Oscar Wilde Earnest

Oscar Wilde EarnestTrivial Comedy for Serious PeopleOscar Wildes The Importance of Being EarnestSince we know The Importance of Being Earnest is a trivial play for life-threatening people, our task as serious people is not to be content to say its sportny, but to be careful when describing the fun (Sale 479). First staged in February 1895 at the St. James Theatre, people packed the theater to see Oscar Wildes new play, The Importance of Being Earnest. The play was an immediate impinge on (Greenblatt and M.H. Abrams 2221). It was a promising time as Wildes plays had been the talk of the town for the past several years.Generally, Wildes plays were serious even when trying to evoke comedy his previous plays ranged from friendly satire and criticism (Lady Windermeres Fan), to themes that defied propriety and incited round moral indignation (Salome) (Barnet xxix). In reply to criticism surrounding Lady Windermeres Fan, printed in the St. James Gazette of February 26, 1892, Wilde wrot e a letter to the editor published on February 27th, under the heading Mr. Oscar Wilde Explains(Mason 390). In this letter, Wilde claimed that he did not want the play to be viewed as a mere interrogatory of pantomime and clowning, but that he was interested in the piece as a psychological study (Mason 390). His tendency was to make his people real, and then to compact his audience through the looking-glass into a world which seemed to reflect modern life (Raby 159).This new play, The Importance of Being Earnest, therefore, revealed a novel side of Wilde not capable before. One of his contemporary critics, H. G. Wells, said that it was much lumberinger to listen to buncombe then to talk it, but not if it is good nonsense.and this is very good nonsense (Beckson 187). Hamilton Fyfe, on the other hand, found it slight in structure, devoid in purpose nevertheless extraordinarily funny (Beckson 187).One critic failed to find it pleasing curiously this was Wildes fellow playwright f rom Ireland, Bernard Shaw(Greenblatt and M.H. Abrams 2221). Although he claimed he did find it amusing, George Bernard Shaw said that it leaves me with a sense of having wasted my evening (Beckson 221). He even poked fun at those who praised the sheer nonsense of Wilde, remarking that if the public ever becomes intelligent enough to know when it is really enjoying itself and when it is not, there will be an end of farcical comedy (Beckson 221-222). Since George Bernard Shaw had a reputation for being a harsh critic, this criticism was characteristic of him. After reading the play, one capacity even agree with Shaws review.However, the play does have an apprehensible plot (a gross anachronism, according to Shaw (Beckson 221). The main character, Jack Worthing, is courting the affections of Gwendolen Fairfax, but is impeded by her mother, Lady Bracknell, who opposes the match (Greenblatt and M.H. Abrams 2229-2231). This part of the plot is serious enough. Wilde then adds a comical a spect Jack has been introducing himself as Ernest while in town, and when back at his country estate he refers to a jr. brother named Ernest (Greenblatt and M. H. Abrams 2223). While Wilde tries to inject a sense of seriousness into the comedy, he allows his plot twists to develop into the ridiculous. For example, the case of Miss Prisms losing an infant is nonchalantly explained as an hit minded switch between a book and a baby the baby being placed in a handbag and the book in the perambulator (Greenblatt and M. H. Abrams 2261). There is also Algernons behavior and his imaginary friend shoot the breezeed Bunburywhich he invented as an invaluable permanent invalid in order that he cogency be able to go down into the country whenever he chooses (Greenblatt and M. H. Abrams 2226), eventually Bunbury evidently explodes.As ridiculous as Wilde made his plots, is the way he terminate them Algernons way of killing off Bunbury was to calmly say that he was quite exploded (Greenblatt a nd M. H. Abrams 2256). When pressed for a better answer, Algernon simply explains that the doctor found that Bunbury was loss to die and he expired right then and there. Gwendolens (and for that matter Cecilys) outrage after discovering the truth about Ernest is won back by the ridiculous movement by Jack to christen himself Ernest. And the hard to believe predicament of Miss Prism and the lost baby eventually resolved Jacks impediment with Gwendolen.in truth often when offered questionable storylines, one can expect relief from the moral of the story or the play, which the author might try to instill. The search, in this case, would be in vain. Algernon never gets his due over his continued deceit in Bunburying, and Jack Worthing is redeemed by the discovery of his being Ernest all along. Jacks confession that it is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth(Greenblatt and M. H. Abrams 2263) is simply accepted and forgiven. None of the characters get chastised for their bad behavior or prejudice. So, one is left to approximate that Wilde, in not condemning these actions, absolutely agrees with them.Therefore it might be considered that the plot is only a prop for Wildes more implicit messages, hidden within his side notes, his characters, and their situations. The message may not be understand by looking at the play as a whole but in its parts. The gems hidden within the play are the commentaries of Wilde on topics much(prenominal) as medicine, relationships and social norms, with considerable insight on the human condition, in particular issues of class, gender, sexuality, and identity (P.P.F 288538). He places these commentaries either as asides in the dialogue or in the