The Importance of Importance in the Imported The Importance; Or, A Title of No Importance
To start an essay with a definition is one of the go-to cliches of procrastinating students across the nation; a definition is a clear, simple, indisputable, and its role as the figurehead on the prow of the essay is to set the parameters of logical argument (as well as to ward off the evil spirits of creativity and uniqueness.) However, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the definition of “definition” is “a statement expressing the essential nature of something,” revealing more ambiguity in definity than the concrete absolute a definition is thought to be. Afterall, what makes a nature essential to something, and how can someone decide which …show more content…
So when tasked to evaluate the “most important” piece of literature we’ve read, to give an arbitrary subjective definition of “important” seemed wrong but an objective definition was impossible. Thus, perhaps the most “important” text discussed in this class to me is a piece that addresses “importance”, a now pressing issue on my mind, in a plethora of ways, essentially covering all of its bases whatever definition of “important” one may choose. The Importance of Being Earnest, a play by Oscar Wilde, is undeniably, indisputably an important …show more content…
The Aesthetic movement holds that literature, among other works of art, should have no meaning placed higher than beauty and the actual art of the work.Wilde crafted The Importance to be an aesthetically pleasing play, and the work is indeed very well executed; however, the the target of a large portion of criticism in the play is aimed at the ideal of “earnestness,” that passion and conviction is perhaps more meaningful and desirable an asset than any inherently virtuous traits. Oddly enough, both the work and the movement hold that if one speaks or creates with enough conviction or art, a lack of substance or deeper meaning can be disregarded (hence the tone of this essay), and this value is even relevant to the English 12 AP test in the form the “style point” of the essays. By the definition established in the work itself, Wilde’s work of art is important, not for its deeper meaning and social satire but solely because it is crafted with such a desire to create a beautiful
To start an essay with a definition is one of the go-to cliches of procrastinating students across the nation; a definition is a clear, simple, indisputable, and its role as the figurehead on the prow of the essay is to set the parameters of logical argument (as well as to ward off the evil spirits of creativity and uniqueness.) However, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the definition of “definition” is “a statement expressing the essential nature of something,” revealing more ambiguity in definity than the concrete absolute a definition is thought to be. Afterall, what makes a nature essential to something, and how can someone decide which …show more content…
So when tasked to evaluate the “most important” piece of literature we’ve read, to give an arbitrary subjective definition of “important” seemed wrong but an objective definition was impossible. Thus, perhaps the most “important” text discussed in this class to me is a piece that addresses “importance”, a now pressing issue on my mind, in a plethora of ways, essentially covering all of its bases whatever definition of “important” one may choose. The Importance of Being Earnest, a play by Oscar Wilde, is undeniably, indisputably an important …show more content…
The Aesthetic movement holds that literature, among other works of art, should have no meaning placed higher than beauty and the actual art of the work.Wilde crafted The Importance to be an aesthetically pleasing play, and the work is indeed very well executed; however, the the target of a large portion of criticism in the play is aimed at the ideal of “earnestness,” that passion and conviction is perhaps more meaningful and desirable an asset than any inherently virtuous traits. Oddly enough, both the work and the movement hold that if one speaks or creates with enough conviction or art, a lack of substance or deeper meaning can be disregarded (hence the tone of this essay), and this value is even relevant to the English 12 AP test in the form the “style point” of the essays. By the definition established in the work itself, Wilde’s work of art is important, not for its deeper meaning and social satire but solely because it is crafted with such a desire to create a beautiful