important thing’. Gwendolen and Cecily have parallel conversa ons and by repea ng bits and pieces of sentences. They both liking and disliking each other exactly the same words. Likewise, they both discuss marrying Earnest with the same phrases. Their ar ﬁcial speech and comments on trivial subjects are part of polite conversa on. (P. 58 & 68-more examples) Manor House: Both lovers failed to convince their beloved's secret to be disclosed. The diﬃculty occurred to christening of the name. The playwright once again creates a visual element, the device of laughter. Algy is ea ng cakes greedily in the stress that he may not lose his beloved due to his name Algernon which she doesn’t like. He took an appointment to Chris an his name. He doesn’t realize the responsibili es he tries to escape from the burdens of duty, as Lady Bracknell commented, ‘he is not doing anything’. He doesn’t have regrets, no tension of losing his love of girlfriend Cecily, not the feeling of shame on his mistakes, no act of repentance ea ng more comfortably. Realiza on of break-up in love. He is talking about stockbrokers, dinner par es, and discussing others' business. Ea ng muﬃns in a careless manner and quietly. Also want dinner and tea. Talks on nonsensical ma ers like cakes are not served to the guests; the fact is he doesn’t like it. Talks on christening ritual and how it is scien ﬁc. Talking on hereditary disease of the family and about scien ﬁc reasons. He talks about how Vegetarians mean the philosophy invented by G. B. Shaw about ‘Vegetarianism’ called ‘Vedoes’. Algy said ‘I never go without dinner’ really, he is a foodie character which is raised for the fulﬁllment of the Farce. It is conven on of wri ng Farce that, in Farcical Comedy, it must have one of the characters, who is gobbling food con nuously at the me of stress. Wilde created this scene in a very successful and perfect manner. Playwright ridiculed the dominance of the young boy of an aristocra c family, his half-awaken, unconscious, misbehavior and misconduct. His name becomes an ordeal in this situa on but he remains care-free, very reproaching and arrogant. End of the play: in ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, Wilde does not engage in any direct social cri cism. There is no direct expounding of didac c themes, and the occasional references to social circumstances are invariably in tone of gentle mockery. An implicit stand does however emerge in his skillful use of characters as a commentary on the social class he is portraying. Characteriza on is thus an integral part of Wilde’s sa re technique. The aristocra c characters in the play barely acknowledge the lower classes. At the beginning of the play, we see Algernon’s languid indiﬀerences to his servants Lane ‘I don’t know that I’m much interested in your ‘Family Life’ and superciliousness ‘if the lower orders don’t set us a good example, what on earth is the use of them’ while Wilde mocks his superior a tude, he also sa rizes the zealous but rigidly unsympathe c do-gooder in the person of Miss. Prism who, having lived among the upper classes, exhibits some of their smugness towards the poor: ‘I have o en spoken to the poorest classes on the subject. But they don’t seem to know what thri is.’ While the servants are expected to show unfailing loyalty to their masters note how Lane immediately covers up for Algy in the ma er of cucumber sandwiches, we are given no insight into their minds, for the upper classes themselves seem to be untouched by the feeling of their servants. Lady Bracknell: she is spying on her grown-up daughter. She bribed her maid servant with a small coin. Rushed by a lugged train, fast followed her to the manor house the country house of Mr. Jack. Except to a end her lectures under University Extension Scheme, (the provision made by Bri sh Government contributed to Women Educa on in 19th century, Playwright involved in ‘Women Movement’) L. Bracknell deceived her husband and rushed to the country home of Mr. Jack. She made an inquiry about Bunbury; she seems to be frightened by riots-revolu onary outrage against social legisla on as a morbid act by social ac vists of the contemporary me. Which refers to the rigidity of emo ons towards common people, she used the word ‘exploded’ means she is very harsh and unkind towards the masses. Common people must punish immediately is her approach as representa ve of an aristocra c person. She has a villainous nature that she expresses her wish that pa ents must die according to her wish, she wanted to celebrate her party in Act-I. Algernon declared that his friend Bunbury is ill, so expressed wish that she must get rid of the pa ent. She made an inquiry about Cecily and Jack told her Cecily is his ‘Ward’. Jack provided all informa on about Cecily that she is granddaughter of the late Mr. Thomas Cardew. Of 149 Bulgrave Square. S. W. Gervase Park, Dorking, Surry, and Sporran, Fifet Shire, N. B. She has three addresses. He has looked a er Cecily's every life’s care as a guardian care of health, educa on. He explains the informa on about birth, bap sm, whooping, cough, registra on, vaccina on, conforma on, measles, both German and English. Immediately Algy declared his love and said he wants to marry Cecily. Cecily also had the same reply quickly. With