IOBE context

Introduction

• a farce, a comedy of manners whose main goal is to amuse the audience, rather than making them think
• the play makes references to contemporary historical events, which suggest a troubled society underneath the glossiness of the characters that Wilde portrays.

Social Issues

• main critique is that the play is form without content, and does not deal seriously with any social issues
• consistent to Wilde's doctrine of Aestheticism)
• George Bernard Shaw = says it seems heartlessness - he would prefer to think that people are capable of speaking something other than nonsense

Political issues

• some topics mentioned briefly in the play indicate larger political issues that were the subject of heated debate at the time it was produced
• such as the ireland home rule and being a liberal
• Lady Bracknell examines Jack's suitability and inquires about his politics
• says he's a liberal who doesn't support home rule
• "oh, they count as tories. they dine with us"
• only affects her social engagements, rather than caring about ireland

French Revolution

• The threat of a revolution like the french revolution constantly hangs over british society
• Lady Bracknell is alarmed to hear Bunbury died by explosion
• "Exploded! Was he the victim of a revolutionary outrage? … he is well punished for his morbidity"
• unease, reflects that of society
• "morbidity does well to describe Wilde's characters' attitudes to politics.
• Difficult for them to understand an interest in something that is so far removed from their daily pleasures

Finally:

• unfair to suggest TIOBE is shallow, universal farce which has no ties to the historical context in which is was created
• however, Wilde's references to the crucial issues of his time are usually overshadowed by his character's own petty concerns.

Women and Feminity

• seperate spheres theory: believes men are from the sphere of work, economy and law, whereas women are from the sphere of domestic life, child rearing, housekeeping and religious education , VERY DIFFERENT and gender roles are natural - ANACHRONISTIC
• the angel in the house: depicted what the ideal woman should be, pure and sweet, domestic goddess
• the new woman: feminist ideal, described the growth in numbers feminist and career women in society, pushed the limits set by a male dominated society, especially henrik ibsen

Class conflicts

• higher class have virtuous attitudes, believe they're high ground
• believe lower class should have seen through their errors of their ways
• reform = keeping current social and economic system in place

Education

• not for learning to think, for mindlessly following convention
• aesthetic purposes
• a way of life, instead of enriching personal goals and values

Secret Lives

• victorian social norms were extremely restrictive, people used and constructed secret lives to escape these restrictions
• reflects Wilde's own views on politics and society
• valued duty and respectability above all else. hence the title "Earnest"
• someone could have an affair but must keep up the air of respectability and duty for it to be alright
• illusion of respectability
• wilde questions whether more serious issues in vic.society are overlooked in favour of appearances and duty etc.

Marriage

• marriage and courtship had it's own rules and rituals
• marriage was a careful selection process
• fortune was especially important
• family, politics and housing was just as important
• duty was far more important than joy or happiness
• wilde presents marriage as a legal contract between consenting families of similar backgrounds.

The new woman

• threatened conventions about ideas and ideal womanhood
• she was free-spirited, independent, educated and uninterested in children and marriage
• more oppurtunities for women.
• sexual desire became more relevant
• more focus put on the double standards of victorian marriage (women must be chaste and men must not, people critiqued it more)

The Aesthetic movement

• art for arts sake
• leader in promoting this movement
• not meant to instruct, should not concern itself with social, political or moral guidance
• characterisation of the upper class in TIOBE shows they do and say things just for the sake of political or social reasoning, wilde was against this
• mocked the upper class

Dandy

• a man who payed a lot of attention to his appearence, dress and lifestyle to the point of excess
• wilde used his wit and charm to point out societies hypocrisy and double standards
• The Dandy symbolises self-indulgence as well as the revelation of truth
• threatened the accepted view of masculinity and only sought pleasure

The absence of compassion

• showed very little compassion at illness and death
• everyone was too worried about their own lives to worry about others
• Wilde is presenting social class that only thinks of itself with no compassion for the misfortunate.

Passion and Morality

• Various characters in the play allude to passion, sex and moral looseness.
• Eating and writing in diaries were acceptable venues for passion
• victorians had to show morality in all of their actions.
• Wilde's characters allude to another life beneath the surface of Victorian morality.

Gender

• The victorian era developed the idea of "seperate spheres"
• men dominated the public sphere of work and politics
• women stayed in the private sphere of the home where they did domestic chores and looked after children
• women were not usually well-educated as that was the "mans world"
• some believed education would damage a womans reproductive organs
• "angel of the house" poem
• women were supposed to be obedient to their husbands and bring up children, as stated in the poem.

The Upper Class

• strict victorian class system
  • members of the same class marry one another
• perpetuates the gulf between the upper, middle and lower classes.
• aristocratic attitudes further preserved these attitudes
• French Revolution shows what would happen if the lower class questions their "betters"

Angel of the house

Coventry patmore 1854

Bunburying

Wilde's affairs 1884 Constance wife

French rev

1789
Social unrest 1890s
Trafalgar sq working class riot 1885

First perform

1895

Aestheticism

19 century
Art for arts sake
Utilitarianism

The new woman

Sarah grand opposed Victorian true woman

Reform act 1832

Middle class vote

Married women's property act

1882