What Is The Fact That Wilde Creates Female Characters Who Refuse To Conform To Stereotypes
“Much of the comedy arises from the fact that Wilde creates female characters who refuse to conform to stereotypes” to what extent do you agree with this statement on “The Importance of being Earnest”?
The stereotypical view of the woman in late Victorian London was that they were to be married to who their parents decided they’d be married to, and not have an opinion on the matter that differed from their parent’s. This expected behaviour was not what was displayed by such female characters in Oscar Wilde’s, “The Importance of being Earnest”.
A stock character in the play is Algernon’s snobbish, domineering aunt, Lady Bracknell. From her first entrance in the play when she tells Algernon “I hope you’re behaving very well” we, as an audience, are aware that she will be a strong headed character, who will not conform to the dominant ideology of the time that women should be polite, innocent and not speak their opinions of they are not in the norm. Unlike this view of what a woman should be like, Lady Bracknell is straight to …show more content…
Northrop Frye said that the older generation supress the desires of the younger generation by not allowing them to marry the people that they love because they believed that marriage had to be all about money and social status. This is a prominent theme in “The Importance of being Earnest” as Gwendolen wants to marry, who she thinks is, Earnest, however Lady Bracknell does not see Jack as a fit match for her daughter Gwendolen because he does not know who his parents are therefore he can only have limited status in London, which was not suited to what Lady Bracknell was looking for in a man for Gwendolen. This could make a comedic situation because Gwendolen is not the most subdued of characters and is not one to conform to what she is supposed to do, so there could be conflict or hassle between the two
The stereotypical view of the woman in late Victorian London was that they were to be married to who their parents decided they’d be married to, and not have an opinion on the matter that differed from their parent’s. This expected behaviour was not what was displayed by such female characters in Oscar Wilde’s, “The Importance of being Earnest”.
A stock character in the play is Algernon’s snobbish, domineering aunt, Lady Bracknell. From her first entrance in the play when she tells Algernon “I hope you’re behaving very well” we, as an audience, are aware that she will be a strong headed character, who will not conform to the dominant ideology of the time that women should be polite, innocent and not speak their opinions of they are not in the norm. Unlike this view of what a woman should be like, Lady Bracknell is straight to …show more content…
Northrop Frye said that the older generation supress the desires of the younger generation by not allowing them to marry the people that they love because they believed that marriage had to be all about money and social status. This is a prominent theme in “The Importance of being Earnest” as Gwendolen wants to marry, who she thinks is, Earnest, however Lady Bracknell does not see Jack as a fit match for her daughter Gwendolen because he does not know who his parents are therefore he can only have limited status in London, which was not suited to what Lady Bracknell was looking for in a man for Gwendolen. This could make a comedic situation because Gwendolen is not the most subdued of characters and is not one to conform to what she is supposed to do, so there could be conflict or hassle between the two