An analysis of the play called importance of being earnest with feminist perspective

Çağlar Demir

doi:10.24289/ijsser.106470

Abstract

Victorian Era is characterized with the power men held in the society. Patriarchal social structure always tended not to let women take positions in the workplace, and social organizations. Victorian England didn’t take the women, their education, attitudes and feelings into consideration. The women were only the docile servers at home for Victorian men. However, some intellectual women and male writers wrote striking novels and plays to attract the public and authorities’ attention to this mere discrimination. Oscar Wilde was one of those who held this issue. He could affect the public opinion with his delightful and satirizing plays. In this study, Oscar Wilde’s well-known play, Importance of Being Ernest was analyzed in terms of feminist point of view. The male and female characters of the play, the patriarchal society, attitudes of characters towards marriage were examined under the light of the approaches of some feminist philosophers, such as Simone de Beavoir, Kate Millet, Susan Bordo and Betty Friedan.

Highlights

Feminism emerged as an ideology to advocate women’s rights and their equality with men
In Victorian era, men were valued by the patriarchal society
Intellect and judgement were the outstanding characteristics of men while women were only the angels of their houses whose physical appearances were appreciated

Summary

Introduction

Feminism emerged as an ideology to advocate women’s rights and their equality with men. One of those writers was Oscar Wilde He always wrote to protest the authority and supported women’s struggle to have the same rights of men. The young Wilde viewed rebellion against authority as essential to human advancement and social development As he observed a few pages later: ‘Progress is the instinct of self-preservation in humanity, the desire to affirm one's own essence’. Wilde's belief in the overriding importance of disobedience, self-assertion, and dissent endured throughout his life and formed the basis of his individual code. His interest in radical politics, his sympathy with women's struggle to assert their individual rights in opposition to the strictures of Victorian convention, his distrust of all forms of government, influence, and control,. Can all be seen as logical consequences of his belief that ‘Progress in thought is the assertion of individualism against authority” (Eltis, 1996, p.6)

Marriage in importance of being earnest

Conclusion