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.