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| Playwright and author Oscar Wilde (1854—1900), who was famous for his use of comedy to make fun of social situations. |
On page 6 of your Drama Packets, you will find some Universal Truths about Comedy. Comedy...
- Is always at someone's expense.
- Binds and excludes people.
- Lessons social tensions.
- Has the potential to have real tragedy embedded within it.
- Gives power to those who make us laugh.
Using one or two of the universal truths above, describe a key moment in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde (pictured above). How does that moment prove the universal rule about comedy?
In The Importance of Being Earnest, the humor involved is almost always at someone's expense or includes real tragedy. For example, in one of the beginning scenes, Lady Bracknell jokes about her friend Lady Harbury's husband's death. Instead of being sincere about the situation, she says her friend looked twenty years younger now. This loss is a great tragedy and effected Lady Harbury, but it is played off as a joke.
ReplyDeleteEven though Jack doesn't make it seem tragic, the situation he is in is pretty horrible. Growing up knowing you were left in a handbag must have been hard enough, but when Lady Bracknell hears Jack's story, she has no sympathy for him. She tells him that it is quite reckless to lose both of his parents, and that he must find at least one parent before he can even be considered to marry Gwendolyn. Even though she only degraded him, for something that he had no control over, Jack is still willing to do anything to get her approval and make his marriage to Gwendolyn happen.
ReplyDeleteThere is an example in "The Importance of Being Earnest" that shows one universal truth about comedy... it has the potential to have real tragedy embedded within it.
ReplyDeleteCecily, one of the main characters, becomes involved in the fake love triangle between her, Gwendolyn, and the non existant Ernest. Though Wilde meant this triangle to be funny and mock the victorians, the reason she is involved in the triangle in the first place is because of her tragic past. When she was very young, her last relative died leaving her on her own. The reason she meets Algy (who she thinks is Ernest) is because his friend, Jack (who she thinks is Ernest's brother) is her ward, the person who has taken care of her since the death of her grandfather.
While reading "The Importance of Being Earnest" you notice a lot of things that they joke about aren't thing people would joke about today. They talk about things that have the potential to have real tragedy embedded within it. Like for example during the scene where Jack talks to Lady Bracknell and is asking for Gwendolen hand in marriage. Then after finding out that he was found in a bag and was abandoned Lady Bracknell basically tells him he is nothing if he doesn't have a respectable name for himself and one to give to her daughter Gwendolen he can't marry her. Lady Bracknell degrades him. Jack doesn't make a big deal out of it because he has no shame in it but it is still a sensitive topic and is something someone should't be making fun of. Even in modern comedy comedians sometimes use there own lives and make fun of it but they know there limits. But some don't they pick on audience members or popular topics and point out there flaws like Lady Bracknell was doing with Jack.
ReplyDeleteIn "The Importance of Being Earnest," what would be considered as dire situations in reality, are handled lightly by the characters. An example of that is when Gwendolyn and Cecily found out that their beloved "Ernest's" are not named Ernest at all. They only loved them for what they're called, and not who they are as a person. Gwendolyn, at first, talked highly of Cecily, saying she knew they'd be best friends the moment they met. Then, they argued about their engagement to Ernest and seemed to have taken back all of the nice things they have said about each other in the first place. At the end, when they found out that their Ernests are Jack and Algy, they promised to be sisters to one another and walked away. The men didn't do anything about it. It just proves how trivial the matter of commitment is to the main characters.
ReplyDeleteUniversally comedy can lesson social tensions. The Importance of Being Earnest portrays this statement throughout the entire playwright. For example when Jack explains his past of no parents and being found in a handbag, instead of trying to shed some light on it or show sympathy Lady Bracknell was disgusted. As terrible as it already is, in Act III the audience discovers that Lady Bracknell herself comes from a very poor background, and it wasn’t until she married Lord Bracknell that she would become wealthy. So not only did she show a strong distaste towards Jack background but because of “new money” she could not get past her pride to give him the consent to marry Gwendolen.
ReplyDeleteOverall, comedy can most times lighten the mood, but it seems to always be at someones expense. Take for example, the scene in The Importance Of Being Earnest, where Algernon is eating the cucumber sandwiches and denies Jack one even though he is eating them himself and are actually for Lady Bracknell. In this case, it is at Jack and Lady Bracknell's expense that the humor is a result of. This specific example is a very small way this universal truth about comedy is represented but is still shown quite well.
ReplyDeleteTypically, comedy gives power to those who make us laugh. One will usually find funny people likable, and often likable people with a lot of followers will fall into a leadership position, allowing them power. One example of how Algy gains power through comedy is due to his overreaction of food. One incidence that involves humor through food is at the end of the play when Algernon and Jack are fighting over muffins. Even though there is a plate full of muffins, ally can't spare one to Jack even through they are Jack's muffins. Jack finds this absolutely aggravating, but Algy gains power through comedy in the audiences eyes.
ReplyDeleteIn The Importance of Being Earnest, Earnest's situation where he was born in a handbag and left at the station is played off comically whereas this kind of thing happens today under different circumstances but is still very tragic. Comedy in TIOBE plays out in a certain scene where Lady Bracknell jokes about Lady Harbury's husband's death. This great loss is joked about saying she looks "some twenty years younger" as if she got her life back. People are widowed everyday and it is very tragic but here the subject is used a joke.
ReplyDeleteThe importance of being earnest uses all the universal truths about comedy but two that are clearly exemplified are the first and the third truths. The scene where lady Bracknell is interviewing Jack to see if he is a suitable husband exemplifies both of these truths. When lady bracknell is asking her questions her responses to Jack's answered are usually the opposite of what most would think, this shows the arrogance of the high class back then and is at their expense. Back when this was first written the lower and upper classes did not like each other at all, but through plays like this the tension was lowered due to both sides being mocked. The interview scene shows this by having Jack give answers that would normally be bad but due to lady Bracknells peculiar views he is mostly accepted.
ReplyDeleteIn The Importance of Being Earnest, the humor was always at someone else's expense and had the potential to have real tragedy embedded within it. For example, Algernon mentions that women must fight horrendously before becoming "sisters." Later on, Gwendolyn and Cecily get into a huge argument about who is marrying Ernest. However, soon they find out that they were both lied to and call themselves sisters. This is funny for the audience, but it is at the expense of both Gwendolyn and Cecily, and then Jack and Algernon. It also was potentially tragic because Gwendolyn and Cecily could have not become friends, and they also each could have not married their beloveds.
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