Gender Roles in the Importance of Being Earnest, Essay Example

The topic of this essay is the characteristic of sex with relation to class and gender distinction in the importance of being earnest by Oscar Wilde. Excerpts from the play will be cited with reference to the distinctions. The perspectives of Frost (1995), Kent (1990), Moi (2013), Smith (2010), Wilde (2013) and Wojtczak (2014) will be reviewed in this essay with regards to the distinctions of sex, in relation to class and gender.

The traditional concepts of sex and gender are substantiallyreviewed in the play titled:Importance of being Earnest. The stereotype of the reserved, submissive and demure Victorian woman is absent in the play. The character of Miss Prismdoes not conform to the Victorian roles.[1]In lieu of the Victorian feminine roles, in the play is encountered robust outspoken and extraordinary female figures that are forthright with their feelings and desires. Miss Prism who demonstrates an interest in Dr. Chasuble has the appearance of wanting to correct everyone.[2]Miss Prism demonstrated that she had also been rebellious to the male hierarchy which is demonstrated as a prominent them in the play. Miss Prism abandoned Jack as a baby in the coat storage closet of Victoria station.[3]

Gwendolen demonstrates the young lady who rebels against the desires of her mother. Gwendolen is independent and drives into the wilderness by herself in order to locate Jack’s suburban mansion. As Gwendolen arrives at the mansion, she engages in a conflict with Cecily after presuming that Cecily has been promised in wedlock to Ernest. Guendolen perceives that Ernest should belong to her. This conflict between Gwendolen and Cecily causes Lady Bricknell to chase after her in order to provide some restraint.[4]

The beginnings of a woman’s rebellion were subdued by family members. The men were allowed by law to delegate moderate punishment to their disobedient spouses. In the late Victorian era, the parents of Edith Blackwell had her committed to a sanatorium for having lived with a man out of wedlock. Edith Blackwell was a political theorist who had been in opposition to the Victorian institution of marriage. The Victorians had been capable of addressing a number of challenges effectively. Nevertheless, the authorities of women in Victorian society were in a state of disarray.[5]

Victorian women were depicted in photographs and art as being angelic and as delicate as a butterfly. The women of the Victorian era were classified as motifs or statues, which had mysterious physical and psychological processes. The Victorian women were adorned with layer upon layer of clothing. The dual nature in this moral dilemma caused the women to fantasize about doing one activity while they were engaged in reality. This need for the Victorian women to fantasize, as had been demonstrated by Cecily in her diary entries was a result of the physical cruelty that the Victorian women were made to endure. [6]

The act of prostitution was common place in Victorian England. The majority of the instances where the women had to engage in prostitution were viewed as causal relationships, situations where the women had no other recourse but to interact with the men. There had been no welfare system that the women could turn to in times of need, as the majority of the wealth had been held by the men. The women were compelled to market themselves to the men when they were in need of economic support. The clothing which the women were forced to wear was symbolic of the lifestyles which they led. The women wore extremely tight fitted corsets and burdensome layers of clothing which did not facilitate motion.[7]

The wealthy women of the Victorian era were compelled to wear a crinoline cage which supplanted many of the layers of clothing that had been historically worn by the women. The caged crinoline was bulky and embarrassing. Very often as the women would sit down, the caged crinolines would move upwards. It was very difficult for women to relax in the Victorian era clothing. The caged crinolines which were worn by the wealthy Victorian women had been so expansive that many of the women perished in flames which were ignited by a candle coming into contact with the caged crinoline or the layers of clothing which were placed on the caged crinolines. [8]

Cecily, who represents the contrasting option to Gwendolen in the tug of war over Ernest, is bold in stating her desires to wed with the category and social class of gentleman which Ernest represents. Cecily demonstrates independence of thought with regards to her diaryentries. The diary entries that Cecily records are representative of her fantasies which are repressed. Notwithstanding, Cecily is not the submissive and obedient woman that is perceived. Cecily did fancy Algernon due to the attribute of his being the opposite in character of Ernest although he pertained to the same social class and upbringing. [9]

The tug of war between Gwendolen and Cecily over Ernest is perceived as a conflict due to the attributes of engagement between a man and a woman in Victorian England. The romantic engagement had been perceived to be an agreement to wed which was enforceable by civil action. This is an unwritten law, due to the attributes of the courts not having the authority to coerce a union between two adults. Notwithstanding, the party which had breached the agreement was subject to legal sanction. The agreement was required to be mutually consented and the parties had to be of sound mind in order to enter into the agreement.[10]

A promise was required to have been made and the woman was required to have accepted the promise. A gentleman could agree to wed a lady upon concluding a business transaction or a lady could consent to wed once she had been bestowed with a dowry. Notwithstanding, should either party renege on the agreement prior to the pre agreed condition being fulfilled, the person who had been rejected could have the right to legal recourse. Breaking an agreement was an action which had been perceived as a personal injury and the injured person.[11]

