THE BURDENS OF SOCIAL OBLIGATIONS OSCAR WILDES Essays

"THE BURDENS OF SOCIAL OBLIGATIONS: OSCAR WILDE'S "THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST"" The Burdens of Social Obligations Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest is one of his most famous works, as it is a satirical play that's purpose is to ridicule and expose the ridiculousness of Victorian society. While many accepted and followed the Victorian society's rules and moral codes, Wilde was one of the first to question and rebel against them. Using the main characters of the play, Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, Wilde exposes some of the Victorian society's social obligations, and how he feels about them through satirical strategy. Throughout The Importance of Being Earnest , various kinds of social obligations are slyly ridiculed such as the social views on marriage, obligation to attend family gatherings, and especially maintaining a "high moral tone" for one's family and society. The absurdity of these social morals is clearly apparent to modern readers, because of the contrast in societies, but in the Victorian era they are accepted and followed without question, making the importance of Wilde's meaning behind this play all the more important for the time period. For instance, while marriage was highly valued as something a man and woman must do, the monetary value of the marriage far outweighed its capacity for love and partnership. As Algernon says, "I really don't see anything romantic about proposing. It is very romantic to be in love. The very essence of romance is uncertainty. If ever I get married, I'll certainly try to forget the fact." (Algernon, pg. 1745) Algernon is saying that the re is a complete difference in being in love and being married. He even mentions that "The amount of women in London who flirt with their own husbands is perfectly scandalous." (Algernon, pg. 1739) He is expressing the Victorian view on marriage, which is the obligation to do so, and not the willingness. To Algernon, the moment you agree to marry someone and commit to them forever, you have ruined the entire romance, which is completely backwards and that is exactly what Wilde is trying to emphasize. The idea of arranged marriage goes hand in hand with this, similar to what we saw in Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice", and as Lady Bracknell displays in her dissatisfaction with "Ernest" proposing to Gwendolyn. "When you do become engaged to someone, I, or your father, will inform you of the fact. An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasantIt is hardly a matter that she could be allowed to arrange for herself." ( Bracknell , pg. 174 3) Through Lady Bracknell's dialogue, Wilde is exposing the absurdity of arranged marriage, and the unfairness of the matter. On top of this, as Gwendolyn expresses her adoration for the name "Ernest" and exclaims she could not possibly every marry someone whose name wasn't Ernest, Jack uses his alter-identity to make himself favorable to a woman he loves. This is one of the many aspects of Victorian society that Wilde seeks to expose in its unfairness and absurdity. Other obligations of Jack's such as attending his Aunt's dinner's each week and maintaining a "high moral tone" for his ward Cecily are burdensome, and he eventually finds a clever way to escape all of his problems. As Algernon puts it, he is a " bunburyist ", named after his own alter-identity, meaning he has multiple identities that he uses to his advantage to escape these social obligations without seeming impolite. Jack's " bunbury " is his made-up brother, Ernest, who lives in the city and is a trouble maker. Anytime he does not wish to go to his Aunt's dinner, or he wants to escape to the city to have some inappropriate fun, he blames it on Ernest, and becomes Ernest himself. As Jack puts it, "My name is Ernest in town and Jack in the country" (Jack, pg. 1737) He excuses his behavior by explaining, "As a high moral tone can hardly be said to conduce very much to either one's health or one's happiness, in order to get up to town I have always pretended to have a younger brother of the name of Ernest" (Jack, pg.