The Importance of Being Earnest (Marriage, Love and Romance)
The Importance of Being Earnest
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Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work that's why Marriage is a primary force motivating the plot and a subject for philosophical speculation and debate.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST
ReplyDeleteMARRIAGE, LOVE AND ROMANCE
Note: Cited page numbers correspond with the edition by "Black Cat" publishing house.
For start with, in my opinion this play by Oscar Wilde is so highly valued because it brightly reflects and criticizes the hypocrisy of the upper class people in England at his time.
In my opinion the character of Lady Bracknell's is the best one used one by Wilde to reflect the hypocrisy of high society and the materialistic vision of marriage, love and romance.
Sadly in my opinion, marriage was seen as an economic and social alliance between families, and it was totally separateed from love and romance. So the question of marriage did not depend only on the two members of the possible couple, but on the consent of their families. And so the men of that time held a double life based on lies, they were respectable and serious husbands at home for the public life, but always in search of emotions and real love outside the home. Both Algernon and Jack created fictional characters in order to kept their double life.
Furthermore, in my opinion Wilde unfairly granted young girls an absolute stupidity when he writed that both Gwendolen and Cecily put as a condition of being in love that the name of their future husbands had to be Ernest, an insignificant detail; or when Cecily was already engaged in their imagination and she wrote that in her diary, even before knowing the man.
As I said before, I think Wilde put in Lady Bracknell's words some masterful sentences to reflect the materialist view of marriage in Victorian times.
In my opinion, the 2 best examples of that are:
Firstly, in act I (pages 43-47) when Gwendolen told her mother Lady Bracknell that she was engaged to Jack (Ernest), but her mother replied "you are not engaged to anyone. When you do become engaged to someone, I or your father ... will inform you of the fact". So, the decision of whom to marry with did not depend on the person, but on their family, as it was a business matter, not a feelings matter. Then Lady Bracknell took a note-book and a pencil to ask Jack about his money and position, and she explained that her family had already prepared a list of eligible young men for marry Gwendolen.
Secondly, in act III (pages 107 and 108) when Lady Bracknell said that his nephew Algernon also needed her consent to marry Cecily and she asked about her money and position. After Jack explained that Cecily is rich Lady Bracknell changed her mind and she said "she seems to me a most attractive young lady, now that I look at her". So, Lady Bracknell was looking for a good deal regarding the matter of the marriage of her daughter and her nephew, she wanted they only marriage with people from rich families, however on page 109 she explained that when she married Lord Bracknell she had no money but that fact wasn't a problem for her, and she neither considered a problem that her nephew Algernon had no money, she said "he has nothing but he looks everything. What more can one desire?", another sample of her selfishness and the importance of appearances, as also on page 110 when she answered Jack that her nephew Algernon could not be a man without moral or untruthful, because he studied at Oxford.
Finally Wilde gave an optimism point making that the play had a happy ending and that all the characters could marry with the person they really loved.
Marcial Bernabeu - 4A
From my point of view, it has been shown that a perfect marriage behind had prerequisites, such as the importance of being born with the appropiate name, husband's income or where the couple will live in the future.
ReplyDeleteStarting with the different views, for instance; Algernom who don't see anything romatic in proposing, in contrast, he considers that it is really romantic to be in love. At the same time, Lady Bracknell have a list of eligible young men of which the best wil be chosen.
Considering that, get a suitable marriage was most important, being secondly being in love, as from time to time, discreetly it was allowed to have romances, although only married men of course. In fact, Wilde mocks marriage repeatedly, for instance, Jack said that "The Divorce Court was specially invented for people whose memories are so curiously constituted"
Nowaday, however this ideas have envolved and almost everyone can choose to marry, indeed, a woman can dare to ask marriage, something that was unimaginable, and something about which Wilde could say; "What on earth is this?"
Cristina Alvarez, 4°A
Page 43:
ReplyDeleteLADY BRACKNELL: “Pardon me, you are not engaged to anyone. When you do become engaged to some one, I, or your father, should his health permit him, will inform you of the fact. An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant, as the case may be. It is hardly a matter that she could be allowed to arrange for herself.”
This comment reflects the idea that in those days a young girl couldn´t choose who she was to marry. As Lady Bracknell explains parents were who decided who would be the “perfect” husband according to the family name, money, etc, and it didn´t matter if the girl loved this person or not.
