The Importance of Being Earnest analysis
The importance of being earnest play by Oscar Wilde has several themes. Conflict among social classes is one of the prominent issues in the play. The play is a comedy that aims at satirizing the idiosyncrasies that were existing among the upper and lower class members in Victorian society. In the play, Wilde portrays behavioral differences between the lower and upper social classes. The lower classes are humble and less pretentious, while the upper class has a massive amount of pride as well as feelings that they are entitled to their societal positions. Moreover, the upper class is wealthier in society and feels that the other classes should realize their errors. Wilde uses several interactions to demonstrate class conflict in the play. These interactions include Lady Bracknell and Jack Worthing, Cecily Cardew and Gwendolen Fairfax, and Lady Bracknell and Cecily.
There is social class conflict in Act 1 of the importance of being earnest play. The class conflict is portrayed in marriage and the requirements for marriage. Jack Worthing desires to marry her proclaimed love of his life Gwendolen Fairfax. They are only left to seek her mother’s blessings. Lady Bracknell interviews Jack when the two meets, but she is displeased because of Jack’s origin. During the Victorian era, family lines and heritage were regarded as very important. This was to make sure that the upper class did not drop its higher social status. Lady Blackwell is nearly agitated after she learns about Jack’s childhood when she was found in a bag. Jack is seen as an inappropriate candidate to marry Gwendolen due to a lack of proper knowledge about his family (parents). Jack is unable to locate his family members to get approval from Lady Blackwell because he is an orphan who grew up adopted. Lady Blackwell makes Jacks aware that she will not permit Gwendolen to “marry into a cloak-room, and form an alliance with a parcel” (Wilde). It is clear that Jack has money, but he is not appropriate due to his lack of a respectable family name.
Lady Blackwell wants to connect her daughter to a wealthy man who has a respectable family name. During this era, the upper class considered respectable family name and wealth as a means of maintaining their social ranking. It is ridiculous that she advises Jack to get a family. She tells Jack, “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” (Wilde) Lady Blackwell feels that Jack belongs to a lower social class. She is naturally allowed to treat him badly. The lack of Knowledge about Jack’s family makes Lady Blackwell think he is not worth much despite his riches. The conflict between the two is all about class separation and consciousness.
Lady Blackwell’s behavior is a representation of the upper class that attempts to distinguish itself from the lower class. When Earnest, a suitor who wishes to marry her daughter, enters, she tests him about his assets based on an item to item. Blackwell asks several questions, “what is your income?” (23:40)”A country house! How many bedrooms?” (English Literature UGC NET-JRF, 24:21). She is attempting to safeguard her reputation by all means. It is because she is unwilling to lower her social status by allowing her only daughter Gwendolen to marry a poor man.
Class conflict is also portrayed in Algy’s behaviors. Algy is a noble as well as a sophisticated man who is bored with the life of the upper class. As a result, he intends to take a break from the upper-class life. To endeavor less honorary lifestyle, he decides to self-entertain himself by creating a fake persona. Algy ended up being in love with a country girl Cecily. The two belong to different social classes; Algy is in the upper class while Cecily in the lower class. Jack doesn’t need Cecily to be in love with Algernon. He cares about Cecily and does not want her to go into a degenerate relationship because Algy is lying about what his identity is. This is amusing in light of the fact that it is actually what Jack is doing.
A person may assume that the upper class can recognize errors in their way of life and attempt to be more moral. However, the view that their attitudes are virtuous, and thus, other classes have to conform to them as well as change their errors. The upper class has aristocratic attitudes, which makes them feel superior to the lower classes. When miss prism tends to blame lower classes for bearing many kids for Chasuble to christen, she feels it is a thrift question. She says, “I have often spoken to the poorer classes on the subject [of christenings]. But they don’t seem to know what thrift is.” Chasuble talks cleverly of the affinity of the nobility to fiddle with great aims that don’t disturb their own lives excessively. He makes reference to a lesson he gave for the Society for the Prevention of Discontent Among the Upper Orders. To the Victorians, change implies keeping the present social and financial framework set up by sustaining high society ethics and economy
Moreover, the playset presents the upper and lower classes. The audience is informed about the social life in the play by its setting. The play’s Act 1 setting demonstrates it is a place for the upper class in society. The room is presented as “luxuriously and artistically furnished,” which creates a picture that belongs to the wealthy and respectable class in the society (Wilde, 1). However, the Act 2 stage setting is not similar to that of Act 1. Act 2 setting is described as “the garden at the manor house. A flight of gray stone steps leads up to the house. The garden, an old fashioned one, full of roses” (Wilde, 21). The description shows that it is a place where the poor lower class lives.
In conclusion, Wilde presents class conflict by revealing ironic events that take place in households where everything is superficial. The class conflict has been effectively described with a hypothetical and snobbish perspective about the nature of upper classes. All along with the play class, the conflict has occurred due to differences between the two classes. The upper class has been presented as dominating and wealthy, while the lower class is poorer. Class conflicts have due to the actions of dominating the upper class that is leading a life according to their social status.
Works cited
Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People by Oscar Wilde. Vol. 1. BoD-Books on Demand, 2017.
English Literature UGC NET-JRF. “The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People by Oscar Wilde.” YouTube, 31 May 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI8Q9ygcxNY. Accessed 11 Apr. 2020.