Oscar Wilde Constanly Mocks Victorian Society Essay

round troika offers skilful resolution to the problems of identity and marriage that drive much of the humor in the previous acts. Wilde continues to mock the companionable customs and mental military capabilitys of the aristocratic program. He unrelentingly attacks their values, views on marriage and respectability, sexual attitudes, and concern for stability in the sociable structure. Wilde attacks neighborly behavior with the continuation of speeches by his characters that argon the opposite of their actions. term Cecily and Gwendolen agree to keep a dignified silence, Gwendolen actu solelyy states that they will non be the first unmatcheds to speak to the men.In the very next airwave she says, Mr. Worthing, I sport just nighthing very particular to ask you. Wilde seems to be utter that people speak as if they put one across strong opinions, nevertheless their actions do non support their lecture. If actions real do speak louder than intelligences, Wilde has made his school principal Society, literally, speaks volumes, simply the words are meaningless. Wilde continues his criticism of participations valuing stylus over substance when Gwendolen says, In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the alert thing. bird Bracknell discusses Algernons marriage assets in the same light. She says, Algernon is an extremely, I whitethorn al nigh say an ostentatiously, eligible young man. He has nothing, but he looks everything. What more can one desire?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 extol the appearance of respectability. Respectability means children are natural within the place setting of marriage. Wilde once again mocks the hypocrisy of the aristocrats who appear to value monogamy but pretend not to notice affairs. Jacks speech to turn a loss Prism, whom he believes to be his m early(a), is humorous i n both its indignant apology of marriage and also its mocking of the loudly touted religious reformers virtues of repentance and forgiveness.He says to spend Prism, Unmarried I do not deny that is a serious blow. M separate, I forgive you. His words are all the more humorous when Miss Prism indignantly denies world 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 hunch around those children, and did not condemn their fathers. The gulf between the upper clear and its servants is explored in the scenes with Merriman and Prism. When dame Bracknell unexpectedly shows up at Jacks, Merriman coughs discretely to deter the couples of her arrival. One can only imagine his humorous thoughts as he watches the wealthy tiptoe around each other and argue about what should be important.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 backing in front of her name. Imperiously, Lady Bracknell divides the servant from the lady of the manor. Wildes auditory sense would recognize this behavior on the part of the servants and the upper class. The stuffy class distinctions defined the society in which they lived. In an age of social registers, Lady Bracknell laments that even the Court Guides have errors. In the next breath, she discusses bribing Gwendolens wet-nurse to find out what is happening in her daughters livelihood-time.In Act III she also reveals that her aristocratic brothers family entrusted their most precious possession Jack to a woman who is more raise 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 continued dramatic play with the upper classs lack of tenderness 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 basal 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 fellowships, laws that protect the offbeat 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 commentary of social reform conforming to the status quo. In Act III Wilde makes a comment on the value of being queer with a veiled reference to Lady Lancing. When Lady Bracknel l asserts that Cecily needs to have a more sophisticated hairstyle, she recommends a thoroughly experienced French maiden over 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 later on three months her own husband did not recognize her.Jack uses the opportunity to make a pun on the word know, using it in an aside a comment only the consultation can hear. Jack interprets know to mean they no longer had sex, insinuating Lady Lancings preference for the French maid. He says, And after six months naught knew her, indicating that the homosexual experience made a new woman of her. Although quirk would have been seen as immoral to Wildes reference, 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 exper iencing 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 sooner 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 never even on public speaking terms. He gives that as the reason he cannot remember his fathers name. Further assaulting family life, Wilde has Lady Bracknell describe passe-partout 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. married couple is lumped to frig aroundher with things such as indigestion.In explaining Lord Moncrieffs marriage, Lady Bracknell says that he was essentially a man of peace, except in his domestic life. Her description invites suspicion that the local constabulary migh t have visited because of domestic disturbances. Family life and domestic bliss do not get high marks in Wildes estimation. 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 parentage, Wilde exaggerates the Victorian clich of the woeful 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 happily ever after in wedded bliss and continue the aristocratic blindness to anything that truly matters. The tag line of the play, spoken by Jack, is a familiar assemblage in Victorian 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 virtu es of sincerity and honesty and asks Gwendolen to forgive him for speaking nothing but the truth.He now realizes the importance of being the person he is supposed(p) to be. Wilde is saying mayhap that a new kind of earnestness exists, one that is different from the virtues extolled by the Victorians. Maybe it is possible to be honest and interpret what should be taken 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 version of the last 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 keep down 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 inte rchangeable. Marriage is simply an institution that is a gesture, like a christening. The unison speaking 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 severely when considering their worth. Wilde was able to use humor to skewer these attitudes and convince his audience about the importance of being earnest.