A trivial essay for serious people
Can you say what the importance of being Earnest is? Can’t you? So cannot many people that do not know the hidden meaning in the Oscar Wilde’s play’s, The Importance of Being Earnest, main plot. Oscar Wilde is one of the most polemic writers of the last years, and this play is one of the most recognized of all his works. Nevertheless, few people really get to realize what Wilde really wants to express between the lines of Earnest’s words, which turns to be a reflection of the socio-cultural context he was living in. The Importance of Being Earnest is a theatrical play that emphasizes the hypocrisy of people who are forced to live between different social classes. In the beginning, Oscar Wilde subtitled his play as “A serious play, for trivial people”; however, he suddenly changed it, with no apparent reason, for: “A trivial play, for serious people”. Here is where the question appears, what did move him, in order change that subtitle? There can be vast possibilities that explain this unusual phenomenon. Consequently, the objective is to prove that the first subtitle is better and to expose objectively the reasons why it is true, and why Oscar Wilde did change it. Before the discussion starts, it is useful to know the background in which Oscar lived. Because all his suffering, Oscar Wilde uses his skills to criticize the world he lived in as a way to escape from reality and become a fiction.
Even though this play is a fiction, lying and being hypocrite, as natural features of human kind, are not too far of the reality in Oscar’s time. The main plot in the play spins around Jack’s lies and his fear of accepting his own reality and the conflicts that this complex web of deception produces when it is discovered. Jack’s mains motifs for his masquerade are to be accepted and to have a getaway of his entire common problems. It is justified in how Jack’s obsession for getting acceptation of others, and his beloved’s one, Gwendolyn Fairfax. This can be seen when he attempts to propose to Gwendolyn, and her mother, Lady Bracknell, interrogates him in order to evaluate the “future husband” of her daughter. Nevertheless, when he comes clean and tells her about his origin, she forbids their marriage. Also, it is said in the book that Gwendolyn has a fixation with the name Earnest and that she will never marry any man whose name is not Earnest. All this problematic situations suggest that Jack’s deceit is just a weapon he wields in order to obtain what he wants; and to avoid to struggle in his life. Moreover, the most important of his attitude towards his behavior is that, at the end, he is actually proud of his double life.
Lady Bracknell: “My nephew, you seem to be displaying signs of triviality.”
Jack: “On the contrary, Aunt Augusta, I’ve now realized for the first time in my life the vital Importance of Being Earnest.” (The importance, Wilde).
Jack is a conventional satire of Victorian values because he pretends to be respectable, moral, and honorable; however, it is not merely by pride that he has created Earnest, but to keep his image intact as he is broking the very precepts he presumes to have. This Victorian morality reaches an extreme point with Jack; nevertheless, the way he boasts all this hypocrisy seems to be out of the normal society in the real life. Nonetheless, it is true that this is not merely a story that came from Oscar Wilde’s dreams or fantasies because literature is always affected by the society of the time it is written. In this particular case, Oscar Wilde’s life is a vivid portrait of it.
Oscar Wilde was an extremist and lived eccentrically in his time. Living within a social system that was fixed and inflexible with fresh and radical ideas, Oscar Wilde had as much success as he has criticism. During Wilde’s time, society was into a moral dilemma: first, there were those people that were rebels, just like Wilde; and on the other hand, there were those people that professed to be conservatives, straights and morals. Because of his weird behavior and creed, Oscar was attacked intellectually, socially and artistically; just for the reason that he stands off of the crowd. He was stereotyped as a freak, a homosexual, and a crazy man; and even through some of these accusations could be real, it does not means that they have any proof for to affirm that. Oscar lived in a society that repressed him because of his originality, his honesty and his strong criticism, despite of his natural and magnificent ability to create art and consciousness in the crowd. Oscar Wilde’s main interest by writing was to transmit his perception of exquisiteness and lack of restrictions, by an artistic way that anyone could understand and decide to apply in his everyday life. Oscar Wilde was a follower of a movement called aestheticism, which tends to appreciate natural beauty and freedom of mind, not only in art but also in their lives. Additionally, Oscar Wilde left little hints written between lines that tried to create an intellectual revolution in the society, and somehow he achieved his purpose. Nowadays, Oscar Wilde and his works are recognized as the most polemic facts in modern literature.
