Oscar Wilde Constanly Mocks Victorian Society Essay Example for Free

Oscar Wilde Constanly Mocks victorian Society Essay figure out III offers happy resolution to the problems of identity and marriage that drive much of the humor in the previous acts. Wilde continues to mock the tender customs and posts of the low-spirited class. He relentlessly attacks their set, views on marriage and respectability, sexual attitudes, and concern for stability in the social structure. Wilde attacks social behavior with the continuation of speeches by his showcases that are the opposite of their actions. While Cecily and Gwendolen agree to prevail a self-respectful silence, Gwendolen actually states that they will not be the first ones to speak to the men. In the very next short letter she says, Mr. Worthing, I have something very particular to ask you. Wilde seems to be saying that people speak as if they have strong opinions, but their actions do not support their words. If actions truly do speak louder than words, Wilde has do his point Society, liter ally, speaks volumes, but the words are meaningless. Wilde continues his criticism of societys valuing style over substance when Gwendolen says, In matters of sober richness, style, not sincerity is the vital thing. skirt Bracknell discusses Algernons marriage assets in the same light. She says, Algernon is an extremely, I may or so say an ostentatiously, eligible young human. He has nothing, but he looks everything. What more can one passion?Indeed, in a society where looks are everything and substance is discounted, Algernon is the perfect husband. What else do aristocrats value? They seem to entertain the appearance of respectability. Respectability means children are born(p) within the context of marriage. Wilde once again mocks the trickery of the aristocrats who appear to value monogamy but pretend not to notice affairs. bozos speech to sink Prism, whom he believes to be his mother, is jesting in both its indignant defense of marriage and also its treat of the l oudly touted religious re formers virtues of repentance and forgiveness.He says to bunk Prism, Unmarried I do not revoke that is a serious blow. Mother, I forgive you. His words are all the more humorous when Miss Prism indignantly denies being his mother. It was not at all unusual for aristocrats to have children born out of wedlock, but society turned its head, pretended not to k instantly about those children, and did not convict their fathers. The gulf between the upper class and its servants is explored in the scenes with Merriman and Prism. When skirt Bracknell unexpectedly shows up at Jacks, Merriman coughs discretely to take to task the couples of her arrival. One can only imagine his humorous thoughts as he watches the wealthy tiptoe rough each other and argue about what should be outstanding.When Lady Bracknell hears the description of Prism and recognizes her as their former nanny, she calls for Miss Prism by shouting Prism without using a title in campaign of her name. Imperiously, Lady Bracknell divides the servant from the lady of the manor. Wildes audience would recognize this behavior on the part of the servants and the upper class. The closelipped class distinctions defined the society in which they lived. In an age of social registers, Lady Bracknell laments that even the woo Guides have errors. In the next breath, she discusses bribing Gwendolens maid to find out what is happening in her daughters life.In Act III she also reveals that her aristocratic brothers family entrusted their most precious possession Jack to a woman who is more interested in her handbag and manuscript than in what happens to the baby in her charge. Wilde seems to be questioning the values of a society that believes in social registers, hires other people to neglectfully watch its children, and uses bribery to keep track of the children who are not missing. The death of Bunbury gives Wilde the opportunity to speak of aristocratic fears and have some go on cheer with the upper classs lack of compassion about death.The 1885 Trafalgar Square riots brought on ruling-class fears of insurrection, anarchism and socialism. Wilde humorously touches on these fears when he allows Algernon to explain the explosion of Bunbury. Lady Bracknell, fearing the worst, exclaims, Was he the victim of a revolutionary outrage? I was not aware that Mr. Bunbury was interested in social legislation. If so, he is well punished for his morbidity. Evidently, to Lady Bracknells acquaintances, laws that entertain the welfare of those less fortunate are strictly morbid subjects. In fact, this attitude seems to contradict the upper-class concern for reform.However, in reality, Wilde is confirming the upper-class definition of social reform conforming to the status quo. In Act III Wilde makes