The Importance Of Being Earnest Focus On The Lives Of Men

Literature, like any art discipline, has its’ notable players and its’ cult heroes. William Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde could not be any more different from one another as far as their writings go and even more so with their personalities. Of course, it is important to note that any good writer has a part of them being reflected in their work. Their difference could be just due them being different individuals with different personality traits. However, the era in which they wrote and lived have greatly influenced what they wrote about and why. The plays Hamlet and The Importance of Being Earnest focus on the lives of men specifically and the way in which events have shaped them to be the way that they are. Hamlet, the character, is of noble background and every individual involved in his tale are also of nobility or importance. Ernest on the other hand is more of a common man or of working class, there aren’t great wars being fought or there aren’t throne s being taken unrightfully. The most that they have in common with one another is the plot being driven by a lie and deceit. Understanding the eras in which William Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde existed and wrote their plays one will better understand how the social construct and atmosphere influenced the ideas in writing Hamlet and The Importance of Being Earnest. The Renaissance marked the rebirth of the arts throughout Europe. It gave rise to many great notable and still highly praised artist, musicians, and writers thatShow MoreRelatedThe Importance Of Being Earnest1041 Words   |  5 PagesPerspective As seen in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, men and women live in a society of inequality between the two sexes as conveyed through double standards. For instance, there is a double standard regarding men and women flirting as seen when Algernon says â€Å"She will place me next to Mary Farquhar, who always flirts with her own husband across the dinner-table. That is not very pleasant.† While women are shamed for talking to men whom they are married to, men such as Jack and AlgernonRead MoreThe Importance Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde980 Words   |  4 PagesEarnest Hypocrisy In Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, two gentlemen exemplify the result of dishonesty and hypocrisy. Set in Victorian England, the two bachelors, Algernon and Jack, fight over which one of them will take the name Ernest in order to win their own girl. Wilde circumvents conventionalism and employs superior satirical strategy to not only teach the importance of being earnest, a characteristic held dear by Victorian society, but he also chastises his world for the hypocrisyRead MoreGender and Class in Oscar Wildes Play1575 Words   |  6 PagesSheet). In Oscar Wilde’s comedy â€Å"The Importance of Being Earnest†, the main focus of the play is between the main character Jack, who is in pursuit of marriage to Gwendolen Fairfax, the daughter of Lady Bracknell. The play is a satire of the late Victorian era in London, when an intricate code of behavior governed everything from communication to sexuality ( . The plays major themes focus on the importance of establishments such as marriage, and other importance of Victorian ways. In one specificRead MoreOscar Wilde The Importance Of Being Earnest Analysis1622 Words   |  7 Pagesbenefits that come with marriage; as a result, people end up marrying for the wrong reason. One literary work that ridicules the social concept of marriage is Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest . The play functions as a satire, a comedy that mocks social institutions or public figures. The story is about two men, Algernon and Jack, who pretend to someone else in order to marry the women they love. Oscar Wilde fills this narrative with comedic moments in order to make statements about theRead MoreThe Importance Of Being Earnest, By Oscar Wilde1515 Words   |  7 PagesThe Industrial Revolution sparked changes in how companies manufacture and transport materials. It is a time in which the majority of items started being made by machines in large factories, rather than by hand. These type of changes were not the only ones happening during this time, as the Industrial Revolution also sparked many economic, political, and cultural changes. Through the Revolution, the Victorian Era emerged--a time focused on family values, religious beliefs, and gender roles. DuringRead MoreThe Importance Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde1775 Words   |  8 PagesThe Importance of Being Earnest is a comedic play that was written by Oscar Wilde in the late 1800s. He believed that people in the Victorian Era took life too seriously. He wrote this play with various forms of satire to ridicule the strict lifestyle the uppe r-class were boxed into. The upper class had pretentious values and behaviors that characterized Victorian life. During the Victorian Era, people were living under Queen Victoria’s monarch. During her reign, â€Å"Queen Victoria, conveyed connotationsRead MoreHw Oscar Wilde Pokes Fun at the Attitudes and Etiquette of the British Aristocracy1671 Words   |  7 Pagesvalues in The Importance of Being Earnest. The title itself represents the irony of the play. The word earnest works on two levels - first the name Ernest, which is the main focus of the play, and also it sounds like honest which is exactly what Jack and Algernon - the two main characters of the play - are not. There are four main themes which can be recognised in the play: social snobbery, money matters, appearance matters and false values and lastly, not being sincere.Read MoreThe Importance Of A Womens Health1233 Words   |  5 Pagesmen. The HIV prevalence is approximately 14 times higher among females (Hinton Earnest, 2010). This is because most women are sex workers and are unable to stand for themselves. They are at a disadvantage in the their country due to gender equality and violence. Women are excluded from making their own decisions at all levels because all the dominance goes to the men. Women in this country are being underrepresented and it is also affecting their maternal health. Those who are pregnant, 42% doRead MoreThe Importance Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde1846 Words   |  8 PagesThe Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, premiered in London in 1895 when Wilde was in the peak of his career. During this time of the Victorian Era, society was very moral and chaste, at least on the surface. There was a very specific code of behavior that governed almost everything, but focused mainly on the topic of marriage. This affected Wilde first-hand as he was married to a woman but also involved with men which was forbidden at the time. Using the themes of dualism and marriage, WildeRead MoreWomen Of The World s Evils1192 Words   |  5 Pagesfurther elaborates Ellis argument. Men are further corrupted by the other men he encounters because he is born with this unavoidable corruption and sin within him. He can try all he wants to have good integrity, but he wi ll always fall short because men are set to be immoral and fraudulent. This, according to her, is why women need to be so submissive to men. Women are the opposite of men, they are always morally good and have a clear, corrective character. When men are ensnares of the world’s evils