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Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde In Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, Salome, and The Picture of Dorian Gray we see certain themes and similarities that reflect Wilde’s ideas about society and aspects of it. Oscar Wilde chose to focus The Importance of Being Earnest, Salome, and The Picture of Dorian Gray on satirizing the life of the aristocracy, marriage, the nature of evil, and the problems of women by using underlying themes and implementing a convoluting style in the stories. The Importance of Being Earnest, a play by Oscar Wilde, allows a reader to see the ridiculousness of the aristocracy; particularly the English one. His characters are typical Victorian snobs; they are arrogant, overly proper, formal, and concerned with money. Lady Bracknell especially embodies the stereotype of the Victorian English aristocrat. An example of this is seen when she forbids her daughter to marry to Ernest(Jack) , whom she does not think is suitable because of his ambiguous background. A woman who is foolish enough to stop her daughter from marrying her love because she does not approve of his background is too superficial. Lady Bracknell constantly behaves in such an incorrect manner throughout the novel. She speaks of how good she is and how her family is this and that and never seems to respect anyone who she does not think is of her stature or worth. According to Bracknell “Never speak disrespectfully of society” because “only people who can’t get into it do that.”(Pg 98, Act III) Wilde’s distaste of aristocracy can be seen directly in this play. Even the characters who are supposed to be good natured are utterly ridiculous in the way they behave as a result of being in the elite class. Gwendolen, the daughter of Lady Bracknell and the woman who is in love with Jack, agrees with Cecily that even though Algernon lied about being named Ernest his response to why he did it was good because it was stylish and it did not matter if it was necessarily true. Cecily states, “Gwendolen, your common sense is invaluable. Mr. Moncrieff, kindly answer me the following question. Why did you pretend to be my guardian’s brother?” Algernon’s reply is, “In order that I might have an opportunity of meeting you.” Cecily states to Gwendolen, “That certainly seems like a satisfactory explanation, does it not? Gwendolen’s reply is, “Yes, dear, if you can believe him.” Cecily says, “I dont. But that does not affect the wonderful beauty of his answer.” Gwendolen than states, “True. In matters of grave importance style, not sincerity, is the vital thing.”(Pg 92 Act III) Wilde shows how absurd these people are because in that situation Algernon was caught in a major lie and the women seem to overlook that fact because they think his answer sounds wonderful and provides them with what they want which is not necessarily the truth. This perverse feeling of Gwendolen’s is In The Importance of Being Earnest Wilde also mocks the practice of marriage. Within this play several problems arise as result of one wanting to marry another. To characters such as Lady Bracknell it comes down to how much money the person has or how well respected there family is in greater society. Lady Bracknell says to Algernon and Cecily, “To speak frankly, I am not in favour of long engagements. They give people the opportunity of finding out each other’s character before marriage, which I think is never advisable.”(Pg 99 Act III) Also, when Cecily tells Lady Bracknell that she wants to marry Algernon, she does not approve but when Jack mentions that she is worth quite a bit of money Bracknell becomes overjoyed and starts to state how she sees potential for Cecily and Algernon. Wilde shows that the aristocracy does not see marriage for love and feeling but more for social status and financial gain and that the idea of marriage for love is nothing more than hypocrisy. This is an important theme of the play. The twist in the novel is with the title itself, The Importance of Being Earnest, and the character Ernest also known as Jack. Wilde was trying to show that being earnest is more important than anything in greater society. If one can appear to be earnest than that person is successful. Ernest was not a typical member of the elite class. He was different because in fact he showed signs of being earnest. By Wilde displaying the ridiculousness of the aristocracy he shows that one does not need that particular lifestyle. At the end of the novel, when Jack discovered that he was really named Ernest, Gwendolen and him were embracing over it and the mean, old Lady Bracknell stated “My nephew, you seem to be displaying signs of triviality.” and Jack replied “On the contrary, Aunt Augusta, I’ve now realized for the first time in my life the vital importance of being earnest.”(Pg 109 Act III) Salome, a play by Oscar Wilde, is another of his works to show the foolishness of society. The entire play involves members and acquaintances of the royal family of King Herod along with a banished prophet. The play particularly illustrates the idea of perverse feeling towards women along with showing the extent to which women will go to get something done. Also, in thie play the nature of evil is shown. Salome was the daughter of Herodias, husband to Herod, remains an object of affection for a young Syrian captain. The captain is so horribly drawn to look upon Salome that he cannot stop talking about her. He is so infatuated with her that he repeatedly states, “How beautiful is the Princess Salome tonight!”