Scandal and gossip are the way through which people create polemic attacks to the moral and dignity of other people; and by human nature, we all have some source of an instinct to do it. As humans, we have several emotions that distinguish us from animals; this variety of moods include fine ones, such as love and mercy, and ghastly ones, like jealousy and envy.
Lady Bracknell: Come on, Gwendolyn, we have already missed five, if not six trains! To miss any more might expose us to comments on the platform (The importance…, Wilde).
There is a fragment of a popular song that says that society will hate one, if one is clever, but they will despise a fool; and that is actually what happened to Oscar Wilde. A behavior of discrimination and “fear” to everything that is new, and that seems capable to change the whole system, is from where hypocrisy is born. Wilde was a revolutionary and an intellectual which are exactly the characteristics that average people would attack and attempt to eradicate to their fixed society; and sadly, these average people are who rule over the world. Nowadays, this pattern of behavior still exists and it still affecting different sector of our civilization, despite the efforts and campaigns of emotional intelligence that has arose as a response to stop this dreadful deeds. Many scholars and I myself, believe that Oscar Wilde was just another victim of this people’s jealous games; and it is time to face it, there will always be jealousy and fear, because it is part of the emotions that everyone, as humans, experiment.
It may sound controversial and cold, but as had been said before it is all about human nature and each one have the chance to be hypocrite, as can be read in Wilde’s play. Almost every character that appears in The Importance of Being Earnest shows a certain level of hypocrisy, not just the central ones.
Gwendolyn: In matters of utmost importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing. (The Importance…, Wilde).
As the situation rise in the story, the tension that all the lies produce gets tighter and tighter till it reach a point in which everything seems so complicated that the only possible solution is to come clean.
Miss Prism: The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means. (The Importance…, Wilde).
This is a simile of what real life is because it is actually what happens. As long as people keep lying, tension will grow. And let’s face it, it is an exceptional ability to being able to wield all those lies and never commit a mistake because, actually, at the end, everything will come out to the surface and the guilty will have to face the consequences. Nevertheless, our superficial and empty society (that had been developed through the years) seems to appreciate more the portrait that one may create to live into a masquerade, that the courage to tell the truth. The reason is that our rigid society refuses to change or to accept anyone who stands out of the crowd since they are so jealous that they are not willing to accept that anyone could do anything they cannot or just because of that human fear to what is different or unknown. Latterly, the only mission of this game of envy is to fashion the people the way the majority wants; that way, everyone will be special (which is just another way to say that anyone would be).
Jack: Lady Bracknell, I hate to seem inquisitive, but would you kindly inform me who I am? (The Importance…, Wilde).
After getting to know the whole situation why Oscar Wilde had to deal with, it is possible to realize why Oscar Wilde did make the decision of changing the subtitle of the play, and what the meaning of it is.
There is for sure a meaning in Wilde’s decision, and it is justified in the background of his eccentric way of living. Many facts have been established: Oscar Wilde’s life style, the hypocrisy in the society and the play and the strict modeling of the social order; and this entire together are the weapons that will reveal what happened in Wilde’s mind, talking about his play’s subtitle. “A serious play for trivial people” was the original (and most accurate) subtitle of his book; now, let’s try to analyze it. Initially, the word games with the adjectives “serious” and “trivial”; it is a “serious play” because it exposes completely the society’s faults and errors and it pushes the complexity of the system to change. On the other hand, the subtitle is also awfully direct as an attack to this attitude: “for trivial people”; the explanation is unnecessary as we define “trivial” and its relation with hypocrisy and frivolity. However, Wilde decided to use the other one and the meaning of the first is not as important as the second’s. What Wilde “tries to affirm” with this new subtitle is how the play is nothing more than a crazy and hilarious comedy, that have nothing to do with the “serious society” they are. If Wilde was so against the fixed society, why did he try to emphasize how they are right? Is it maybe fear? I believe so. As has being understood, try to swim against the tight is hard and frustrating and when one lives like Oscar Wilde’s did, it can even broke one’s spirit and self-confidence. Wilde’s fear short of him to follow the current, even when it can be appreciate that he was not agree with this attitude. After all this, it should be clearer for the reader to understand the hidden message in Wilde’s actions, and his opinion on triviality.
