english appearance vs reality

    Cards (54)

    • Appearance vs reality

      Theme explored in the play
    • Oscar Wilde's play "The Importance of Being Earnest" is a blend between a comedy of manners and a melodrama where Wilde satirises the upper class
    • Lying
      An intentional withdrawal from reality
    • Through the outcomes in the play

      Oscar Wilde invites the audience to tell and confront the truth before it inevitably outs itself
    • Wilde introduces the theme of appearance vs reality

      1. Through men constructing alternative and fake realities
      2. Jack and Algernon's false identities serve to bring them pleasure from escaping their moral and societal responsibilities
      3. Creates a facade of who the characters true selves are as they hide behind these self constructed masks
    • Algernon: '"the truth is rarely pure and never simple"'
    • Algernon: '"what Jack 'really' is 'is a Bunburyist'"'
    • Algernon's cynical view of the truth reinforces the character's reasons behind creating these alternative identities</b>
    • The metaphor of the truth being impure suggests that Wilde is critiquing the Victorian society's obsession with appearances and social conventions
    • Jack: '"when one is in town one amuses oneself. When one is in the country one amuses other people. It is excessively boring"'
    • This reinforces the idea that alternative identities and false realities are needed to uphold appearances even if they are not the true reality
    • Wilde is suggesting that the two different personas depend on where you live and the different responsibilities one carries in different settings
    • Wilde is satirising the way in which the upper class were concerned with the facade of propriety without the consequences that these facades may cause
    • Upper class members of Victorian society believed that as long as everything appeared to be moral, the true natures of the lies which lay underneath their facades did not matter, thus believing that appearance is more important than reality
    • Cecily: '"hopes (he) has not been leading a double life...That would be hypocrisy"'
    • The metaphor of leading a double life serves as a reflection of the characters' struggle to reconcile societal expectations with their true desires
    • The "double life" refers to the character's tendency to maintain facades to navigate social expectation
    • Cecily herself engages in similar behaviour by creating the fictional persona of "Ernest" in her diary
    • This act of fiction allows her to escape the constraints of her everyday life, highlighting the theme of escapism through the creation of alternative identities
    • Cecily demonstrates how fiction can serve as a means of developing an alternative reality, enabling individuals to evade the truth and construct a more desirable appearance in their minds
    • Both Cecily and Gwendolen want to marry someone who does not exist, and therefore create false realities of their true love
    • They believe that marriage is based on pretences
    • Gwendolen: '"my ideal has always been to love someone by the name of Ernest"'
    • Cecily: '"it has always been a girlish dream of mine to love someone whose name was Ernest"'
    • The use of parallelism highlights that these two women share the same views on appearances being more important than the truth
    • Wilde undermines their individuality as women in the patriarchal Victorian society
    • These statements demonstrate that the women are subverting the 'New Women' movement of the time
    • Wilde mocks and criticises the upper classes' beliefs as the women's dreams have no basis on reality, the whole concept of marriage for them was therefore based on unreality
    • Wilde presents women's emphasis on appearance
      1. Through the charade of social rituals
      2. The different expectations that women have for marriage
    • Cecily: '"sweetly" asks if Gwendolen wants "sugar" in her tea'
    • Cecily's seemingly innocent question and subsequent action reveal her playful manipulation of Gwendolen's preferences, highlighting the theme of deception and pretence in the play
    • Wilde's choice to have the character of Cecily speak "sweetly" adds a layer of irony, as it contrasts with her mischievous intent, underscoring the satirical tone of the work
    • The act of putting four lumps of sugar into Gwendolen's tea serves as a metaphor for the excessive sweetness and artificiality of societal interactions, echoing the superficiality prevalent in Victorian high society
    • Wilde satirises the way in which polite appearance can cover up the unpleasant aspects
    • Politeness and decorum were used as a cover-up, hiding social tensions and inequalities while promoting an aura of refinement and virtue among the elite
    • Jack: '"may I propose to you now?"'
    • The seemingly formal exchange exposes the emptiness of such rituals, revealing how characters prioritise appearances over genuine emotions
    • Camille Paglia: '"Gwendolen craves not emotion but display, the theatre of social life"'
    • This sheds light on Gwendolen's character as one who values the spectacle of social conventions over genuine sentiment
    • Her desire for performance of societal expectations highlights the superficiality ingrained in her worldview
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