Individuality in The Importance of Being Earnest
Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest takes place in the Victorian Era in Europe, showcasing the strict societal rules and the pressure they cause to attempt to remove individuality from the society by having characters follow the proper upper class stereotypes (being rude to lower class, choosing marriages for money, etc.) By showing the upper class standards and stereotypical snobby behavior through multiple characters, Wilde highlights the few characters who choose to stand out and maintain their individuality by means such as trying to do whatever makes them happy or completely disregarding the social norms.
Many characters such as Jack, an upper class man living in the Victorian era, stand out from the crowd by choosing to value living to seek his own happiness, which is different from the Victorian era expectation of being motivated by wealth and status since happiness doesn’t always include these. By following his heart, he maintains individuality from many of the other upper class characters. During the Victorian era, huge weight was placed on marriage. People were encouraged to marry within their class and to find the wealthiest candidate rather than the most compatible. Rather than picking a girl for her status and wealth, following the usual business-like marriage deals of the time, Jack admits to Algernon that he is “in love with Gwendolen [and has] come up to town to expressly propose to her.”(30) , showing …show more content…
They made their own individuality by not acting like everyone else. Their values and disobedience help to influence their actions and cause them to behave differently, granting them individuality among all the similar
Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest takes place in the Victorian Era in Europe, showcasing the strict societal rules and the pressure they cause to attempt to remove individuality from the society by having characters follow the proper upper class stereotypes (being rude to lower class, choosing marriages for money, etc.) By showing the upper class standards and stereotypical snobby behavior through multiple characters, Wilde highlights the few characters who choose to stand out and maintain their individuality by means such as trying to do whatever makes them happy or completely disregarding the social norms.
Many characters such as Jack, an upper class man living in the Victorian era, stand out from the crowd by choosing to value living to seek his own happiness, which is different from the Victorian era expectation of being motivated by wealth and status since happiness doesn’t always include these. By following his heart, he maintains individuality from many of the other upper class characters. During the Victorian era, huge weight was placed on marriage. People were encouraged to marry within their class and to find the wealthiest candidate rather than the most compatible. Rather than picking a girl for her status and wealth, following the usual business-like marriage deals of the time, Jack admits to Algernon that he is “in love with Gwendolen [and has] come up to town to expressly propose to her.”(30) , showing …show more content…
They made their own individuality by not acting like everyone else. Their values and disobedience help to influence their actions and cause them to behave differently, granting them individuality among all the similar