Biography Of Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde was born on the 16 October 1854 and died 30 November 1900. He was an irish Poet and writer. He became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s before he was imprisoned and given the death sentence.


He was an intelligent man who attended university and studied Roman Catholicism and aestheticism, he knew many languages including German, English and French.


 After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles. As a spokesman for aestheticism which he studied, he tried his hand at various literary activities: he published a book of poems, lectured in the United States of America and Canada on the new "English Renaissance in Art", and then returned to London where he worked prolifically as a journalist. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress, and glittering conversation, Wilde had become one of the most well-known personalities of his day.


In his lifetime he wrote nine plays, one novel, and numerous poems, short stories, and essays.

On May 29, 1884, Oscar married Constance Lloyd , daughter of wealthy Queen's Counsel Horace Lloyd. They had two sons, Cyril and Vyvyan. To support his family, Oscar accepted a job as the editor of Woman's World magazine, where he worked from 1887-1889.

In 1888, he published The Happy Prince and Other Tales, fairy-stories written for his two sons. His first and only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, was published in 1891 and received quite a negative response. This had much to do with the novel's homoerotic overtones, which caused something of a sensation amongst Victorian critics. In 1891, Wilde began an affair with Lord Alfred Douglas, nicknamed 'Bosie', who became both the love of his life and his downfall. Wilde's marriage ended in 1893.  

In April 1895, Oscar sued Bosie's father for libel as the Marquis of Queensberry had accused him of homosexuality. Oscar's case was unsuccessful and he was himself arrested and tried for gross indecency. He was sentenced to two years of hard labor for the crime of sodomy. During his time in prison he wrote De Profundis, a dramatic monologue and autobiography, which was addressed to Bosie.

Upon his release in 1897, he wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol, revealing his concern for inhumane prison conditions. He spent the rest of his life wandering Europe, staying with friends and living in cheap hotels. He died of cerebral meningitis on November 30, 1900, penniless, in a cheap Paris hotel.

 

Lady Bracknells Speech to lord Bracknell.

Dearest Eugene,

Today I was faced with quite a dilemma. Some unworthy man called Ernest ,friend of our charming Algernon decided he was worthy of our beautiful Gwendolen. He had the guts to ask if he could have her hand. Honestly these lower class people don't understand their limits. They need to be set boundaries on even how much they are allowed to dream!

Gwendolen must be worth 10 of him. She is such a beautiful girl at a Young ripe age, with an amazing unspoiled nature. He would not be able to look after her properly, Although he claims he loves her profoundly he does not have any relations! How ridiculous is that? He was found in a leather bag! I must say when I heard these words from his mouth I found is extremely hard to control my laughter!  Found in a leather bag! What a joke!

I understand that i might seem like a cruel person, but in these days you have to be careful. The society is not like it was 5 years ago. We are higher class people we have to worry about every little thing. What will everyone say when they find out about Gwendolen marrying a Man Found in a Bag! we will become a laughing stock! all the women will mock me.

What shocks me most is the daughter I raised to be sensible and understanding has now for the first time gone against me. She is also persistent in wedding Ernest. She says she will not marry anyone else. She will never forgive me etc. But this is her inner child speaking. Soon she will come to her senses.

Gwendolen’s Diary

Dear Diary,

Today I am very pleased as charming Ernest has finally proposed to me, although it did take him rather long to do it, but me being the nice, kind and caring person I am didn’t object to that I waited for him. Its not like I never had any other options. Why, I had dozens; Tall, handsome, rich But none of them were called Ernest. Ah! even writing the blessed name sends shivers down my spine.

I clearly remember the exacts words he stated. “Gwendolen, I must get christened at once—I mean we must get married at once. There is no time to be lost.” The silly man. He loves me so dearly he forgot to propose, but I put him in his place. I asked him to propose before I said yes.


Everything was going rather well, before mama had to place her foot in it. She decided darling Earnest was not right for me and that she would take the decisions for me. Why doesnt she understand that not always does a person named Ernest come round the corner asking to marry you. Oh Ernest the name is so unbelieveably Beautiful. Its like the sweet sound of birds chirping in the early morning. How beautiful would that name sound with My own ineffable name: Gwendolen. Gwendolen Ernest, Ernest and Gwendolen.... Mr and Mrs Ernest! HowDelightful!


Of course my own Ernest will find a way to get past mama’s ridiculous ways and marry me. We are destined to be together. Mr and Mrs Ernest...


Gwendolen x x x 

How does Wilde create humour at the expense of his characters Gwendolyn and Cecily?

How does Wilde create humour at the expense of his characters Gwendolyn and Cecily?

