The Importance Of Being Earnest Analysis

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English Written Task 2 - The importance of being Earnest The play The Importance of Being Earnest written by Oscar Wilde revolves around two English upper-class men who use pseudonyms for their clandestine pleasure. This play was first performed in 1985 and it contains various literary techniques like irony, inversion of idioms and paradox to mock the social conventions of the upper class in the Victorian Era by portraying the elite as unrefined to subvert the norm and express Wilde’s modern views towards the upper-class society. Wilde depicts the younger upper-class men, Jack and Algernon, as gluttonous. In the first act of the play, Algernon asks Lane, the manservant, if he had got the cucumber sandwiches for Lady Bracknell and later the…show more content…
After hearing about Bunbury’s illness, Lady Bracknell espouses, “I think that it is high time the Mr. Bunbury made up his mind whether he was going to live or die”{379-381}. This reveals Lady Bracknell’s lack of sympathy as she talks about someone’s life or death about a choice that could be made on a regular basis. By saying this statement apathetically rather than being sympathetic, Wilde conveys his desire to express the propensity to value the social convention more than to feel pity towards a sick person. Further, she also tells Gwendolen “When you do become engaged to some one, I or your father… will inform you” {511-513}. This contrasts with the attitude of Algernon and Jack as they choose whom to marry and propose, which shows the readers that conservative attitudes are to be resisted. Miss Prism adds that “People who live entirely for pleasure” tend to stay unmarried. By mentioning this, Wilde conveys how the old generation people value the traditions and culture more than their pleasure, again contrasting Wilde’s hedonistic thoughts and highlighting that thoughts need to be changed over

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