Oscar Wilde character's in the plays "A Woman of No Importance" and " The Importance of being Earnest"

« Victorian era » a term which literally describes things and events in the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). It was linked with ideas of people being “prudish”, “repressed” and abide by the Victorian norms; purity, devotion, gentlemanly appearance, social obligations, good manners, table manners and close social ties; “it is better to seem good than to be good”, pleasure, moral uprightness and so on… An era which Wilde engaged with and mocked the forms and rules of its society through writing his two plays “A Woman of No Importance” and “The Impor
tance of being Earnest”. The characters of these two plays show the extent people at that time were abide to the social and cultural norms.

 

First, “A Woman of No Importance” play revolves around a woman, Mrs. Arbuthnot, who is an unwed mother with one grown illegitimate son. Mrs. Arbuthnot is a strong, courteous, kind and pleasant woman, yet she had to hide her status of being an unwed and make people believe that she is a widow woman. She had to hide her sin and follow the social and cultural norms of the Victorian era that forbid illegal sexual relations and reject illegitimate children.  This is wild’s way of showing that even strong minded-women of the time could not fully express their opinions out of fear of how they would be treated if they were to oppose the patriarchal, social rules of the era. Also, he shows how people were obliged to respect the social norms.

 

Second, “The Importance of Being Earnest” is another play, a masterpiece of modern comedy. Oscar Wilde created this play which reflects issues such as posing, living a double life and escaping from tight social obligations. Algernon Moncriff and Jack Worthing are two main characters in this play. Both are dissatisfied with their social setting. Both are annoyed by following restrictive, overly serious manners and rules. These serious rules lead them to acquire a double identity, Algernon invents a fictitious person named “Bunbury” in the country, and Jack invents a fictional brother Ernest in London. Living a double life serves as an alibi helping them to escape their narrow social ties.

 

Through these two plays “A Woman of No Importance” and “The Importance of Being Earnest”, Oscar Wilde mirrored the Victorian high society. He also mocked its social and cultural norms that repress, lead to commit sin and seek for another life and another identity to release secret joys. According to these two plays ,Wilde characters are abide by the social and cultural norms to the extent that they could not oppose them in public.

 

To conclude, Oscar Wilde, in his two plays, he reflects the Victorian high society and its norms and values; he also shows how people were prudish, repressed and obliged to respect the Victorian norms through the characters he creates in this two plays.