John Ruskin

Poetry has typically defied the confines of the period it was written in and ushers in a new era in terms of ideas, politics, art, music, and everyday life. In the Victorian Period, many poets would write about ideas, the current attitudes toward women, and the resisting temptation, from a new viewpoint, which lead to changing thoughts and morals among the masses (Khanna and Landow). Although the word ‘Victorian’ brings to mind conformity, the Victorian Era of poetry is anything but typical…

Have you ever had a dream that felt real? Have you ever not been able to wakeup from it? Imagine being in a dream that you are unable to wakeup from, and then you realize that dream is actually reality. This is the case for Alice in Lewis Carroll’s novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alice falls into a large-rabbit hole and finds herself in a whole other world. The classic novel has won many awards and has been the inspiration to many movies, plays and comic books. Lewis Carroll’s classic…

high moral tone on all subjects. It’s one’s duty to do so” (Wilde 301). However, Jack pretends to have an irresponsible bother in the name of Earnest. He uses Ernest, his alter-ego, as an excuse and as a disguise to keep his honorable image intact. John is the perfect representation of the upper Victorian society that hides behind the façade of morals and values. Additionally, using the name “earnest” which was a Victorian ideal for deception was a sarcastic way for Wilde to further criticize…

In the play “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde, witticism is used in characterization and in the satire of the Victorian Aristocracy. Characterization is used to describe characters and their personalities. Witticism, a literary tone, is used as a cleverly witty and often biting or ironic remark. Satire, a literary tone, is used to ridicule or make fun of human vice or weakness, often with the intent of correcting or changing, the subject. When you read the title of the literary…

Many authors of literary works and plays rely heavily on word-play, puns, verbal irony, innuendo, and witticism to mock or satirize a particular subject. This is true of Oscar Wilde’s play, The Importance of Being Earnest. Oscar Wilde, living in a society tainted by strict rules and customs, used this play to challenge social norms of the Victorian era. The double entendre included in title, The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People, accents Oscar Wilde's witticism and…

Writing Task The use of satirical humor in “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde Throughout the play, Oscar Wilde uses satirical humor to ridicule and deride the members of the Victorian aristocracy. Wilde criticizes certain aspects of society, mocking social conventions such as marriage. This can be seen in the play when Jacks confides to Algernon that he is in love with Gwendolen and that he has come to town to propose to her, and Algernon replies that he thought that Jack…

Comparing Satire “The Importance of Being Earnest” takes place in the Victorian Era. The purpose of Wilde writing a satire about Victorian society was to awaken people. He wanted to let the people understand how ridiculous it was. “As for the particular locality in which the hand-bag was found, a cloak-room at a railway station, might serve to conceal a social indiscretion-has probably, indeed, been used for that purpose before now-but it could hardly be regarded as an assured basis for a…

mixed up story of what happens when people get confused about things that truly matter in life and things that don’t matter. The conflict grows when the characters in the story are not honest and begin to get tangled in their lies. The protagonist, john, lives at an estate in the countryside paradise in the beautiful location of Herefordshire in England in the late 1800’s. His house is surrounded by nature and plenty of space to do…

Jan Steen was a famous Dutch genre painter, born in the seventeenth century. In his paintings, he made his subjects mainly from his daily life. The scenes he painted were often lively and chaotic and the Dutch to this day often use the phrase “A Jan Steen household” meaning a chaotic and messy household. His paintings of household chaos were supposed to act as a warning to observers that life needed to be more organized and orderly. Today the Merry Family is a typical work of art that portrays a…

Essay outline The Importance of Being Earnest Thesis statement: Oscar Wilde’s play, The Importance of Being Earnest, criticizes the society’s sense of priority regarding knowledge, intelligence and honesty, as education is depicted as superficial and invaluable compared to characteristics such as physical appearance and social status. Topic Sentence #1: Wilde asserts that education is a negligible factor of success; one’s knowledge is less important than one’s physical appearance and social…