stern countenance responded about Cecily, that she doesn’t want to engage with anyone who has origin with ‘Terminus’. These are direct and insul ng remarks made by L. Bracknell to Jack. She wished to do a preliminary enquiry about. In the second interview of the ‘Marriage and of the purpose engagement’ it shows the conven onal approach of Victorian society. She is very sa sﬁed with the informa on that Cecily has three addresses, her solicitors are Markby, the lawyer with the highest reputa on in contemporary England marked as a sign of status. She enquired about ‘fortune’ ; it ma ers of formality for marriage purposes. Cecily owned hundred and thirty thousand pounds of funds, that L. Bracknell loved this point of discussion that she was sa sﬁed with Cecily being a very rich girl. L. Bracknell made an enquiry about Cecily’s height, chin, hair-style, examining side poster, wants high social status, dressing sense. She felt Cecily is a pre y girl, dislikes her chine but very simple in her appearance. She must give a en on to her beau ﬁca on, and recommended to hire beau cian French Maid to make Cecily a rac ve, who worked for one of her friends Lady Lancing. (point to note here about dress code movement/suﬀrage e, ra onal dress movement of 19th century. Freedom of women to dress themselves as they please. It refers also the stylish nature and lifestyle of that playwright it was not concealed) (P. 51) Jack’s adverse comment on beau ﬁca on is remarkable, that Wilde tried to bemoan ar ﬁcial mannerisms, laugh at the craze of fad and fashion, and the comedy of manners reﬂected here. (Woman’s World Dec. 1887) Jack’s comment is remarkable on beau ﬁca on methods in Victorian society. He said nobody knows a er six months of beauty treatment, in rela on to Lady Lancing, whose name was suggested by L. Bracknell, on the topic of Cecily’s beau ﬁca on treatment. These are sarcas c remarks made by Jack. Jack doesn’t like Algy’s lax behavior, he complains and tries to get-rid of him. He ordered a dog-cart to send him to the sta on immediately. He is scolding him for his con nuous ea ng at the me when girls rejected their love. According to him Algy is a distressed man, heartless, he rejects the marriage proposal of Algy and Cecily. L. Bracknell explained directly the ‘Algy is nothing but his debts’, further she emphasizes that he is ‘oxonian’ studied in Oxford. She is accep ng, admi ng the fact that marriages must be engaged for the status and wealth as ‘mercenary marriage’. She consented to the marriage, engagement of Algy and Cecily. Algy allows Cecily to kiss him so that Aunt Augusta would prepare for an immediate marriage. Even Cecily doesn’t like to give more me to be acknowledged to each other, she readily accepts him as an aristocra c person who is a statue of misconduct and misbehavior. This is the signature of an aristocra c person : ‘He has nothing but he looks everything’. She accepted Algy as her groom immediately. According to her, the suitable age to marry is 18-20. She rejected legal procedures of her marriage Jack has to follow as a guardian of Cecily. She is in haste to marry. Because Jack put condi ons in front of L. Bracknell that he will not give his consent to the marriage of Cecily ll L. Bracknell is not accep ng his proposal of marriage with Gwen. There are other legal procedures also according to contemporary law of Victorian society. Jack referred to Lady Hide’s age, that womanly a tude of hiding the age, that Lady Hide is telling her age is 35 though actually it is 40. According to the will of Mr. Thomas Cardew Cecily must marry a er her age 30. According to Algy Age of marriage in modern mes is 35, which is considered an a rac ve age. She asked Algy that he should wait for her up ll her age 35. She said she was impa ent, she can’t wait, she was very sen mental towards her marriage. It would be irresis ble to her to wait up ll her age 35. He declared that he will wait for Cecily up ll her age of 35. Also L. Bracknell accepted it because she would have extra property up ll her age of 40, by her growing age her property would increase. Playwright put many confusing theories of the age of Cecily, to cri cize the way of thinking of aristocra c people, their manners created comic elements. Cecily is 18 years old but appears li le aged. Algernon asked permission of L. Bracknell for his christening of the name Algernon to Earnest, due to crazy stupid thoughts of Cecily. Being very conserva ve L. Bracknell didn’t give her consent, which displeased her husband Lord Bracknell and it was an excess waste of me and money. Generally christening should be made immediately a er the child's birth. Both the protagonists are grown up persons. Playwright shows the hypocrisy of the aristocra c people who are not giving respect to religious sermons. For them it is mere u erance actually it is spiritual rebirth through bap sm. It shows their arrogance and as a decision maker they can break and make the rules as they please. Dr. Chasuble is trying to prove his absurd opinions, improbabili es. According to Dr. Chasuble Once the prac ce of bap sm for adults was valid. L. Bracknell shows her resentment and also her rejec on to the marriages because Jack is an orphan, so she started leaving the Manor house. Playwright once again is