Age distinctions had been a frequent occurrence in couples during the latter part of the Victorian era. Research has demonstrated that in an examination of the upper classes, the male spouse was anticipated to be older than the female spouse. The ideal age difference in the marriage was anticipated to be between an average of five years, as the females were expected to age at a more rapid pace than the males. Research has shown that with regards to the civil cases which had been carried out for breach of promise, the plaintiffs were younger than the defendants in 84% of the cases. Notwithstanding, the age variations were greater than the average of five years, as more than half of the plaintiffs were ten years younger than the defendants. Nevertheless, there were few members of any jury who would s disagree with a man in his fifties being wed to a woman who had been half his age. [12]

Lady Bracknell appears to conform to the Victorian notion of being a conservative, reserved and faithful spouse. The exception is when she is discussing her husband; she refers to him with no respect and very little emotion.  She is not what she seems to be.[13]In the era which is characterized in England from 1837 to 1902, the gender roles had been polarized in order to classify the distinct activities which were delegated to women and men, conventionally regarded as an ideology of divided spheres.[14]

The divided spheres theory asserts that men had reasoning abilities, ability to conduct action, aggressive and independent natures and the motivation to pursue self-interest. The men had been perceived to belong to the public sphere in Victorian England. The women were compelled to reside in a distinct and reserved sphere which was more adapted to the perceived feminine nature. The characteristics of the perceived feminine nature were selflessness, reliance, submission, passiveness and affection. This sphere of behavior was perceived to have been derived from the reproductive and sexual organization of women. [15]

In accordance with the theory of divided spheres, the men were enabled to be the dominant members of society due to their attributes of intellectual robustness and rational ability. This facilitated that men were the gender that governed and the men were perceived as being independent, courageous and logical.  The women whom had been perceived as the submissive sex were governed by their sexual natures. The women of the Victorian era were anticipated to silently conform to the social model which had been created by men. The women of the Victorian era were perceived as being subservient to the men, sensitive and irrational. Women had been so identified by their sexual nature that they came to be perceived by the Victorian society as “the sex”. [16]

In the Victorian era, marriage had been potentially perceived as being the most important point of a woman’s existence.  Most of the women did not have the choice of whether or not they wanted to marry. Marriage was a necessity which had been forced upon the women by the social mechanisms of the Victorian era which was necessary for their survival. In the Victorian era, the women had been prevented from making their proprietary livelihoods, and for the women there was reliance upon men for revenue. Marriage was the only way for a Victorian lady who pertained to social status which is portrayed in the Importance of Being Earnest of receiving substantial economic support.[17]^,[18]

Lady Bracknell had no other recourse but to be emotionally detached toward her husband. If the woman were unfulfilled in her arrangement with the husband, there was no other recourse but to be emotionally detached from her husband. The woman of the Victorian era had been not allowed divorces and up to the beginning of the 1890s, if the woman were to flee from an unmanageable situation, the authorities were able to capture and return her to her spouse. These were codes which were enforced by the society, church and law. In 1857, there was a divorce act which stated that there would have not been just cause for a woman to seek a divorce on the grounds of marital infidelity.[19]

Considering the masculine characters in the play, Algernon is the male who manifests the role of the relentless dandy bachelor. Algernon’s eccentric behavior supplies a male background for the play. Algernon does not seem to be cognizant of the social anticipations. Jack adheres to the same theme, he conducts himself with one posture in the city and he lives the role of earnest in the town. Consequently, none of the characters are what they purport to be. The ladies are not the stereotypical Victorian submissive, obedient and well-manneredfemales and the men are not the gentlemen who would be representative of the social class and upbringing portrayed. The objective of the play is to be a farce.[20]

The characters in the play the importance of being earnest engage in the act of bunburying.[21]  Bunbury is the imaginary person of the person whom Algernon pretends to visit whenever he wants to escape. The term bunburying infers that particular secretes are being obscured. As a result everything in the play has a dual implication. The term bunburying is the opposite of earnest. In this respect we can perceive that the play is themed on the truth in comparison to lies. In the Victorian era, the truth had never been unfettered; the socially elite, hypocritical and reserved Victorian perspective penetrated almost every aspect of social and sexual life. [22]

This perspective is clarified when Jack states: “On the contrary, Aunt Augusta, I’ve now realized for the first time in my life the importance of being Ernest”[23]. When Earnest receives the revelationthat his parent’s name had been earnest, he finds that he is truly earnest. This is applied a as a farce in order to provide justification to his mother and Gwendolen. He also tells the truth in the play. Jackstates:

The Army Lists of the last forty years are here. These delightfulrecords should have been my constant study….M. Generals . . . Mallam, Maxbohm, Magley, what ghastly names they have—Markby, Migsby, Mobbs, Moncrieff!Lieutenant 1840, Captain, Lieutenant-Colonel, Colonel, General 1869, Christian names, Ernest John…. I always told you, Gwendolen, my name was Ernest, didn’t I? Well, it is Ernest after all. I mean it naturally is Ernest. [24]

The roles which Algernon and Ernest were anticipated to satisfy were subjected to a changeable standard. The issues of the gentlemen in the Victorian era had been engrained in many of the literary works of the era. The literary works which had portrayed the Victorian gentleman or dandy were The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Sherlock Holmes and Dracula.[25][26]^,[27] This literary works portray the role of the Victorian dandy. The Victorian dandy was an upper class gentleman whose social role was created through play and work.

