The Importance of Being Earnest (Gender)
The Importance of Being Earnest
Another theme of the book is Gender. In what ways does Wilde reinforce gender roles/expectations of his time period? On this page you are more than welcome to post your comments.
In Wilde´s time period, men had to work to support his family. He reflected that when Jack and Lady Bracknell were talking if he cuold marry with her daughter, and she asked him about his income, house..etc.
ReplyDeleteTHE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST
ReplyDeleteGENDER
Note: Cited page numbers correspond with the edition by "Black Cat" publishing house.
In Victorian times there was a big difference between men and women roles. As we can read on page 12 "Even though women had this very difficult job they were considered unintelligent. Men used their heads, women their hearts. Women were considered particularly susceptible to vice ... They had very few rights, and when they married all their property went to their husband".
Men considered women as inferior beings and it was very common that women were treated by men like a mere object of desire.
In my opinion, a very good sample of this is when, on page 50, Jack said to Algernon: "What extraordinary ideas you have abut the way to behave to a woman!", and then Algernon answered: "The only way to behave to a woman is to make love to her, if she is pretty, and to someone else, if she is plain".
Fortunately now times have changed a lot. In my opinion both, men and women, have to do the same roles, and of course it's very clear than the intelligence does not depend on gender.
Marcial Bernabeu - 4A
Fist of all, it was said that wives were the most important in the family, because children were educated by them whereas servants were managed by them too. On the other hand, other essential values were doubted, like dignity, decency or intelligence, to such an extent that it was a well-known fact that they could not choose to marry if the future husband did not have a good economic position.
ReplyDeleteBeginning with one of the many examples found, it can be seen how Wilde reinforces that men must smoke, as it was quite accepted. In contrast, if a man had been born with no known parents, it was not the best way to get a wife.
In addition to this, people were in favor of opinion that a man who desires to get married, should not meet anyone more, in theory, because it was allowed provided that they were discreet.
In conclusion and fortunately most things have changed, although there are other, but step by step. It is my hope that in the future there are fewer differences between gender roles.
Cristina Alvarez, 4°A
Page: 105
ReplyDeleteLady Bracknell referring to her husband:
LADY BRACKNELL: "...Her unhappy father is, I am glad to say, under the impression that she is attending a more than usually lengthy lecture by University Extension Scheme on the Influence of a permanent income on Thought. I do not propose to undeceive him. Indeed I have never undeceived him on any question. I would consider it wrong. But of course, you will clearly understand that all communication between yourself and my daughter must cease immediately from this moment. On this point, as indeed on all points, I am firm".
In this conversation we can clearly see women´s role in those days. As Lady Bracknell mentions she has never and would never do or say anything that would disappoint her husband. This wouldn´t be correct and for this reason she asks Jack and Gwendolen to stop seeing each other.
What I understand is that in that time married women had to please their husband at all times even though, like we see in this case, it meant interfering in her daughter´s happiness.
Raquel Aguilera, 4º C
In the Victorian age, woman's place was in the home. The home was the moral centre of life governed by women. She quietly taking care of the children and managed the servants. Men, on the other hand, went out into the world and so they had to make certain moral compromises.
ReplyDelete“Gwendolen: Outside the family circle, papa, I am glad to say, is entirely unknown .I think that is quite as it should be. The home seems to me to be the proper sphere for the man. And certainly once a man begins to neglect his domestic duties he becomes painfully effeminate does he not? And I don’t like that. It makes men so very attractive.”(Act II, page 85).Here, for example, Wilde shows that woman occupy positions of power and usurp the traditional gender roles.
Moreover, women were angels or prostitutes for many Victorian men .As Lady Bra knell says, the Victorian Age was in some ways an "age of surfaces" .In the other words, behind the moral and severity, there was often a darker world of hypocrisy and greed.
Luckily, times are changing although there is still a way to go.
LOLA SÁNCHEZ 4º A
GENDER
ReplyDeleteIn Victorian society women were the centre of the middle-class household, A wife was supposed to be the angel of the house who provided a haven for her husband from the competitive world outside. She also educated the children and managed the servants. They were considered unintelligent. They had very few rights, and when they married all their property went to their husband.
In contrast, men did not have to respect such a strict moral code. They did not have to worry about sexual purity, as long as they were discreet. Besides, it was a world of hypocrisy as many man led a double life, a respectable one in front of their families and a not so respectable one away from their families. For instance, Jack and Algernon, and their practice or leading two distinct lives, as we can see on page 36.
Algernon to Jack: You have invented a very useful younger brother called Ernest, in order that you may be able to come up to town as often as you like. I have invented an invaluable permanent invalid called Bunbury, in order that I may be able to go down into the country whenever I choose.