(Pgs 1-2) When Salome appears and wishes to kiss Jokanaan, the young Syrian captain who cannot bear the sight of her lusting after another takes his own life. Salome had seduced the young captain. Even though the Syrian told Salome that he cannot endure hearing her words of emotion towards the prophet, she still persisted. The nature of evil is also apparent here. Wilde was trying to show how having anything to do with women has negative results. No one should allow themselves to be drawn into a woman or anything so much that he cannot bear to see her even flirt with another man. The young Syrian Captain made that error which turned This idea of perverse passion or lust towards another in Salome can be related to The Importance of Being Earnest. In that play as well as this one we see how men will do things beyond normal to get the attention of woman and will go to any lengths to rectify the situation. Jack and Algernon both admitted to lying and got the women they wanted while the young Syrian Captain took his own life because he could not get the woman he wanted. One of the underlying themes of this play is not to have a perverse passion or lust towards a woman to such a great extent; be able to bear rejection or loss. How Herod has incestuous feelings towards Salome and how he wants Salome to dance for him is another example of this perverse passion that is seen in this play. He becomes fixated on having this young princess dance for him. In fact, he becomes so obsessed with the idea that he offers her anything she wants even half his kingdom. The idea of a king offering half his kingdom just because of a lust or want of a girl is absurd and when she does dance for him he is forced to execute the prophet he fears afterwards he then executes Salome because it was too much. The king did not want to execute the prophet and told her to ask for anything else. Herod could not stand to be defied. Salome’s own twisted nature not only caused the death of Jokanaan but of her’s as well. In the end, no good will come from this kind of lust towards a woman. Oscar Wilde’s theme is that only destruction will come from women and deep down they are potentially dangerous. Another important idea of Wilde’s that can be seen in Salome is how far a woman will go in order to see her desires fulfilled. She was willing to dance for Herod despite her mother’s objection just so she could have Jokanaan’s head and kiss his mouth because he had refused her before. Since Salome had felt offended by Jokanaan’s refusal to be with her, she felt it necessary to attain his head at any cost; even if it meant going against her mother’s wishes. Wilde is telling the reader that there is nothing more severe than that of a woman’s scorn because they no limits to how far they will go. This idea of women in general being a problem is seen in both The Importance of Being Earnest and Salome. The women in both plays managed to be perplexing and troublesome for the characters. Wilde felt that whether it be Lady Bracknell insulting Ernest(Jack) or Salome leading men like King Herod and the young Syrian captain to trouble, they manage to pose a potential impediment to the enjoyment of life. The Picture of Dorian Gray, a novel by Oscar Wilde, illustrates Oscar Wilde’s distaste for perverse feeling and once again illustrates the nature of evil. Dorian becomes so self-involved and egotistical that he only cares about what he looks while holding everyone else beneath him. In this novel just as in Salome, Wilde shows how perverse feeling will ultimately cause trouble. Lord Henry Walton illustrates the nature of evil because he is the villan of the story. He corruptes Dorian’s life and gives him a book detailing the exploits of a wicked Frenchman. This book than serves as a guide to life and brings the good in Dorian down further. Dorian Gray’s is a character whose perverse feeling is vanity. He loves himself so much that he values only the aesthetic in anything. An example of this is seen when he claims to love Sybil Vane, in fact he only loves her artistic ability as an actress, and while Lord Henry praises him for this, Wilde does not. Dorian yells to Sybil, “You used to stir my imagination. Now you don’t even stir my curiosity. You simply produce no effect. I loved you because you were marvelous, because you had genius and intellect, because you realised the dreams of great poets and gave shape and substance to the shadows of art. You have thrown it all away.”(Pg 98 Chapter VII) Dorians passion for the aesthetic are apparent in that statement. He manages to contrast this false feeling of love with her true sweet self by showing Sybils loss of her acting skill. Sybil becomes so involved with Dorian that she has lost her ability to act and once that happens he no longer cares for her. Wilde clearly shows how vanity such as this can only hurt others and eventually hurt This love for the aesthetic is an underlying theme of Wilde’s that can be seen in Salome, The Importance of Being Earnest, and The Picture of Dorian Gray. In all three works, we see how this love or want of appearance is wrong. The Importance of Being Earnest shows us how Lady Bracknell’s love for appearance and the superficial can inhibit life’s enjoyment. Salome shows us how the young Syrian captain’s obsession and Herod’s fascination with the young Princess Salome’s beauty will do nothing but bring harm to a situation. The Picture of Dorian Gray shows us how the love for the aesthetic results in tragedy. In all three, Wilde’s message that infatuation for the superficial will do nothing but bring troubles. This is a very strong common In The Importance of Being Earnest, Salome, and The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde portrays several underlying themes. His disapproval of the aristocracy, marriage, the nature of evil, and woman are apparent in all three works. From his writing, one can draw valuable lessons on life and learn about mistakes that should not be made. His work shows us how life can be interrupted and even ended as a result of certain things. Oscar Wilde’s work is the product of a man who had several disagreements with the society in which he lived in and chose to satirze it through his work. Bibliography:

Word Count: 2084

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