The Importance of Being Earnest Wildes Wit in Use

In researching the ideas and themes behind Oscar Wildes The Importance of Being Earnest, I stumbled upon numerous questions and underlying themes which I plan to dissect thoroughly in the following body of this paper treating each question individually and in an abstract manner. The questions I encountered ranged from the incestual tendencies of Lady Bracknell in relation to the gothic genre to Wildes use of food as a weapon and a means of demonstrating ones power. Before diving into the questions in mind it is crucial to the betterment of ones understanding of the play to understand what each character in the play represents. More than any other character in the play, Jack Worthing represents conventional Victorian values: he†¦show more content†¦The Law of the father, according to Lacan, is founded on the distinction between male and female and involves the repression of all that is female. Many authors used the experimental world of gothic to explore life under and also life beyond the law of the father. Gothic novelists portrayed the terror women experienced at the hands of a male-dominated culture by creating fictions whereby the institutions of family and marriage are revealed in their most demented form. The family was the seat of sexuality in the eighteenth century. Girls were initiated into womanhood within its protection and received their legacy of powerlessness from their mothers. They learnt that their fathers, and all men, were the Kings of the Castle and that they had control of all aspects of their lives. Unlike the Law of the Father followed in common gothic fiction such as The Castle of Otranto, The Monk, or Mary and The Wrongs of Woman, Wilde uses Lady Bracknell in an almost precise reversal of the Law of the Father. Lady Bracknell passes her power to her daughter and gives woman a sense of control over the men in the play, Wilde even portrays her as the king of the castle giving her control over all aspects of their lives. Another norm which Wilde overturns is the belief that Outside of the family circle, women were taught to view marriage as their ultimate social goal. Marriage, after all, is what constitutes a happy ending in most fiction, however through ladyShow MoreRelatedThe Misunderstood Legacy of Oscar Wilde Essay1663 Words   |  7 PagesThe Misunderstood Legacy of Oscar Wilde Surrounded by scandal caused by his own deception, Oscar Wilde left this world with a legacy of often misunderstood wit, a brilliant collection of writing, and sordid tales of an extramarital homosexual affair. The playwright progressed from a fashionable, flippant fop immersed in London society to a man broken by the public discovery of his relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas. 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