Fortunately, nowadays in Europe this doesn´t normally happen, and women are free to marry who they are in love with. This happens even in monarchy.
Raquel Aguilera, 4ºC
Marriage was a serious matter for middle-class Victorian. In many ways it had the same meaning as a business agreement. Some of whom needed money also tried to arrange marriage that brought financial advantages. They transferred their wealth from one generation to the next and increased their wealth though alliances with other wealthy families.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, a clear example is Lady Bracknell’s question asked to Jack: “what is your income? You have a townhouse, I hope? What are your politics? Who was your father? “(Act I, page 46.).
And with regard to love or romance:
“Jack: I am in love with Gwendolen. I have come up to town expressly to propose to her. Algernon: I thought you had come up for pleasure...I call that business .Jack: How utterly unromantic you are! Algernon: I really don’t see anything romantic in proposing .It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal. Why, one may be accepted. One usually is, I believe. Then the excitement is all over. They very essence of romance is uncertainty, If ever I get married”. (Act I, page 30).
Algernon seems to think that marriages are items of business, and not pleasure. He thinks of marriage as a social obligation. Jack, on the other hand, seems to regard marriage as romantic.
LOLA SÁNCHEZ 4ºA
MARRIAGE, LOVE AND ROMANCE
ReplyDeleteTo begin with, for upper-middle class families were very important to do alliances with the marriages for the money. Besides, it was a business, because they wanted the prestige of an aristocratic title. It can be seen that love had very little to do with these marriages. That way they could not get married without the consent of their parents, who checked if the person was rich, the income, if he/she had a house and so on. However, it was not important if they were in love.
On the other hand, parents checked that the person who wanted to marry their son/daughter had all the requirements. If he/she did not, it was not possible the marriage. For instance, that is the case of Jack, who wanted to marry Gwendolen. Then Gwendolen's mother asked him a lot of questions, but when she found out that Jack did not know who his parents were, she did not agree with the marriage, as he did not rise from the aristocracy.In addition, she said that he had to acquire some relations. We can see it on page 47and 48.
Page 47:
Lady Bracknell: Who was your father? He was evidently a man of some wealth.Was he born in what the Radical papers call the purple of commerce, or did he rise from the ranks of the aristocracy?
Jack: I am afraid I really don't know. The fact is, Lady Bracknell, I said I had lost my parents. It would be nearer the truth to say that my parents seem to have lost me... I don't know who I am by birth. I was... well, I was found.
Lady Bracknell: Found!
Page 48:
Lady Bracknell: I would strongly advise you, Mr. Worthing, to try and acquire some relations as soon as possible, and to make a definite effort to produce at any rate one parent, of either sex, before the season is quite over.
At the moment, it can be seen that it is totally different, as everybody can get married to the person they want and it is not important if the person is rich or the properties he/she has, as the most important thing is love.
MARIBEL BANDERAS 4º A
The book propounded the idea of marriage is pleasurable or a restrictive social duty.
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand, Algernon has a point of view more modern about marriage, however, Jack has other point of view, his ideas are more traditional.
There are an example:
Jack goes Algernon’s house to ask her cousin marriage as it is in love with her for a long time. Algernoon response is:
ALGERNON: I really don’t see anything romantic in proposing. It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal. Why, one may be accepted. One usually is, I believe. Then the excitement is all over. The very essence of romance is uncertainty. If ever I get married, I’ll certainly try to forget the fact (page 30).
On the other hand, Lady Bracknell think it is better to marry soon and not have long relationships:
LADY BRACKNELL: To seapk frankly, I am not in favor of long engagements. The give people the opportunity of finding out each other's character before marriage, which I think is never advisable.
IRENE GARCÍA 4º A
First of all, in Victorians age, the marriage in the high society was very important to get an aristocratic title. There were people in high society that they had no money, but it was more important to feign being rich, The marriages were coordinated by parents, the fiancees didn´t meet each other. The feelings of the engaged couple were in second plan , as Lady Bracknell says if Miss Gwendolen become engaged to some one, the mother and the father will inform her of the fact. (Act I, page 43).