In my opinion Wilde uses humour in the play evolving around Cecily and Gwendolyn to represent the status of women in the Victorian society. Women were generally seen as properties of men and they had to obey them, men were the superior role. I think Wilde uses humour to show that women (Gwendolyn and Cecily) were typical women of the Victorian society as they believed anything and fell into the traps of Earnest.

In the beginning of act 2 Algernon praises Cecily and she replies to him

“Cecily: I think your frankness does you great credit, Ernest. If you will allow me, I will copy your remarks into my diary. [Goes over to table and begins writing in diary]”. This shows the mere stupidity of Cecily as she has only met Algernon a few hours ago and she is already concerned about what he says. It shows that she was desperate for remarks about herself or that she was very vain and loved hearing praises about her; this creates humour by the bluntness of Cecily.

Again in the same point Wilde uses a rhetorical question to represent Humour in the form of Cecily. . If you will allow me, I will copy your remarks into my diary. [Goes over to table and begins writing in diary]”. This implies humour as Cecily did not even wait for a reply but she went and wrote in her diary which is shown to us in stage directions.

Similarly Wilde uses Gwendolyn to create humour by the usage of euphemism “‘I hate crowds’” Gwendolyn is clearly contradicting herself here and is being a hypocrite, as she lives in town where it’s always crowded. This shows that she was nervous and obviously annoyed at Cecily. Wilde uses this in his play to mock women and amuses his audience as they already know that Gwendolyn lives in town which is far more crowded than the country. It also creates humour as Gwendolyn could have come up with something harsher then that but came out with something sounding so silly. It’s as if they were kids fighting over whose better.

Yet again we are shown Humour through Cecily who as a woman has to go to lengths to pursue a romantic life. It shows that she is desperate and it highlights the inequality of the sexes at the time. She goes to the extent of creating a fictional character that she writes letters to and even replies back her, without even meeting him. “You need hardly remind me of that, Ernest. I remember only too well that I was forced to write your letters for you. I wrote always three times a week, and sometimes oftener.” This shows that the girl was desperate and this represents humour in the status of women. She was so desperate that she imagined him and wrote letters to him and wrote letters back to herself from him. She has nothing better to do then to write letters to herself. It shows that women had a lot of spare time on their hands and that they were very insecure.
Wilde uses dramatic irony to create humour when Gwendolyn says, ‘Disloyalty would be as impossible to him (Jack) as deception’. This creates humour as the audience of course knows that Jack is deceiving the other characters with the story about his brother and so find this funny. It also shows humour as she doesn’t know what she is saying is completely the opposite. She seems to be so sure and this creates humour as the audience knows she is wrong and laugh at her for believing jack. This represents the foolishness of women in the Victorian era. They believed anything.

To conclude Wilde uses the characters Gwendolyn and Cecily to represent humour by the difference in the genders. He represents women as foolish, gullible people who let they fall into traps easily. The purpose of this could have been to please the men in the audience and to warn women. He uses it carefully to side with both genders. Overall the use of humour at the expense of the two female characters is no doubt funny and very ironic.

Gwendolyn and Cecily Scene Analyses.

Gwendolyn: Outside the family circle, papa, I am glad to say, is entirely unknown. I think it is quite as it should be. The home seems to me to be the proper sphere for the man. And certainly once a man begins to neglect his domestic duties he becomes painfully effeminate, does he not? And I don't like that. It makes men so very attractive. Cecily, mamma, whose views on education are remarkably strict, has brought me up to be extremely short-sighted; it is part of her system; so do you mind my looking at you through my glasses?

Cecily: Oh! Not at all, Gwendolyn. I am very fond of being looked at.

Wilde uses the device of topic to represent Gwendolyn’s status in the play. She tells Cecily about both of her parents very thoroughly describing them in riddles. She almost seems to be mocking them “the home seems to me the proper sphere for the man”. She is very opinionated and is saying that her dad should stay at home and possibly do all the things that a woman does at home. Wilde could be showing us that this was a change during the time as men had more status then women but Gwendolyn was a woman out of the norm during the time the play was composed. This could also have been done to represent her status showing that because she is of higher class she can criticize her parents and that she will not be punished for it. All of this shows us that she has quite a rude personality and nature because she is meeting Cecily for the first time and all she can do is ridicule her parents.

He also uses the device of structure to show Gwendolyns attitude. She talks alot and probably thinks that Cecily likes listening to her. She doesn’t let her talk in the middle or give her a chance to speak until she asks her a question. This represents that she is stuck up and spoilt she is used to hearing her own voice all the time that she thinks others will like it too.