successful in revealing the secret of the play climax produces hilarious laughter of the devices used are verbal as well as non-verbal elements. When Chasuble u ers the name of Miss. Prism, L. Bracknell shocked and enquired. (P. 87) Jack explained that Miss. Prism is governess of the home from last 3 years. Sensed as if something scandalous and tried to shield Gwen. Because in Victorian society young girl’s scandals were to be exposed deliberately and it was a ma er of delicacy to the society. When Miss. Prism saw L. Bracknell in front of her, she started trembling trying to hide herself. She remembers the lost baby which was from the of L. Bracknell’s sister Moncrief’s where she was working as Nanny, governess, the most criminal act she has done in her life, the act of stealing the baby. But, actually in her forge ulness she kept the baby in black leather handbag and her manuscript in the perambulator. And she lost the bag in the clock room of the railway sta on. Which was mistakenly received by Mr. Thomas Cardew. Miss Prism remembers being stained by ‘temperance beverage’ on her lost bag 28 years before but she didn’t remember the baby which she lost. She remembers the pe y, insigniﬁcant ma er. She remembers the bus stop, Gower Street Omnibus, how she travels. Also, she remembers nearby des na ons like the Bri sh Museum but most importantly not about the baby. She doesn’t have the seriousness of the loss of the baby at all sense of responsibility. The en re speech of Miss. Prism is a Masterpiece of conversa ons wri en by the playwright. Playwright created laughter through the technique of trivial transformed into absurd. She is leading her life very comfortably, ﬂir ng, to woo with much reputed character in the society who is a Priest, trying to pretend to be a very self-righteous person in nature. L. Bracknell explained the fact of Jack’s birth and parentage. Jack is the son of L. Bracknell's sister Mrs. Moncrieﬀ. Jack is the son of a military man. The thing to be surprised about is that both L. Bracknell and Algernon didn’t remember the name Algy’s father, it seems they are not sensi ve and true, loyal to maintain their rela onships. L. Bracknell remembers that her brother-in-law was an eccentric person; it happened due to Indian climate and as an eﬀect of indiges on. He was serving in the military in the posi on of General. They are so careless, insensi ve, irresponsible people. The baby was lost at the hand of Miss. Prism, 28 years before. The perambulator was found near Bay water containing the bag of manuscript of a three volume novel, in midnight towards a remote corner. From that moment Miss. Prism le their home; she had stolen the baby and ran away, from 04, Upper Grosvenor Street, the home of L. Bracknell’s sister, with the baby. Miss. Prism accepted the truth when Jack provided the proof of the bag in which the baby was found. It is very funny that the bag is the evidence of the lost baby as a human being. Also, it is no ceable that Jack doesn’t mind calling Miss. Prism his mother in respect of that she is the owner of the bag, though she is unmarried. Jack searched the hand bag in the storage room upstairs. As well as he loves to keep 40 years of military directories, records. And ﬁnally, he found his father’s name in the army list from Bri sh Army Publica on, of 1869 batch. It fulﬁlls his wish to be an elder brother. Algernon is his younger brother and ﬁnally he has a younger brother. Called Algy ‘young scoundrel. Wishes his respect’. It is also shocking that Jack’s christened name is Earnest, the name given a er his father’s name, EARNEST JOHN. First me he realized the vitality of the, “The Importance of Being Earnest”. ***** Question Bank: Attempt any TWO of the following in about 250 words each. What is Oscar Wilde’s opinion of the aristocracy? Does he approve or disapprove of them? How do the aristocrats’ values clash directly with a more standard concept of respectability in The Importance of Being Earnest? Justify the title The Importance of Being Earnest. Comment on the comic and farcical elements in The Importance of Being Earnest. What is the girls’ fascination with the name “Earnest”? How are names used to indicate character in the play The Importance of Being Earnest? Describe how, the female characters are more dominant than male characters in The Importance of Being Earnest. How does Wilde emphasize aristocracy in Victorian Society? Evaluate the humorous elements in The Importance of Being Earnest. How are Miss Prism and Dr. Chasuble products of society? What does this reveal about Victorian attitudes towards education? Write short notes on any THREE of the following in about 100 words each. Perpetuating the lower class in The Importance of Being Earnest Reflection of the Victorian culture in The Importance of Being Earnest Idea of love and romance in The Importance of Being Earnest Bunburying of Algernon Moncrieff in The Importance of Being Earnest Character sketch of Cecily Secret lives in The Importance of Being Earnest Passion and morality in The Importance of Being Earnest Courtship and marriage in The Importance of Being Earnest Perpetuating the upper class in The Importance of Being Earnest The character sketch of Algernon Moncrieff

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