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, the parents had to accept the person who was going to be engaged with. The high society must engaged between each other, it was not well seen to engaged with some one who belonged to lower class. When Lady Bracknell knows Earnest was left in a bag in Victorias’ station , she didn´t accept the engagement. Pages 44 to 48. People didn´t give importance to engaged for love. Parents thought that love would come with the time .
To end, nowadays there are countries that keep on adopting this way of seeing the marriage: not for love, but for business.
JUANA GONZALEZ PEINADO 4º A
ROMANCE MARRIEGE, LOVE:
ReplyDeletePage 109, from line 20:
Lady Bracknell: “To speak frankly, I’m 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.”
Once more, Wilde uses the irony with an idea to make you think about it.
Everyone would say that you need to past time with somebody to know him/her before marriage, but the author uses words to say the opposite of what he really thinks to get to ridicule this idea (the opposite that he thinks).
Nevertheless, if we consider what people really do or did, we can find that many people do the same that Lady Bracknell expose, even in our days, although they say another explanation to try that people see it correctly.
This paragraph is, obviously, another success in the way that this book tries to entertainment at the same time that the author can defend his ideas without damage anybody.
Encarnación Cerezo 4º C
To start with, Victorian Age was often considered hypocritical because in this period, the true love in a marriage was not important. For example, upper-middle class families used to arranged marriages to obtain benefits to their companies. So important was the financial situation that the two families had to reveale their financial situation as soon as the engagement was announced. In the act I Lady Bracknell picked up her pencil and her note-book and did several question to Jack.
ReplyDelete(ACT I) pag 47
LADY BRAKNELL: Who was your father? He was evidently a man of some wealth. Was he born in what the Radical papers call the purple of commerce, or did he rise from the ranks of the aristocracy?
On the other hand, a husband in the marriage practised two distinct lives, a respetable one in front of his familyn and not so respectable one away from his family. For men were not unusual to have a double life.
In conclusion, i strongly believe that in this age the marriage was a question of money and status. Nowdays, in some arabian religions the marriage is considered enterly a business.
The themes of Marriage, Love and Romance are the thread of the story. Wilde exposes two cases where marriage, love and romance are very important. In the first place, the love between Jack and Gwendolen, where Lady Bracknell has an important role. In the second place, Algernon falls in love with Cecily, in this relation Jack has an important role, because he is a guardian of Cecily.
ReplyDeleteI choose one quote between Jack and Gwendolen espeak about their love.
ACT I, PAGE 41:
"Gwendolen: Yes, I am quite well aware of the fact. And I often wish that in public, at any rate, you had been more demonstrative. For me you have always had an irresistible fascination. Even before I met you I was far from indifferent to you. We live, as I hope you know, Mr Worthing, in an age of ideals. the fact is constantly mentioned in the more expensive monthly magazines, and has reached the provincial pulpits, I am told; and my ideal has always been to love some one of the name or Ernest. There is something in thatt name that inpires absolute confidence. The moment Algernon fist mentioned to me that he had a friend called Ernest, I knew I was destined to love you."
"Jack: You really love me, Gwendolen?"
"Gwendolen: Passionately!"
In this quote Gwendolen says Jack that she loves him and she explains that the ideal name of the man is Ernest. In this conversation, we can see the pun that Wilde makes with the title of the book. The Importance of Being Earnest. On the other hand, Lady Bracknell gives more importance the social position than the name. Because in this period there were real social problems of the upper class like marriage between people of different clases.
I believe that the importance of the name of one person is trivial thing that Wilde introduces to contrast the thinking of Gwendolen to her mother, Lady Brackell, about marriage, love and romance.
TOÑI MORGADO RODRÍGUEZ 4ºC
ACT I:
ReplyDeleteJack: You really love me, Gwendolen?
Gwendolen: Passionately!!
Jack: Darling! You don't know how happy you've made me.
Gwendolen: ah! that is clearly a metaphysical speculation, and like most metaphysical speculations has has very little reference at all to the actual facts of real life, as we know them.
Gwendolen: My own Ernest!!
Jack: But you don't really mean to say that you coudn't love me if my name wasn't Ernest.
Gwendolen: Bur your name is Ernest.
Jack: Yes, I know it is. But supposing it was something else? Do you mean to say you couldn't love me then?