Finally, although many things have changed on gender roles, we have much work if we want to get that men and women are considered the same.
MARIBEL BANDERAS 4º A
In my view, the author intensify the male and female role with the activities which the characters do. For instance, men smoke, supervise their business and travel alone.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, women water of flowers, spend their time on the garden and never speak about business, except when they want to know the salary of a suitor.
AZAHARA GONZÁLEZ 4ºA
In my view, the author intensify the male and female role with the activities which the characters do. For instance, men smoke, supervise their business and travel alone.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, women water of flowers, spend their time on the garden and never speak about business, except when they want to know the salary of a suitor.
AZAHARA GONZÁLEZ 4ºA
Relationships between men and women were very different in the nineteenth century. Oscar Wilde explained perfectly in "The Importance of Being Earnest". In his work, Wilde explains how different were the roles of men and women of the upper class. These roles, fortunately, have changed nowadays, but Wilde's work is well suited to learn how were these characterizations between people of different sex.
ReplyDeleteSergio Moreno, 4º A
Is a theater located in Victorian England, where everything is based on appearances, in possessions and status.
ReplyDeleteFor example, Lady Bracknell didnd’ want that Cecily got married with his nephew, when Jack tells the fortune of Cecily is when Lady Barcknell approves marriage.
IRENE GARCÍA 4º A
In Victorians’ age the role of women was to stay at home and care for children , spending his free time sewing or gardening, otherwise men had more freedom, it was well seen to have a double life. As Algernon says in page 36: You have invented a very useful younger brother called Ernest, in order that you may be able to come up to town as often as you like. I have invented an invaluable permanent invalid called Bunbury, in order that I may be able to go down into the country whenever I choose. If it wasn´t for Bunbury´s bad health, I wouldn´t be able to dine with you at Willis´s to-night, for I have been really engaged to Aunt Augusta for more than a week.
ReplyDeleteWomen also had to wait for the men proposed to their. Women always should be in silent, while men had his wife at home who was good wife, honest and good mother and they had a lover to have fun . Men were working to support the family , but women couldn’ t . she couldn´t do anything without her parents or husbands’ permission. Nowadays everything has changed. Women work outside home, but men still think there are roles that correspond to women.
In my opinion it´s still difficult to be equal with men.
JUANA GONZALEZ PEINADO 4º A
GENDER ROLES:
ReplyDeleteI think that the attitude towards “gender roles” in this book is like a satire, the author tries to denounce and to show his disapproval of the way that the society saw this subject, not very different, on the other hand, to the way that some people see it nowadays.
Therefore, Wilde use the humour to criticize this matter, for instance in page 85, line 9, Gwendoline says “The home seems to me be the proper sphere for the man”, just the opposite to the rules in that period of time, but it is more, after that, she explains that if a man begins to neglect his domestic duties he becomes painfully effeminate. It is something absolutely crazy.
This paragraph is like a joke, changing the rules and provoking that people think about it, but it make you laugh at the same time.
Probably it is the most correct way to say different opinion from the rest of people avoiding to argue. People do not think about quarrel when they laugh, because they feel happy.
It seems to me that this paragraph is very representative of the Comedy of Manners, typical playwrights in that period of time.
Encarnación Cerezo
The theme of Gender is well represented throughout the book. Along the three acts we can see how Wilde exposed through conversations between characters the different roles between men and women, between upper and lower clases, and also Wilde exposes different roles and activities that a young woman should do according to the roles of Victorian society.
ReplyDeleteACT II, PAGE 65:
"Miss Prism: Cecily, Cecily! Surely such a utilitarian occupation as the watering of flowers is rather Moulton's duty than yours? Especially at a momento whwn intelectual pleasures await you. Your German grammar is on the table. Pray open it at page fifteen. We will repeat yesterday's lesson."
"Miss Prism: Your guardian enjoys the best of health, and his gravity of demeanour is especially to be commended in one so comparatively Young as he is. I know no one who has a higher sense of duty and responsability."
In this quote, we can see how Wilde with the words of Miss Prism speaks about the correct roles in young women and Cecily should follow. Because, the members of the upper-middle class normally was more culturally refined than the members of the lower class.
In my opinión, in Victorian society young women were required to follow these roles to become good wives and mothers who will educate their children in the future.
TOÑI MORGADO RODRÍGUEZ 4º C
It is well known that in the Victorian Age the roles of men and women were absolutely disparate.
