The Title "The Importance of Being Earnest" could be seen as a abstract title because you can dig up a range of meanings from it. First it sounds like a novel which is for mature readers, it doesn’t sound fun and exciting but the first reaction you get whilst reading the title is "Boring English play". The title also indicates that the purpose of the book is to give us a lesson eg. By using “The Importance” in the title the reader would automatically assume that the author wants them to realise something, However it doesn’t always have to be about a situation the title could be talking about someone called earnest and the play could be based around them. Overall the title doesn’t give away much about the contents of the book but gives us slight hints of what it could be based on.
The Characters from the cast of the novel are arranged into upper class and lower class. This straight away gives us a indication that the novel is dated from quite back and might explore the theme of status'es eg rich, poor- the hardships they face etc and relationships between the two classes.The first thing I noticed when I read the cast list was that none of the cast had titles except from the governess ( Miss Prism ), otherwise there are Rev. Canon Chasuble, D.D and Hon. Gwendolen Fairfax alongside John Worthing, J.P. These characters have some kind of title. This could mean that Miss Prism works for one of them thats why she has a title unlike the other lower cast characters and that she is more respected or liked than the others, or that she is of more importance than the rest. Also John Worthing, J.P, Algernon Moncrieff are the first two people named in the cast and before Rev. Canon Chasuble. Rev. Canon Chasuble Is a clergyman and probably is respected as he has links to the church so it shows that John and Algernon might me more superior then him as the author did not place his name first. Also studying the cast list i realised that all the male characters are above the female. This could have been done purposely by the author to show us another theme (gender discrimination). By reading the cast list again i get a feeling that the discrimination is quite strong because even the butler has his name before "Lady" Bracknell. This shows that the status of women in the novel is not very high.
In the first scene of the novel we are introduced to Lane and Algernon, the novel starts with them talking.Algernon has all the typical rich people values in him and his speech and hobbies also show this. Whereas Lane at the same time shows by his speech that he is of lower class and that he respects Algernon. When asked a question he replies "I didn’t think it polite to listen, sir" This shows that he knows his status. Also the first scene shows Algernon and Lane's relationship although they are from two different classes, there isnt discrimation between them, they seem to have an ok relationship. The author could be trying to explain that this is out of the norm. this could be done to give the reader a sense that the novel is also out of the norm.as we read on we explore Algernon and John's relationship, we now know that John Worthing the justice of peace is himself called Earnest. His relationship with Algernon seems very close and they seem to be good friends " Eating as usual, I see, Algy!" He uses a nickname for Algernon which shows friendship and closeness between the two.
In conclusion the author Oscar wilde has Cleverly intrigued the readers and captured their attention by using the theme of status in the novel.
www some useful and perceptive comment about both title and cast list, you have discussed status as shown through language choices and begun to discuss how these names belie the characters and how their identities are modified once we begin to read the text.
ReplyDeleteebi you become more familiar and more confident in the use of language and literature terminology. Remember that this is a play NOT a novel and this basic error cannot be made in future.