Jack, encouraged by Gwendolen's reaction to this declaration of love, calls her by Christian name for the first time, and she reponds by calling him "My own Ernest". Because he is a little slow in formally proposing, she reverts to calling him Mr. Worthing until he has actually proposed, after which she calls him "darling" and "Ernest" .
Again and again Wilde makes comedy out of these social situations using his typical puns . Everyone knows how the english society is with its gentleness and "savoir faire" always with good manners and compliments. In this paragraph Wilde goes from end to end and that is not allowed in the high english culture; only when we are talking about a declaration of love.
Miguel Á. Roldán Jurado 4ºC
Oscar Wilde talks about love,marriage and romance along all the plot of this play, although we can find significant differences depending on the character we chose.
ReplyDeleteFor instance Algernon thinks that the most important thing is to be in love not to get married, because when you propose to someone the magic of love seems to disappear.
This is perfecly explained in ACT I, p 30:
"Algernon. I really don't see anything romantic in proposing. It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about definite proposal. Why one may be accepted..."
On the other hand, Lady Brcakmell's opinion about love and marriage is absolutely material. With this character, Wilde represents the Victorian aristocratic society, where parents arranged marriages depending on the possessions and the incomes of the posible candidates.
On page 44, ACT I, we find a perfect example of this:
"Lady Bracknell. (pencil and note-book in hand). I feel bound to tell you that you are not down on my list of elegible men, although I have the same list as the dear Duchess of Bolton has. We work toguether, in fact..."
ELISA GÓMEZ FERNÁNDEZ, 4º C
“….LADY BRACKNELL (pencil and note-book in hand) I feel bound to tell you that you are not down on my list of eligible young men, although I have the same list as the dear Duchess of Bolton has. We work together, in fact…..”
ReplyDeleteIn this conversation, is evident that in Victorian age, many times were the parents who chose the wife/husband of their children. The parents had a “list” with many potential candidates and they decided which one was the best, as a function of their social status, their properties, money, family etc…..Love was the least important.
For instance, Lady Bracknell asks Jack what is their income, how many bedrooms have their country house ...... questions which are very important for Lady Bracknell to choose the perfect husband for her daughter, but she does not ask Jack if he is in love with Gwendolen.
ALEJANDRA BARREDO 4º C
In this classic play, Oscar Wilde described the themes of Marriage, Love and Romance of the upper class in the Victorian Age. Marriage was a question of wealth and status They were completely contradictory to the values of our acual society where love prevails .
ReplyDeleteHowever, although the purpose of marriage was business, it had a sense of lack of ethics in such behavior. An example is when Cecily says to Algernon:
ACT II, PAGE 275 (Oxford University Press):
“ CECILY: Well, I know, of course, how important it is not to keep a business engagement , If one wants to retain any sense of the beauty of life, but still I think you had better wait till Uncle Jack arrives . I know he wants to speak to you about your emigrating”.
This is humorous, because to Victorians, it was important to keep business engagements. This is the mood of Oscar Wilde, in a critique of society of the time. The Importance of Being Ernest, is definitely a piece of entertainment
ALFREDO CANALES LOPEZ 4.C
MARRIAGE
ReplyDeleteFrom page 43 to 48.
Gwendolen. I am engaged to Mr Worthing, mamma.
Lady Bracknell. Pardon me, you are not engaged to anyone. When you do become engaged to some one, I, or your father, should his health permit him, will inform you of the fact. An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant, as the case may be. It is hardly matter she could be allowed to arrange for herself. … And now I have a few questions to put you, Mr Worthing. …
This paragraph, and the following, in my opinion describes perfectly wealthy classes’ concept of marriage in Victorian Age. As in the play, through the whole history, even nowadays , marriage has been more than a matter of love. Indeed, love and romanticism are rather new things in marriage. In Wilde’s age, marry to someone was a business matter, the way to make financial and social alliances between families. The engaged couple have to agree with their parents' arrangement, for this reason they didn’t have any option to choose with who marry to.
The importance of being Earnest talks all the time of the marriage and the metaphoric battle between heart and common sense, love and duties, truth and keep appearances. And although at final, the couples of the play will marry for love, both engagements are accepted for a financial and social alliance. In relation to this, the character who reflects clearly this practical vison of marriage is Lady Bracknell, who interviews Jack to know how big is his property and if he has a recognised position in good society.
Montse Fité_4C