Rev Chasuble And Miss Prism example essay topic

Oscar Wilde's play, The Importance Of Being Earnest, is an example of his use of "dandyism". Throughout the play he uses humorous depictions of class tensions and delights in the play's characters' confused sense of values. Lady Bracknell is perhaps the choice character to use to make a mockery of materialistic, middle-class society. She is a highfalutin Victorian lady who stresses good breeding above all other matters. When she is informed that Jack has asked Gwendolen to marry him, she quickly dismisses Gwendolen and with pencil and notebook in hand begins to interrogate Jack, not first without giving him notice that his name did not appear on her list of eligible young men.

She appeared to be at least satisfied with his answers to her line of questioning until she asked about his parents. When he tells her that he lost both of his parents, she replies, "Both? To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune - to lose both seems like carelessness". Then she goes on seemingly dismissing that fact and begins trying to establish at least his fathers ranking in life. He then has to admit he was orphaned, found in a handbag on a train.

With this information she says she will not allow her daughter to marry him. In contrast of her firm convictions of not settling for anything less than coming from good breeding, in Act she learns that Algernon intends to marry Cecily, whom she also doubts her background, but warms to her and gives her consent when she discovers she has a large personal fortune. The twist of it all is, that when Lady Bracknell told Jack to, "Acquire some relation as soon as possible", she did not know of course that one of them would be her self. The person that was socially not good enough for Lady Bracknell's standards, turns out to be her own nephew. The two characters, Rev. Chasuble and Miss Prism, if not by any other reason but their positions, gives you a preconceived idea of what you expect their behavior to be. From the very beginning it is anything but that, they have a very flirtatious relationship.

From the Reverend's comment to Cecily about being inattentive to her lessons with Miss Prism, "Were I fortunate enough to be Miss Prism's pupil, I would hang upon her lips", to Miss Prism implying that his, "celibacy leads weaker vessels astray". Miss Prism makes hints that she wants to marry Rev. Chasuble and urges him to get married, especially to a mature lady. When Lady Bracknell hears Miss Prism's name and questions Rev. Chasuble on what position she holds in his household, he is very quick to announce that, "I am a celibate, madam". After Miss Prism is confronted with the story of the baby and Jack returns with the bag for her to examine, she calmly replies, "The bag is undoubtedly mine.

I am delighted to have it so unexpectedly restored to me. It has been a great inconvenience being without it all these years". There is no sign of any emotions or even any questions on her part about the connection of the bag and the baby. Wilde was surely addressing the almost comical ignorance of this character that held the position of a governess; maybe while she was quite intellectual he was scoffing at the lack of common sense. The Importance of Being Earnest was written to be a farce and take aim at the Victorian moral and social values. Wilde described the play as "exquisitely trivial, a delicate bubble of fancy, and it has its philosophy... that we should treat all the trivial things of life seriously, and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality.".