Drama: TIOBE context and themes Flashcards
(12 cards)
Themes: morality
Morality is explored through the play as we see Algernon and Jack deceive the other characters in the play. We also see that Miss Prism is questioned in the play over her decision to protect a 3-volume novel more than a baby.
Themes: class
Rigid class divisons were a key element of Victorian society. The upper class were defensive of the wealth and status whilst criticising the lower class for doing the exact same actions they were, just behind closed doors. It was extremely difficult to climb up the class ladder, as well as the differentation of ‘old money’ versus ‘new money’ were apparent in this society.
Themes: identity
Identity is explored through the play by Algernon and Jack both swapping between their real and ‘bunbury’ personalities, Miss Prism pretending to be something she isn’t, Gwendolen and Lady Bracknell challenging gender stereotypes and Dr Chausble challenging the role of the clergy.
Themes: religion
Religion is satirised throughout the play, such as through Christenings used as a symbol and prop in Victorian society.
Themes: marriage
Marriage is a subject contetested thorughout the play, from in the opening scene with Algernon perceiving marriage as “demoralising”, to Lady Bracknell reinforcing and challenging Victorian stereotypes. Marriage, similarly to religion, is used as a symbool in the play.
Context: Victorian Dandy
The term ‘dandy’ is used to describe men who placed particular emphasis on their physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies. The dandy movement was most prevelant during the Edwardian and Victorian eras, where it was seen as a response to societal changes, an expression of individualism, and a commentary on masculinity.
-More specifically the Victorian dandy emerged as a counterpoint to the stuffy, repressed Vicotrian morality and changing social landscape. A Victorian dandy was a man who not only dressed in an immaculate and stylish manner, but also lived a life characterised by elegance, wit, and a certain nonchalance. Oscar Wilde is a key figure in this movement.
Context: The aesthetic movement
The aesthetic movement reforms the contemporary concept of art. According to Victoriansm art should contain an appositive moral aspiration. However, Oscar Wilde asserts that art can also be valued for its beauty. The saying “art for art’s sake” stems from this movement as the movement focuses on the beauty of arts, literature, etc. over it’s function.
-The movement rose as a contrast to recent events, as the 19th century was marked by the rise of the middle class and by a kind of pragmatism that emphasized hard work and practical results. With the Industrial Revolution and urbanization, much of the English landscape was destroyed; in cities slums and blight increased. Factories were crude and unsightly; workers’ housing was often primitive and unsanitary. Such ugliness repelled artistic sensibilities. The art many Victorians embraced was often sentimental or practical, such as works intended to teach morality.
-The movement’s influence is reflected inThe Importance of Being Earnest’s focus on performance, artifice, and epigrams, or witty and often satirical sayings.
Context: Victorian society, morality and different spheres
Victorian society was extremely strict, and had defined rules that society had to follow. There was strict class divisons, with a lot of double-standarding and shaming from the upper classes and suffering from the lower classes.
-The seperate spheres of Victorian society relate to what women were expected to do (the domestic/private sphere), so the cooking, cleaning and other domestic tasks, and what men were (the social/public sphere), so work, politics, finance, law, societal issue, etc.
-Other gender issues explored in Victorian society is that of the angel in the house versus the new woman. ‘Angel in the house’ is a term used to depict what the ideal woman should be, pure and sweet, domestic goddess whereas the term ‘new woman’ is a feminist ideal, described the growth in numbers feminist and career women in society, pushed the limits set by a male dominated society.
-Education is also challenged as education is presented as not for learning to think, for mindlessly following convention, as well as for aesthetic purposes and as a way of life, instead of enriching personal goals and values.
-Duality is also used to show the desire to escape strict social conventions through a second life - idea of a mistress, homosexuality, parallelism in the text, of Victorian society.
-Despite the vast technological and industrious changes, however, the English claimed largely to share a set of Victorian moral ideals. One of these was sexual restraint, even prudery, in public and especially for women. Socially, the ideology that the upper class was genuinely superior still held sway, and its members were expected to behave in a way appropriate to their class.
-By the timeWildewas writingThe Importance of Being Earnest, however, Victorian morality was facing complications. For all that schoolmasters, ministers, and established rhetoric might champion ideals like that of the Victorian gentlemen, society had simply moved on in a kind of social evolution. Victorian ideals about gentlemen clashed with the emerging ideal (and economic reality) of the self-made man. Victorian ideals about femininity clashed with the New Woman movement, the emergence of birth control, and Socialist agitation. The result was a claim to universal values that were, in fact, disturbed at every turn, much as the audience sees in this play.
Context: satire, and issues within the play
-Satire is employed throughout the play by Wilde as a way of creating a division in the narrative. The specific type is Horatian satire, which is described as “Satire in which the voice is indulgent, tolerant, amused, and witty. Audience to be educated.”
-a farce/comedy of manners whose main goal is to amuse the audience, rather than making them think.
-the play makes references to contemporary historical events, which suggest a troubled society underneath the glossiness of the characters that Wilde portrays.
-Versimilitude is also used by Wilde in the play frequently as it’s the quality of appearing to be true, real, likely, or probable - uses a furniture company that would have been used by the audience.
-Gluttony and sensual/sexual pleasures are also discussed and satirised in the play.
Context: the political landscape and war
-some topics mentioned briefly in the play indicate larger political issues that were the subject of heated debate at the time it was produced
- such as the Ireland home rule and being a liberal
- Lady Bracknell examines Jack’s suitability and inquires about his politics, who responds by saying he’s a liberal who doesn’t support home rule. Lady Bracknell seems to only care what affects her social engagements, rather than caring about Ireland.
-The threat of a revolution like the French revolution constantly hangs over British society. For example, Lady Bracknell is alarmed to hear Bunbury died by explosion (“Exploded! Was he the victim of a revolutionary outrage? … he is well punished for his morbidity”)
- This therefore reflects uneasieness in society.
- Difficult for them to understand an interest in something that is so far removed from their daily pleasures
Context: Homosexuality
-The Importance of Being Earnestis about a character who takes on a false identity to hide activities that cannot be practiced openly.
-Although homosexuality is not explicit in the play, it played a major role in Wilde’s life, and modern readers can easily find comparisons between Jack/Ernest’s life and Victorian-era homosexuals. Because practicing homosexuality was a capital crime in England until 1828, and a felony throughout the 19th century, those who acted on their attraction to people of the same sex were often forced to lead double lives.
-A clue that Wilde likely had this context in mind is found in the wordearnest; it is thought to have been a code word forhomosexual,much asgayis today. Independent of its criminal status, homosexual activity was also a contradiction of Victorian ideals: the purpose of sex was supposed to be reproduction.
What are Wilde’s intentions with TIOBE?
-Wilde uses satire to poke fun at the Victorian society and its values.
-The play is meant as a satire but in the 21st Century can be seen as a critique of the upper-class society and its obsession with social status, wealth, and reputation.
-Wilde uses irony, sarcasm, and wit to expose the hypocrisy and absurdity of the society.
-Wilde exposes the hypocrisy and superficiality of the upper class, particularly in their obsession with social status and appearance.
-The play also comments on the rigid gender roles and expectations of the time, as well as the importance placed on marriage and family lineage.
-Wilde’s satire serves as a commentary on the societal pressures and expectations that individuals faced during the Victorian era, and continues to resonate with audiences today.
-Art for Art’s sake!