intricacy by which a scene is played out. For example, Algernons skepticism regarding Jacks proposal to Gwendolen echoes the social dilemma, girls never marry the men they flirt withgirls dont think it rightit accounts f or the extraordinary number of bachelors that one sees all over the place (Greenblatt and M. H. Abrams 2224). As for the dialogue of the two young ladies towards each other (they will call each other a lot of things before they become friends) Wilde portrays the younger gal as naively idealistic, while portraying the other as an meshuga romantic. They are represented as fickle, although Gwendolens attitude towards Cecily ranges from quite friendly to jealous rivalry and then to faithful friend (all in one scene). At the homogeneous time, Lady Bracknells impression of Cecily goes from the unthinkable to the idea that Cecily has distinct social possibilities, and as such would make a suitable member of London High fellowship (Greenblatt and M. H. Abrams 2258).While most of Wildes contemporaries were thrilled at the nonsense of the play, Shaw had expected a serious comedy by the playwright. Instead he saw it as having no structure and a real disap locatement. The play does begin to make sense though, when we look away from the perspective of the critic and into the authors mind. If we accept that the plot is a prop, which Wilde used to throw abuse and amusement at his audience, we can then conclude that the play was meant as one big commentary on sensibilities, on society, and on theater. Furthermore, if we look at Wildes own problems at the time of the plays fame, we might understand Wilde.In the scene where Lady Bracknell is interviewing Jack, and then reacting to Jacks helpless entre that he has lost his parents, Lady Bracknell states that losing both parents seem an act of carelessness (Greenblatt and M. H. Abrams 2232), and adds that to rectify the situation he should make a definite effort to evoke at any rate one parent, of either sex, before the season is quite over (Greenblatt and M. H. Abrams 2233). As absurd as this may seem, it does have a purpose Lady Bracknell represents Victorian High Society. Because of this, she is ready to condemn based on ones birth or unfortunate circumstance yet she makes a fat turnaround in her disapproval of Cecily at a time she realizes that the girl has good ancestry (namely, her father is rich) (Greenblatt and M.H. Abrams 2257).The absurdity of Jack posing as Ernest mirrors the life of the playwright himself. Oscar Wilde, at this time, had begun to scandalize London with his lifestyle and had been largely condemned as a homosexual. Jack Worthing explains that the pressures of leading a high moral life in the country does not provide him with the happiness he needs rather, that happiness is found in Ernest whose reputation is entirely opposite of Jacks (Greenblatt and M.H. Abrams 2226). In the same way, perhaps Wilde feels somehow trapped in the need to conform to Londons High Society standards.The lack of a decent plot is an attack of the sensibilities of the audience to a serious play. Oscar Wilde once explained that the play has an underlying philosophy that we should treat all the trivia l things of life seriously, and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality (Greenblatt and M. H. Abrams 2222). The whole point was not the progression of the story, but the progression of the absurdity starting with the truth of Ernest, then the nonsense of Bunburying, until the play escalates to the ridiculous in Miss Prism. His characters crude commentaries, which seemed to despoil, were meant to offend if anything, none of it needed to be taken seriously.The play is an exercise of triviality. George Bernard Shaw couldnt see past the nonsense of Wilde. The Importance of Being Earnest was actually quite an accomplishment. Wilde worked hard writing and rewriting the script until he felt he had the perfect combination of wit and humor shrouded in seriousness. It was absolute nonsense, yet it was a chef-doeuvre of nonsense.There is a lesson to be learned here. Something serious need not be treated to death as serious it can be allowed some form of triviality. These few lines say it bestJack I am sick to death of cleverness The thing has become an absolute public nuisance. I wish to goodness we had a few fools left.Algernon We have. Jack I should extremely like to meet them. What do they talk about?Algernon The fools? Oh About the clever people, of get across(Greenblatt and M. H. Abrams 2234).Works CitedBarnet, Sylvan. Introduction. The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays By Oscar Wilde. New York Penguin Books, 1985.Beckson, Karl, Ed. Oscar Wilde The Critical Heritage. London Routledge, 1997.Greenblatt, Stephen, and M.H. Abrams, Eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 8th ed. New York, USA W.W. Norton Company, Inc, 2006.Mason, Stuart. Bibliography of Oscar Wilde. Edinburgh Riverside offer Limited, 1908. Reprinted, New York Haskell House Pub, 2007.P.P.F. The Importance of Being Earnest.Contemporary Review. 288.1683 (Winter 2006) 538-539. Retrieved April 3, 2008. www.liberty.edu. Academic Search Premier.http//search.ebs cohost.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu2048/login.aspx? forecast=truedb=aphAN=23913109site=ehost-liveRaby, Peter, Ed. The Cambridge Companion to Oscar Wilde. Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 1997.Sale, Roger. Being Earnest. Hudson Review 563 (Autumn 2003) 475-484.Retrieved April 3, 2008. www.liberty.edu. Academic Search Premier.http//search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.libety.edu2048/login.aspx?direct=truedb=aphAN=11262215site=ehost-live