Wilde also uses turn taking combined with structure again to represent the difference in the two characters Gwendolyn and Cecily. Gwendolyn waffles on quite a bit, not making much sense and talking in riddles where as Cecily gives a short, sharp and witty reply. This implies that in comparison Cecily is a more confident, sharp girl then Gwendolyn. To me it seems that Gwendolyn is lonely and and that is why she talks more because she wants to feel like someone is listening. Although Gwendolyn is the dominant speaker Cecily has a stronger impact on the audience. The structure shows this again, through the punctuation device Gwendolyn uses many full stops, commas and question marks, where as Cecily uses an exclamation mark to emphasise and 2 full stops to let Gwendolyn soak it all in.

Wilde also shows us the hypocrisies represented through the device of inversion in the Victorian era, this is shown through the roles of men and women: “the home seems to me the proper sphere for a man” Gwendloyn here is saying that she thinks that all men should be the ones that stay at home. This is a inversion because it is assumed that women should stay at home and men should be out working, this was particularly strong in the Victorian era when the play was written, as Women had very low status and were shown to have nothing without men , but in the importance of being earnest this is the opposite as Gwendolyn has the courage to say that she thinks her dad and men should be the ones to stay at home. Could this mean that she is not happy with the work her dad does, does he not earn enough for them or is it simply that she thinks women are better then men. This all shows that women still had courage in the Victorian era and Gwendolyn is a perfect example of this.

The devices quoted above show Humour as women were supposed to be very humble and kind and sweet towards their husbands, fathers and just generally towards males but here its another case Gwendolyn shows that she did not care about status and that she was not below men but more superior to them.

Quote Anayses.

( Act 1 )

1) Algernon- I really don’t see anything romantic in proposing. It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal. Why, one may be accepted. One usually is, I believe. Then the excitement is all over. The very essence of romance is uncertainty. If ever I get married, I’ll certainly try to forget the fact.

In this quote Stated by Algernon we can blatantly see that the quote is his opinion. He states his opinion like a fact which creates humour in the quote. He is talking as if he is very experienced. This could suggest that Algernon is experienced in Marriage proposals or that he leads a secret life. The lexis device used: Proposing, Marriage, Romance, and Love – all talk about relationships. The quote shows his respect for proposals and marriage. He does not seem very serious about marriage and proposals. His use of punctuation also shows his confusion. There are 8 sentences in a short paragraph. There is only one complex sentence. This implies that every time a full stop occurs he stops to think about what he has just said and this shows he is confused in what he says.

2) Lady Bracknell. A country house! How many bedrooms? Well, that point can be cleared up afterwards. You have a town house, I hope? A girl with a simple, unspoiled nature, like Gwendolyn, could hardly be expected to reside in the country.


This quote is very ironic in many ways. First we can clearly see that Lady Bracknell is very excited and happy at the thought of Jack having a country house this shows she is a very money hungry person. Secondly she refers to her daughter as being a simple and unspoiled girl when clearly she is not simple and unspoiled. She asks two questions but doesn’t wait for a reply.  This shows she is very eager to get replies and get the marriage fixed but she only wants to hear the answers from herself.  This shows her superiority in status and That she likes to show people she is of a high status. The manner in which she speaks sound very weird for a upper class woman, very fast and like she is hungry for money and houses and wealth.


Act 2


1)Cecily. I wish Uncle Jack would allow that unfortunate young man, his brother, to come down here sometimes. We might have a good influence over him, Miss Prism. I am sure you certainly would. You know German, and geology, and things of that kind influence a man very much. [Cecily begins to write in her diary.]




Cecily starts of with stating her desires. At first she is being very hypocritical calling jack Unfortunate when she has never even met him. She then goes on to say that she might have a good influence on him. This shows that she thinks that she is a very good person and that she can change people- that she has respect for herself. She then trails of talking about why miss prism might have a good influence on him and says she does German. This has nothing to do with changing one so it shows that whilst thinking about Jack, Cecily has trailed off into her own world. Most probably thinking about Jack. She is secretly engaged to him in her own mind. Then she starts to write in her diary- this could be because she doesn’t want Miss Prism to ask questions and she wants to change the subject or pretend she is busy or she could just be writing about what she has said about Jack to show him when he finally comes.


2) Admirably! Admirably! [Takes out watch.] And now, dear Mr. Worthing, I will not intrude any longer into a house of sorrow. I would merely beg you not to be too much bowed down by grief. What seem to us bitter trials are often blessings in disguise.


This quote starts of with repetition – It shows that Chausable is Emphasizing his sorrow to Jack and showing him he cares. In this quote there is a mixture of irony, and sarcasm combined with a metaphor. This shows that jack has created such an image of his pretend brother that he has made everyone hate him. Therefore Chausable knows that Jack is not very upset about his brothers death as he uses the metaphor what seems to us bitter trials are often blessings in disguise. He is saying that what ever happens to us is for the better so appreciate what has happened. This shows the audience Dr. Chausable’s personality he seems very cruel and has no feelings.