The Notorious Irishman essays

The Notorious Irishman essays Oscar Wilde made his reputation off of mocking the Victorian Era. In fact, he lived his life the same way, blatantly ignoring the common rules of society. He loathed the pretentiousness of the wealthy that dominated nearly every aspect of life in England. This was particularly ironic considering his father was a surgeon for Queen Victoria. Even more ironic is the fact that the victims of WiIdes sharp wit and satirical comedy, the well-to-do socialites, were his biggest fans. In The Importance of Being Ernest, Wilde creates a trivial farce of the aristocracy through the actions and behaviors of both Algernon and Lady Bracknell, with the former as a metaphoric dignitary and the latter as an economic aristocrat. Algernon represents the hypocrisy of the era. It is he who establishes the term Bunburying as a means of displaying the contradiction. By creating this act, Wilde shows the duel life that is often lived by the upper crust. It allows for the bachelor to leave his normal life in pursuit of social engagements else where in the country, by relying on the illness of an imaginary brother. This misnomer, to which both Jack and Algernon admit to, shows that their entire friendship is established under false pretences. According to David Parker, Wilde s ...suggestion was that aristocratic young men need to abandon conventional morality and get back to basic impulse. (174). The Importance... makes the point that, in Victorian society, only through Bunburying does one have the freedom to come and go freely. Wildes views on aristocratic matrimony are partly personified through Algernons reaction of Jacks plans with Gwendolen. On one hand, he views Jacks claim of asking Gwedolen to marry him as business (Wilde 291) claiming Divorces are made in Heaven (292) yet falls in love immediately with Cecily. Similarly, she has already ...