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The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde
Ernest D., Ernest E., Ernest G., Ernest H.
Choices of the Author● Dramatic Irony● Characterization● Fallacies
Dramatic Irony
▪ Algeron travels to the country house without Jack’s knowledge or permission (Act II)
▫ Algeron said he was Ernest, Jack said Ernest was dead
▪ Cecily and Gwendolen realize in their first meeting that they are both engaged to a man named Ernest Worthing (Act II)
▫ Unaware of the two different people
▪ The blood relation between Jack and Gwendolen is revealed (Act III)
▫ And frankly they do not care
Characterization
▪ Jack Worthing (John, Ernest)▫ Life of respectability vs. life of deceit▫ Jack follows the ideals of Victorian society more than Algernon
▪ Lady Bracknell▫ Representation of high Victorian society ▫ Lady Bracknell is one of the most powerful characters in the play
▪ Miss Prism▫ Initial interactions with Cecily reveal that traditional values and
intellectual pursuits are important to Miss Prism
▫ Hidden past revealed in Act III
Fallacy
▪ Algernon: “ Literary criticism is not your forte, my dear fellow. Don’t try it. You should leave that to people who haven’t been at a University” (Act I)
▪ Jack: “My dear fellow, the truth isn’t quite the sort of thing one tells to a nice, sweet, refined girl” (Act I)
▪ Algernon: “Now produce your explanation and pray make it improbable.” (Act I)
▪ Cecily: “ I don’t like novels that end happily. They depress me so much” (Act II)
▪ Lady Bracknell: “ To speak frankly, I am not in favour of long engagements. They give people the opportunity of finding out each other’s character before marriage, which I think is never advisable” (Act III)
Literary Lenses“Literary criticism is not your forte, my dear fellow. Don’t try it.”
-- Algernon, Act I
● Feminist● Marxist● Psychoanalytical
Feminist Critique▪ Wilde seems very cynical
about the women of his time▪ Many of the women in this
play represent this whimsical, temperamental, unpredictable, and hypocritical image of women that many Wilde quotes suggest
“One should never trust a woman who tells her real age. If she tells that, she'll
tell anything.”
“She wore far too much rouge last night and not quite enough clothes. That is always a sign of despair in a woman.”
Feminist Critique
▪ Concerned with appearances and reputation, shallow▫ G: “I like you already more than I can say. My first
impressions of people are never wrong.” (Act II)▫ G: “From the moment I saw you I distrusted you. .... I
am never deceived in such matters. My first impressions of people are invariably right.” (Act II)
▫ Only want to marry a man named Ernest▫ Use a lot of fallacy and verbal irony
C: “May I offer you some tea, Miss Fairfax?”G: “[With elaborate politeness.] Thank you. [Aside.]
Detestable girl! But I require tea!” (Act II)
THEME 1: Women are sly with the use of their power, often focusing on self image but quietly able to use their influence to manipulate people for their own purposes.
Feminist Critique
▪ Have men at their beck and call, and own it▫ Men ready to re-christen themselves as “Earnest”▫ Men pampering their ladies
▪ Manipulative▫ G: “They don’t seem to notice us at all. Couldn’t you
cough? .... They are looking at us. What effrontery!” ▫ Avoid giving in to what they find reasonable until they
get all possible repentance from the menG: “Their explanations appear to be quite satisfactory
.... you think we should forgive them?”C: “Yes. I mean no.”
THEME 1: Women are sly with the use of their power, often focusing on self image but quietly able to use their influence to manipulate people for their own purposes.
Feminist Critique
▪ Contrasts the idea of women being powerful and independent enough of men to manipulate them and prove their class on their own with negative stereotypes of women▫ From hatred to sisterhood in a matter of pages
Insults to class on page 41, and page 42:G: “My poor wounded Cecily!”C: “My sweet wronged Gwendolen!”G: “You will call me sister, will you not?” (Act III)
▫ THEME 2: Through sisterhood and bonding together, women can guard against the scheming of men.
THEME 1: Women are sly with the use of their power, often focusing on self image but quietly able to use their influence to manipulate people for their own purposes.
Marxist Critique
▪ Constant appearances and disappearances by servants
“[Enter Lane.] L: Mr. Ernest Worthing.[Enter Jack.][Lane goes out.]”
