This blog will be a summary of , "Notes on Love and Marriage: Perspectives from Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Ernest an analysis", by Michael Vance. I will also include my own opinions of the points that Michael Vance makes in his reaction.
In Michael Vance's reaction, he is basically stating that "The Importance of Being Earnest" is a satirical attack on the role of marriage in the 19th century. He states, "The
Importance of Being Ernest is a cleverly woven satire in which many of
the rules, morays, and hypocritical practices and ideas of Wilde's day
were made a mockery." Which is true, while reading the play, we see Oscar Wilde making light of the seriousness of marriage, almost making fun of it. True love seems to be the least of matter to the characters Cicely and Gwendolyn when accepting marriage proposals. All that matters is that they are married to a man named Earnest. If ever the man isn't named Earnest, all of the love that they claim goes out the window. Oscar Wilde does not show us courting or real love of any sort, just a proposal and a name and the women readily accept. This shows us that Oscar Wilde feels as if there is no real essence to marriage. He makes Cicely and Gwedolyn seem so shallow and almost superficial. To have their hand in marriage, the only requirement is to be named Earnest.
I think Michael Vance makes very valid points in his reaction. He supports his ideas very well with quotes from the play. I agree totally that Oscar Wilde was definitely attacking the role of marriage and making it comedic. He took the idea of marriage being sacred and all about true love and romance and presented it to us as something very shallow and easy........as long as your name is Earnest.
Works Cited
Vance, Michael. "Notes on Love and Marriage: Perspectives from Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Ernest an analysis." http://kamus3.homestead.com/wilde.html., May 2000. [Web]. 3 July 2010.
Wilde Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest. New York, London: W.W Norton and Company, 2006. Print
Hi There,
ReplyDeleteSo far I think you have done a good job with your blog. You have started off by providing a brief summary on what you were going to do. You have more than 250 words, and cited all the work.