ReplyDeleteWhat society expected from women was to stay at home, taking care of their children and husbands. Women had to be kind and honest. They even were considered unninteligent that is why they did not have the right to chose or to express their opinion.
In contrast, men were considered the core of the society, the most important part of this world. They did not have to be discreet,and how it is shown in the play, men used to have a double life.
We can afirm that Victorian era had an hypocrite society where men were allowed to do anything they wanted and women accepted it due to the respect of an strict moral code.
In accordance with this it can be found many quotes in the play. However, Wilde tries to give a different point of view changing the roles between woman and man. The author use the satire to denounce and criticize the situation of the society in those days.
For intance in ACT II p. 71, there is a dialogue between Algernon and Cecily where we can see the image of a submitted woman although she tries to rebel.
"Algernon. Thank you. Might I have a buttonhole first? I never have any appetite unless I have a buttonhole firts.
Cecily. A Marèchal Niel?
Algernon. No, I'd sooner have a pink rose.
Cecily. Why ?
Algernon. Because you are like a pink rose, Cousin Cecily..."
ELISA GÓMEZ FERNÁNDEZ, 4ºC
the Importance of Being Earnest is a big comedy about Gender roles of the upper class in the Victorian Age. Gender Roles are based on norms and standards, created by society. It starts at birth, and continious with the family, education, appearances, possessions, status and peer groups.
ReplyDeleteIn this classic play, Oscar Wilde described with humor and criticisms about the world of 1890s England, based on Victorian society's . The attitudes, traits, or behavior patterns of women or men of the upper class are explained an exaggerated.
I would like to highlight the importance of appearance over the possession and wealth, probably to distance themselves from the new wealthy bourgeoisie.
ACT III, PAGE 254 (Oxford University Press):
“Jack: I beg your pardon for interrupting you, Lady Brackbell, but this engagement is quite out of the question. I am Miss Cardew´s guardian, and she cannot marry without my consent until she comes of age. That consent I absolutely decline to give.
Lady Blacknell: Upon what grounds may I ask?. Algernon is an extremely, I may almost saya n ostentatiously, eligible Young man. He has nothing, but he looks everything. What more can one desire?.”
ALFREDO CANALES LOPEZ, 4º C
LADY BRACKNELL: “ Me, sir! What has it to do with me? You can hardly imagine that I and Lord Bracknell would dream of allowing our only daughter -- a girl brought up with the utmost care -- to marry into a cloak-room, and form an alliance with a parcel? Good morning, Mr. Worthing!”
ReplyDeleteIn the Victorian age, woman and man of the upper class had very different roles .
For the one hand, woman in this age is treated as an object, first is owned by their parents, and after, when she got married, she became a property of her husband. She had very little control over your life and woman is trained to be a good wife and mother.
However the roll of man was very different, he had control of his home, his business and his wife and family. They had much more freedom than women, even as in the book, could live a double life as they made Jack and Algernon.
LADY BRACKNELL: “ Me, sir! What has it to do with me? You can hardly imagine that I and Lord Bracknell would dream of allowing our only daughter -- a girl brought up with the utmost care -- to marry into a cloak-room, and form an alliance with a parcel? Good morning, Mr. Worthing!”
ReplyDeleteIn the Victorian age, woman and man of the upper class had very different roles .
For the one hand, woman in this age is treated as an object, first is owned by their parents, and after, when she got married, she became a property of her husband. She had very little control over your life and woman is trained to be a good wife and mother.
However the roll of man was very different, he had control of his home, his business and his wife and family. They had much more freedom than women, even as in the book, could live a double life as they made Jack and Algernon
ALEJANDRA BARREDO 4º C
GENDER
ReplyDeletePage 105.
Gwendolen. How absurd to talk of the equality of the sexes! Where questions of self-sacrifice are concerned, men are infinitely beyond us.
The importance of being Earnest is a comedy full of references to gender and the strict roles of men and women in the Victorian Age. In the play, the author reflects the 19th-century stereotypes about gender especially through the satire of the characters’ dialogs (like in the sentence that I've choose). This is the way used by Wilde to show the hypocrisy of the manners, puritan ideals and social rules.
In the Victorian Age the equality of the sexes didn’t exist, even in the wealthy classes. The women weren’t free at all and they have a few rights: all their life were guided for their parents and after marry for her husband. They lived for take care of the house and the children, and they had to respect the strict moral code of the age. Moreover, they were considered less intelligent and able than men, who lived in the opposite situation: they were free while they were discreet and their lives were quite easier and pleasant.
The sentence I chose shows this unfair reality, which is not much different nowadays in our world where to be woman is synonym to have less rights and self-sacrifice for social rules.
Montse Fité_4C