The Importance of Being Ernest Flashcards
When and where was Oscar Wilde born
October 16th 1854 Dublin Ireland
Youth and studies
scholarship to Trinity
Scholarship to keep studying in Oxford
1884
married to Constance Lloyd- daughter of lawyer
Family
two sons- Cyril and vyvyan
Affair with
son of the Marquee of Queensberry
Consequences of affair
Arrested for sodomy and gross indecency
imprisoned for two years
During his imprisonment
bad health
Died
1900
Victorian morality:
Contrasted greatly with morality in previous Gregorian periods
sexual restraint, low tolerance on crime, strict social code of conduct
prominence of the British Empire- values spread
The Elite and the Upper Class Values:
Upper class values:
History
heritage
lineage
continuity of their family line
Noblesse Oblige
law of primogeniture
upper class believed in “Divine Right”
They believed they were born to rule due to divine right
Noblesse Oblige
belief that it was the elite’s duty to take care of society
law of primogeniture
First son inherits everything
Financial crisis
(upper class)
had to open the elite to the wealthiest of higher middle class and let them buy a place in the elite
Religious morality during the Victorian Era
Changed
at first the Anglican church was very powerful
They ran schools, universities, high ranking churchmen and men apart of the House of Lords
Contiued in the rural areas
“The Crisis of Faith”
1859- Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” with theories such as Survival of the Fittest and natural selection
They called the Christian values into question with empirical proof
Citizens had to try and find new morals (”God is Dead”- Nietzsche)
Combined religious belief and individual duty
Depetion- Jack
- Jack- secret identity (double life) Ernest
- Jack- dutys as Cecily’s Guardian (country)
- Ernest- court Gwendolen and entertain himself (city)
- Also claims to have a brother named Ernest to have an excuse to go back to the city
deception Algernon
- Bunburyist”
- Says he has an invalid friend called Bunbury
- Says that he is Jack’s older brother Ernest to wed Cecily
Deception Cecily
- Invents a whole fictive back-story between her and “Ernest”
- Algernon goes along with her delusional love
conclusion of the play
Fiction and Fact blur when we discover that Jack’s real name is infact Ernest and that he is infact the brother of Algernon, as he had been lost in a station as an infant and adopted by Thomas Cardew- named him John
question of aestheticism
“Does art immitate life, or does life immitate art?”-
Jack Worthing/John Worthing/ Ernest (character)
- Protagonist
- double life
- dandy
- Ernest in town, Jack in the country
- Pretends to have a brother named ernest to take him back to the town
- Adopted son of Thomas Worthing
- GIves him the gurdianship of his grandaughter Cecily Cardew
- Engagement to Gwendolen Fairfax is endagered due to indentity
Algernon Moncrieff (character)
- Jack’s best friend
- Gwendolen’s counsin
- extravengant dandy
- finds clever ways to get out of his social obligations
- Masquerades as jack’s cousin “Ernest” in order to meet Cecily Cardew
Gwendolen Fairfax (character)
- Jack’s betrothed
- Algernon’s counsin
- Lacy Bracknell’s daughter
- Cosmopolitan style
- opinioated, strong taste
