Literary tradition
·
Addressing social responsibilities
·
Implicit cultural mores (the "do"s and "don't"s
of society)
·
Moral proscriptions (personal "do"s and "don't"s)
·
Biblical and Classical references
·
Lyrical poetry, strict rhythm and rhyme patterns
·
High diction (formal, emotional English)
Social Context
·
England modern and industrialised
·
Progress and change
·
Spread of English values in Empire and colonialism
·
Crumbling institutions of Church and Nobility
·
Reliance on extreme morality and appearance of respectability
The Importance of Being Ernest
(Oscar Wilde)
The
play has been a repeated success over many years owing to its lightness, witty
dialogue, clever construction, and stock Victorian characters.
Easily
recognisable characters abound. Jack
is the serious, wealthy, eligible young bachelor with a slightly darker side. Algernon is his scheming, fast-spoken, manipulative foil from
a wealthy background. Cecily is the
naïve, sweet, young heiress. Gwendolen
is the rare, aristocratic beauty of limited intelligence and even more limited
reserve, the original dumb blonde, while her mother, Lady Bracknell is the
overbearing aristocrat. Miss Prism
cuts a stock figure of “those who cannot do, teach.” And Dr Chasuble is, of course, the lazy, amorous country
parson. Lane and Merriman are
dutiful and obedient to the extreme.
However,
it is a play of much deeper meaning than simply the amours and manners of
English gentility. Wilde
explores the difference between stated Victorian morals and actual Victorian
behaviour which leads his characters into absurd situations.
The
Victorians professed to be the epitomes of morality, dignified behaviour and
respectability - they had to be since it was they who were colonising and
Christianising the globe. English
attitudes have changed now, but in those times, parents were honoured and
obeyed, women were innocent and chaste, men were virtuous and noble (and
earnest), children were dutiful and respectful, social strata were strictly
observed, social customs inviolable, etc. until “The Importance of Being
Earnest” came along.
The
absurdities are numerous and diverse:
1.
Ernest lies incessantly. He
lies about his name, invents a fictitious brother to escape his duties, lies to
his friend Algernon about a cigarette case and his family, lies to his servants
about his own brother, etc.
2.
Gwendolen is a disobedient child. She
refuses to sit next to her mother, refuses to leave the room when instructed,
meets Jack/Ernest against her mother’s wishes, etc.
3.
Algernon is deceitful. He
deceives Jack about the cigarette case and his intentions in visiting Jack’s
country home, deceives Cecily about his true identity, Jack about leaving, etc.
4.
Miss Prism, the trusted nurse, is totally absent-minded.
She mistakes a baby for a book, misplaces her own handbag, and doesn’t
even realise the significance of having her handbag returned.
5.
The plot itself is absurd. Minor
characters hold the key to the resolution of conflict.
Miss Prism is merely a mention in the first scene, yet by the final scene
she holds to the key to resolving the tortuously complex plot.
6.
Situations within the play are absurd.
Both of the main characters decide on a whim to change their names to
something completely different, and this event is delayed at the whim of the
parson.
7.
There are numerous linguistic absurdities. Lady Bracknell interprets
Jack’s having “lost” his parents as simply carelessness, instead of the
euphemistic phrase for death. Lady
Bracknell replaces the traditional greeting of “Are you well” with “are
you behaving well.” Lady
Bracknell, once again, asks Miss Prism for a baby which should be a 27 year-old
man. Even the play of the name of
Ernest as someone totally un-earnest is significant.
8.
The logical absurdities, his famous witticisms, are Wilde’s hallmark,
like when he was asked if he had anything to declare at customs when he arrived
in America, he replied something to the effect of “I have nothing to declare
except my own genius.” Or “I take my memoirs with me on the train; one
should always have something sensational to read.”
In the play, he is guilty of contravening Occam’s razor in “the truth
is rarely pure and never simple” and the Bible in “the truth is not
something you tell an innocent young woman like Gwendolen.”
Dover Beach
(Matthew Arnold)
Two views of the Dover coast
This guy is standing in a room at Dover
on the English Channel peacefully watching the lights on the coast of Europe.
The scene brings out his hidden fears. The huge, white cliffs of
Dover represented home, stability and peace for those Englishmen who traveled to
the colonies or the continent (France), but while he is near them he realised
that they are being eroded by the sea and he realises that the values they stand
for are also being eroded, but in a different way.
The sound of the sea reminds him of the
ancient Greek tragedies of Sophocles where the sea symbolised
of all kinds of human misery, but for him the sea represents religion (faith).
He imagines that the decline of
religion (faith with a capital F) is like a tide that ebbs. It used to be a strong influence in people’s lives, giving them
security and confidence, but is now fading and leaving the world exposed to all
sorts of trouble.
His conclusion is that religion doesn't
give him what it used to any more: stability, joy, love, inspiration, peace or help from pain,
so he intends to rely on a personal relationship and appeals to the person
standing next to him.
He ends with a generalisation that his
era is full of darkness, with confused and ignorant people (armies) struggling
against each other.
Can you see how both of these pieces are critical of Victorian society, although
in different ways and with vastly different effects?
