Lady Bracknell selects the husband for her daughter based on his cash, character and class [three Cs, remember? Another example as a mockery can be quoted from Cecily who considers herself betrothed engaged with Ernest without seeing and knowing about the particular person Algernon, in this case and she has purchased an engagement ring on the behalf of that "invalid" Ernest.
A Farse is incomplete without addition of absurdities in it. An absurd action is that type of action which is "Inconsistent with reason, logic or common sense" [WordWeb Dictionary] which makes people laugh with noise. The Importance of Being Earnest is teaming up with many absurd examples. For instance, Algernon, an aristocrat, cries his bankruptcy resulting after his ostentative parties.
Jack is ridiculously serious that he looks "sick". Now it is impossible for us to believe that anybody, no matter how absent-minded, can commit a blunder of that kind. Furthermore, it is incomprehensible that after having committed that blunder, Miss Prism did not go back to her employers to report the loss of child and why she simply disappeared from the scene.
Wilde also uses situational comedy as Mr. Wilde also creates comedy through powerful and witty dialogues. The absurdity of the manner in which Jack was lost as an infant serves as the basis for a number of witty remarks by Lady Bracknell and also as a basis for her rejection of Jack as her would-be son-in-law. When Jack asks her what he should do under the circumstances, her advice to him is to try and acquire some relation as soon as possible.
Wilde also produces comedy by effectively employing satirical devices. He makes fun of failings and follies, posing and pretensions and thus creates laughter. Unlike Jonathan Swift, his satire is that piercing and stabbing. His only purpose is to create humor by illustrating the follies of human behaviors and social snobberies. In The Importance of Being Earnest, the principal target of the satire is English upper class of the time, although we have a couple of humorous and satirical portraits of persons belonging to certain different orders of the society, namely those of clergyman and a governess.
Oscar Wilde ridicules certain typical representatives of English aristocracy of that time to highlight their ostentatious and pretentious habitual formations, social fixations. Wilde illustrates this too much indulgences in these trivialities in a comical way bth through plot and via dialogues. The Algernon is typical epitome of English upper class and its shallowness, irresponsibility, extravagances and vanity.
All these follies and weaknesses have been exposed in a manner as to make us laugh at this specimen of the aristocracy. If the servants in house drinl his champagne, he treats this matter light-heartedly. Thus we find. In it absurd and the improbable from a fantastic combination to provide a rich comic fare. In writing this play, his chief aim was to provide unalloyed entertainment. So he exploits all the characteristics of farce to provide a pure comedy for his audience.
You must be logged in to post a comment. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Skip to content. How is the plot resolved in The Importance of Being Earnest and resolves them successfully in the end. The aristocracy attending Wilde's play knew and understood the private lives of characters like Jack and Algernon.
They were aware of the culture and atmosphere of the West End. It had clubs, hotels, cafes, restaurants, casinos, and most of the 50 theatres in London. The West End was also a red-light district filled with brothels that could provide any pleasure. It was a virtual garden of delights, and the patrons could understand the need for married men to invent Ernests and Bunburys so that they could frolic in this world.
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