This is portrayed in the Importance of BeingEarnest as the distinct personalities which are displayed by Ernest in the rural and urban surroundings. The gentlemen were anticipated to behave with discipline and reserve. The literary works of the Victorian era sought to expose the duality of the male role. The implications of masculinity are inferred by means of social stature, ethnicity and sexual accessibility. This duality in the Victorian gentleman’s lifestyle caused fractures of identities. This is a Victorian era social phenomenon which is displayed in the literary works of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll andMr. Hyde and Dracula.

Conclusion

The Importance of Being Earnest by OscarWildedemonstrates the role of sex in correlation to class and gender distinction in a light which is intended to be farcical. This can be attributed to the tensions of the Victorian era which had been present between the men and the women and the members of the distinct social classes. The roles of the women and the men are defined in Oscar Wilde’s literary work. The roles of the women are not restricted to the Victorian stereotypes which had been predominantly perceived in that era. The roles of the men demonstrate a similar aspect of duality. In essence, the story the Importance of Being Earnest is related to the duality which exists in the masculine and feminine genders of the privileged classes during the Victorian era in England.

Bibliography

Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Case- Book of Sherlock Holmes. (London: CRW Publishing, Ltd., 2004).

Frost, Ginger S. Promises Broken: Courtship, Class and Gender in Victorian England. (USA: University of Virginia, 1995).

Kent, Susan. Sex and Suffrage in Britain, 1860- 1914. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990).

Moi, Manno. “Book Review (#2): The Importance of Being Earnest.” Dilettante Artiste, 8 January 2013. Web. 4 May 2014.http://dillettanteartists.wordpress.com/2013/01/08/book-review-2-the-importance-of-being-earnest

Stoker, Bram. Dracula. (London: Sterling Books, 2007).

Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. (Colorado Springs, CO: Stone Arch Books, 2008).

Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest. (E- Book: Global Grey, 2013).

Wojtczak, Helena. “Women’s status in mid 19tth century England: A brief overview.”Hastings Press, 2014. Web. 4 May 2014. <http://www.hastingspress.co.uk/history/19/overview>

[1] Oscar Wilde. The Importance of Being Earnest. (E- Book: Global Grey, 2013), 7.

[2] Ibid, 33.

[3] Ibid, 19.

[4]Ibid, 47.

[5] Helena Wojtczak. Women’s status in mid 19tth century England: A brief overview. Hastings Press, 2014. Web. 4 May 2014. <http://www.hastingspress.co.uk/history/19/overview>

[6] Ibid, 1

[7] Ibid, 1.

[8] Ibid, 1.

[9] Oscar Wilde. The Importance of Being Earnest. (E- Book: Global Grey, 2013), 9.

[10]Ginger S. Frost. Promises Broken: Courtship,Class and Gender in Victorian England.(USA: University of Virginia, 1995), 16.

[11]Ibid, 17.

[12] Ibid, 17.

[13] Susan Kent. Sex and Suffrage in Britain, 1860- 1914. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990), 30.

[14] Ibid 86.

[15] Ibid, 86.

[16] Ibid, 86.

[17] Ibid, 86.

[18]  Oscar Wilde. The Importance of Being Earnest. (E- Book: Global Grey, 2013), 7.

[19]Susan Kent. Sex and Suffrage in Britain, 1860- 1914. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990), 86.

[20] Manno Moi. “Book Review (#2): The Importance of Being Earnest.” Dilettante Artiste, 8 January 2013. Web. 4 May 2014.<http://dillettanteartists.wordpress.com/2013/01/08/book-review-2-the-Importance-of-being-earnest>

[21] Oscar Wilde. The Importance of Being Earnest. (E- Book: Global Grey, 2013), 8.

[22] Ibid, 8.

[23] Ibid, 78.

[24] Ibid, 75.

[25] Robert Louis Stevenson. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. (Colorado Springs, CO: Stone Arch Books, 2008).

[26]  Arthur Conan Doyle. The Case- Book of Sherlock Holmes. (London: CRW Publishing, Ltd., 2004).

[27]  Bram Stoker. Dracula. (London: Sterling books, 2007).