As a conclusion, triviality is exposed in the play, the same way people do in their everyday life. The goal of this discussion was to prove the superiority of the first subtitle and the reasons of the change and after joining the critical dots in Wilde’s society, both points are clear. Moreover, this should summit some kind of teaching or a message between lines of how the pressure made by a big following group of incompetent people could destroy the most exceptional acquisitions to the society and its chances to improve and to evolve. A hypocrite society is the scariest monster of all if we are not strong enough to face it… at the end all that is left is just the hope of a change.
Joven universitario con pasión por la literatura y afición de escritor
Even though this play is a fiction, lying and being hypocrite, as natural features of human kind, are not too far of the reality in Oscar’s time. The main plot in the play spins around Jack’s lies and his fear of accepting his own reality and the conflicts that this complex web of deception produces when it is discovered. Jack’s mains motifs for his masquerade are to be accepted and to have a getaway of his entire common problems. It is justified in how Jack’s obsession for getting acceptation of others, and his beloved’s one, Gwendolyn Fairfax. This can be seen when he attempts to propose to Gwendolyn, and her mother, Lady Bracknell, interrogates him in order to evaluate the “future husband” of her daughter. Nevertheless, when he comes clean and tells her about his origin, she forbids their marriage. Also, it is said in the book that Gwendolyn has a fixation with the name Earnest and that she will never marry any man whose name is not Earnest. All this problematic situations suggest that Jack’s deceit is just a weapon he wields in order to obtain what he wants; and to avoid to struggle in his life. Moreover, the most important of his attitude towards his behavior is that, at the end, he is actually proud of his double life.
Lady Bracknell: “My nephew, you seem to be displaying signs of triviality.”
Jack: “On the contrary, Aunt Augusta, I’ve now realized for the first time in my life the vital Importance of Being Earnest.” (The importance, Wilde).
Jack is a conventional satire of Victorian values because he pretends to be respectable, moral, and honorable; however, it is not merely by pride that he has created Earnest, but to keep his image intact as he is broking the very precepts he presumes to have. This Victorian morality reaches an extreme point with Jack; nevertheless, the way he boasts all this hypocrisy seems to be out of the normal society in the real life. Nonetheless, it is true that this is not merely a story that came from Oscar Wilde’s dreams or fantasies because literature is always affected by the society of the time it is written. In this particular case, Oscar Wilde’s life is a vivid portrait of it.
Oscar Wilde was an extremist and lived eccentrically in his time. Living within a social system that was fixed and inflexible with fresh and radical ideas, Oscar Wilde had as much success as he has criticism. During Wilde’s time, society was into a moral dilemma: first, there were those people that were rebels, just like Wilde; and on the other hand, there were those people that professed to be conservatives, straights and morals. Because of his weird behavior and creed, Oscar was attacked intellectually, socially and artistically; just for the reason that he stands off of the crowd. He was stereotyped as a freak, a homosexual, and a crazy man; and even through some of these accusations could be real, it does not means that they have any proof for to affirm that. Oscar lived in a society that repressed him because of his originality, his honesty and his strong criticism, despite of his natural and magnificent ability to create art and consciousness in the crowd. Oscar Wilde’s main interest by writing was to transmit his perception of exquisiteness and lack of restrictions, by an artistic way that anyone could understand and decide to apply in his everyday life. Oscar Wilde was a follower of a movement called aestheticism, which tends to appreciate natural beauty and freedom of mind, not only in art but also in their lives. Additionally, Oscar Wilde left little hints written between lines that tried to create an intellectual revolution in the society, and somehow he achieved his purpose. Nowadays, Oscar Wilde and his works are recognized as the most polemic facts in modern literature.
Scandal and gossip are the way through which people create polemic attacks to the moral and dignity of other people; and by human nature, we all have some source of an instinct to do it. As humans, we have several emotions that distinguish us from animals; this variety of moods include fine ones, such as love and mercy, and ghastly ones, like jealousy and envy.
Lady Bracknell: Come on, Gwendolyn, we have already missed five, if not six trains! To miss any more might expose us to comments on the platform (The importance…, Wilde).