“[Enter Merriman.]M: Miss Fairfax.[Enter Gwendolen.][Exit Merriman.]”
▪ Serve only to suit their masters
A: Is marriage so demoralising as that?L: I believe it is a very pleasant state, sir. .... I have only been married once. A: I don’t know that I am much interested ....L: No, sir; it is not a very interesting subject. I never think of it myself.
THEME 1: The servants in both country and town homes are shown at a distinctly lower level than their employers through their brief and complacent appearances.
Karl Marx the Spot (in Society)
▪ Trust between Algernon and Lane, and Jack and Merriman:▫ Servants are NOT part of the proletariat, they are employed.▫ Shows upper class hierarchy in story, as they can afford
servants. ▫ Algernon shares with Lane that he is going bunburying
(dramatic irony to Jack). ▪ Historical status of Victorian upper class servants (hierarchy).▪ Working class is supposed to facilitate a Marxist revolution led
by intellectuals. HAHAHAHAHA! ▪ Servants have potential insights (e.g.: Cecily and Gwendolen’s
confusion), but restrain them (restraining power).
THEME 2: The master can be inferior to the servant in many ways, including conformity to social hierarchy.
Don’t be A-Freud
▪ Theme 1: Our basal desires come from our environment and status in society.▫ Manipulation of Algernon’s ID at various points in the story,
versus Jack (shows more ego). ▪ Comedic effect comes from the fact that the most important
lesson learned in the play is so trivial!▫ Bunbury: Algernon’s superego reveals useful information to
Jack about his relationship with Gwendolen.▪ Lady Bracknell as a superego reference figure.▪ “I love hearing my relations abused. It is the only thing that makes
me put up with them all…” (19).
Ethos Superego
Logos Ego
Pathos ID
A Helpful Analogy...
Freudian ExamplesJack:▪ Shows restraint around
food.▪ Flirts with Gwendolyn, a
more complex individual. ▪ Has a practical use for
Ernest initially.
Lady Bracknell (the practical benefits of marriage): credibility from family
● “To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness. Who was your father?” (16)
● “A man should always have an occupation of some kind. There are far too many idle men in London as it is” (15).
Algernon:
● “All women beome like their mothers. That is
their tragedy. No man does. That’s his” (19).
● “Relations are simply a tedious pack of
people, who haven’t got the remotest
knowledge of how to live, nor the smallest
instinct about when to die” (18).
● “Yes, but it’s hereditary, my dear fellow. It’s a
sort of thing that runs in families. You had
much better say a severe chill” (20).
Miss Prism: betraying the class
● Initially reasonable; corrupted by Dr. Chasuble
● Facilitates Cecily’s betrayal of her class
Too Jung to Marry?
▪ Flirting is a motivator of a range of behaviors:▫ Algernon’s impersonation is a complex focused on Cecily
▪ Unconscious is specific to our ancestral past:▫ Animus: argument between Gwendolen & Cecily vs. Jack and
Algernon after Jack’s name is revealed to Gwendolyn.
▪ Past experiences + future aspirations = cause of behavior:▫ Existential crisis: using Algernon’s masquerading to help Jack.▫ Jack is a liar who is actually tellling the truth about Ernest.
▪ Collective unconscious structures the couples in the story:▫ Eating, flirting, degradation of values to trivialities
Theme 2: Our thoughts influence our actions,
ironically so if they work against us. The level
of rigor of a matter depends on the amount of
thought required before action upon it.
Attachment Theory: John Bowlby, Hazan and Shaver (1987)
▪ Cecily’s vs. Gwendolen’s reciprocation of coquetry.▪ Proximity Maintenance:
▫ Romance in Adulthood: safety when lover is nearby (Lady Bracknell is antithesis)
▫ Characteristics: discussion of intimacies, “baby-talk.” [VIDEO!]▪ Secure Base: knowledge that you can rely on someone
▫ Examples: Jack isn’t true to himself and lacks this▫ Loss of Jack at train platform sets up his character in part
▪ Discussion Question: Who is weaker, men or women?
The distortion of the line between
childhood and adulthood is important in
the play.
Some cause happiness wherever they go; others
whenever they go.