a comment on the value of being homosexual with a conceal reference to Lady Lancing. When Lady Bracknell asserts that Cecily needs to have a more sophisticated hairstyle, she recommends a well experienced French maid who can make a great deal of change in a very short time. She explains that such a change happened to an acquaintance of hers, Lady Lancing, and that by and by terzetto months her own husband did not know her.Jack uses the opportunity to make a pun on the word know, using it in an aside a comment only the audience can hear. Jack interprets know to mean they no longer had sex, insinuating Lady Lancings preference for the French maid. He says, And after 6 months nobody knew her, indicating that the homosexual experience made a new woman of her. Although homosexuality would have been seen as immoral to Wildes audience, Jack indicates that being homosexual might be a good thing almost as a social commentary directly to the audience. It seems a double life is necessary after one is married, whether it be bunburying or the homosexual life Wilde was experiencing in an increasingly public way.Wilde continues his assault on family life in Act III by mentioning its strange qualities in several conversations. It appears rather strange, for example, that Lady Bracknell cannot even recall the Christian name of her brother-in-law, Algys father. Algernons father died before Algernon was one, so stranger yet is Algernons comment, We were neer even on speaking terms. He gives that as the reason he cannot re phallus his fathers name. Further assaulting family life, Wilde has Lady Bracknell describe Lord Moncrieff as eccentric but excuses his behavior because it was the result of the Indian climate, and marriage, and indigestions, and other things of that kind. labor union is lumped together with things such as indigestion.In explaining Lord Moncrieffs marriage, Lady Bracknell says that he was essentially a man of peace, except in his national life. Her description invites suspicion that the local constabulary might have visited because of domestic disturbances. Family life and domestic bliss do not get high marks in Wildes es timation. When Miss Prism humorously resolves the problem of Jacks lineage, Wilde takes his hero of unknown origins and paints him as the aristocrat who will now be assimilated into his rightful place in the social structure.Through the sad melodrama of Jacks handbag paren tag ende, Wilde exaggerates the dainty clich of the poor foundling who makes good. As soon as Jack is known to be a member of the established aristocracy, a Moncrieff in fact, he is seen as an appropriate person for Gwendolen to marry. They will, according to Wilde, live gayly ever after in wedded bliss and continue the aristocratic blindness to anything that truly matters. The tag line of the free rein, spoken by Jack, is a familiar convention in prudish farces. In discovering that he has been telling the truth all along his name is Ernest, and he has a brother Jack makes fun of the Victorian virtues of sincerity and honesty and asks Gwendolen to forgive him for speaking nothing but the truth.He now realize s the importance of being the person he is supposed to be. Wilde is saying perhaps that a new kind of seriousness exists, one that is different from the virtues extolled by the Victorians. Maybe it is possible to be honest and understand what should be interpreted seriously in life rather than being deceptive, hypocritical, and superficial. Some readers believe, however, that the ending shows Jack mockingly redefining Victorian earnestness as just the opposite a life of lies, pleasure and beauty. Critics debate the interpretation of the lastly line. A curious stage direction occurs in Act III, revealing the concern Wilde had for the staging of his play to compliment his ideas.As his couples come together and move apart, he emphasizes the choreography of the pairs. He has them speak in unison, both the women together and the men together. It matters not who they are they are interchangeable. Marriage is simply an institution that is a gesture, like a christening. The unison speakin g is very stylistic, not meant to be realistic at all. It reveals Wildes attitude that what is important in Victorian marriage names really should not be as important as other considerations.In the end, Wilde leaves his audience thinking about the trivial social conventions they deem important. Their Victorian virtues perhaps need redefining. Institutions such as marriage, religion, family values and money should perhaps have new interpretations. The character of people, rather than their names and family fortunes, should weigh most heavily when considering their worth. Wilde was able to use humor to skewer these attitudes and coax his audience about the importance of being earnest.