There is a fragment of a popular song that says that society will hate one, if one is clever, but they will despise a fool; and that is actually what happened to Oscar Wilde. A behavior of discrimination and “fear” to everything that is new, and that seems capable to change the whole system, is from where hypocrisy is born. Wilde was a revolutionary and an intellectual which are exactly the characteristics that average people would attack and attempt to eradicate to their fixed society; and sadly, these average people are who rule over the world. Nowadays, this pattern of behavior still exists and it still affecting different sector of our civilization, despite the efforts and campaigns of emotional intelligence that has arose as a response to stop this dreadful deeds. Many scholars and I myself, believe that Oscar Wilde was just another victim of this people’s jealous games; and it is time to face it, there will always be jealousy and fear, because it is part of the emotions that everyone, as humans, experiment.
It may sound controversial and cold, but as had been said before it is all about human nature and each one have the chance to be hypocrite, as can be read in Wilde’s play. Almost every character that appears in The Importance of Being Earnest shows a certain level of hypocrisy, not just the central ones.
Gwendolyn: In matters of utmost importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing. (The Importance…, Wilde).
As the situation rise in the story, the tension that all the lies produce gets tighter and tighter till it reach a point in which everything seems so complicated that the only possible solution is to come clean.
Miss Prism: The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means. (The Importance…, Wilde).
This is a simile of what real life is because it is actually what happens. As long as people keep lying, tension will grow. And let’s face it, it is an exceptional ability to being able to wield all those lies and never commit a mistake because, actually, at the end, everything will come out to the surface and the guilty will have to face the consequences. Nevertheless, our superficial and empty society (that had been developed through the years) seems to appreciate more the portrait that one may create to live into a masquerade, that the courage to tell the truth. The reason is that our rigid society refuses to change or to accept anyone who stands out of the crowd since they are so jealous that they are not willing to accept that anyone could do anything they cannot or just because of that human fear to what is different or unknown. Latterly, the only mission of this game of envy is to fashion the people the way the majority wants; that way, everyone will be special (which is just another way to say that anyone would be).
Jack: Lady Bracknell, I hate to seem inquisitive, but would you kindly inform me who I am? (The Importance…, Wilde).
After getting to know the whole situation why Oscar Wilde had to deal with, it is possible to realize why Oscar Wilde did make the decision of changing the subtitle of the play, and what the meaning of it is.
There is for sure a meaning in Wilde’s decision, and it is justified in the background of his eccentric way of living. Many facts have been established: Oscar Wilde’s life style, the hypocrisy in the society and the play and the strict modeling of the social order; and this entire together are the weapons that will reveal what happened in Wilde’s mind, talking about his play’s subtitle. “A serious play for trivial people” was the original (and most accurate) subtitle of his book; now, let’s try to analyze it. Initially, the word games with the adjectives “serious” and “trivial”; it is a “serious play” because it exposes completely the society’s faults and errors and it pushes the complexity of the system to change. On the other hand, the subtitle is also awfully direct as an attack to this attitude: “for trivial people”; the explanation is unnecessary as we define “trivial” and its relation with hypocrisy and frivolity. However, Wilde decided to use the other one and the meaning of the first is not as important as the second’s. What Wilde “tries to affirm” with this new subtitle is how the play is nothing more than a crazy and hilarious comedy, that have nothing to do with the “serious society” they are. If Wilde was so against the fixed society, why did he try to emphasize how they are right? Is it maybe fear? I believe so. As has being understood, try to swim against the tight is hard and frustrating and when one lives like Oscar Wilde’s did, it can even broke one’s spirit and self-confidence. Wilde’s fear short of him to follow the current, even when it can be appreciate that he was not agree with this attitude. After all this, it should be clearer for the reader to understand the hidden message in Wilde’s actions, and his opinion on triviality.
As a conclusion, triviality is exposed in the play, the same way people do in their everyday life. The goal of this discussion was to prove the superiority of the first subtitle and the reasons of the change and after joining the critical dots in Wilde’s society, both points are clear. Moreover, this should summit some kind of teaching or a message between lines of how the pressure made by a big following group of incompetent people could destroy the most exceptional acquisitions to the society and its chances to improve and to evolve. A hypocrite society is the scariest monster of all if we are not strong enough to face it… at the end all that is left is just the hope of a change.
Joven universitario con pasión por la literatura y afición de escritor
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