In this blog I’m going to discuss the article “Notes on Love and
Marriage: Perspectives from Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being
Ernest” written by Michael Vance. In his article Michael Vance defines
the play as a satire where “many of the rules, morays, and
hypocritical practices and ideas of Wilde’s day were made a mockery”.
Throughout the article the author develops the main idea that marriage
has nothing to do with happiness and romance, that it is an unpleasant
fact rather than a union of two people who are in love. He quotes
Algernon talking about marriage as an end of the romance, leaving
husband and wife bored and miserable; and Lady Bracknell speaking
about significant improvement of her widowed friend. But Michael Vance
left out Jack who is the only romantic character in the play who still
believes that marriage is a pleasant fact. The importance of this
romantic character becomes very relevant at the end when real battle
takes place between feelings and money. The irony in the play comes in the picture when the only romantic character “trades” his beloved ward
for his own marriage.
Author highlights the sarcastic humor of Oscar Wilde by talking about
the process of choosing spouses and the stupidity of female characters when they give their preference to the name, not the personal values
of their future husbands. To me one of the most sarcastic moments in
the play was Lady Bracknell’s request to produce a parent within a
short time. It sounds more ridiculous than funny but considering the
woman’s position in that society Lady Bracknell is no more than a mother
who wants her daughter to have a good life where social status is a
must.
Throughout this satiric play almost all of the jokes were played on
women and the reason could be the personal issues of Oscar Wilde who was
married to a woman but was sexually involved with men. The whole Love
– Marriage problem could be caused by personal pain of Oscar Wilde who
experienced all the negativity and difficulties of the Victorian era.
Work Cited
Vance, Michael. “Notes on Love and Marriage: Perspectives from Oscar
Wilde’s The Importance of Being Ernst.” Kamus3.homestead.com. May
2000. Web. 7 July 2012
Hi Natalia,
ReplyDeleteYou've provided a good summary of the article so that your readers have the main idea of what the article is about. I like how you pointed out that Vance did not include the character Jack in his article, which you believe to be a relevant character in the play because "he is the only romantic character" that has a positive view of marriage, and that you find irony in this "romantic" character. When you mention that almost all the jokes were played on women, and that it may be due to Wilde's personal issues, you may want to add a quote to support your idea. I also like how you connected a sarcastic moment from the play in relevance to the author's highlight of Wilde's use of sarcastic humor. Overall your blog is written well!