Comedy IOBE Act 1

Comedy IOBE Act 1

1. Battle of the sexes; effeminate men and powerful women​

   • Jack portrays conventional Victorian values, he wants others to believe he adheres to notions such as duty, honour and respectability, yet he hypocritically flouts these very notions.
     • Wilde cleverly satirises (through the persona of Jack) the general tolerance for hypocrisy in conventional Victorian morality. The word “ingenue” typically symbolises a sense of innocence and is usually regarded as a female attribute, Wilde boldly reinforces the inversion of the stereotype of Victorian conventions using gender role reversal.
   • men supposed to be authoritative and competent yet Gwendolen takes the whole business of the marriage proposal out of his hands
     • "Algy kindly turn your back. I have something very particular to say to Mr Worthing"
     • Gender stereotypes are controversially inverted creating comedy as it is unanticipated and shocking
   • "he tries to rise; she restrains him"
   • women brought up to be perfectly innocent and sexually ignorant, typical Victorian woman was seen to be feeble and passive, taught to be obedient to authority and keep her opinion to herself or not have one at all
     • Lady Bracknell in contrast is opinionated and domineering. Both Lady B and Gwendolen are strong-minded and speak with unassailable authority on matters of taste and morality - against conventions, Lady B seen as a matriarch and typically masculine. They both have the strength and practical sense that men lack
       • Arguably, Lady B is the epitome of the Victorian upper class dowager, symbolic of Victorian earnestness and the unhappiness it brings as a result. She represents Wilde's opinion of Victorian upper-class negativity, conservative and repressive values, and power. Wilde's use of witty epigrams and social repartee. Lady Bracknell was a social climber bent on marrying into the aristocracy and perceives marriage as an alliance for property and social security. Her social commentary on class structure is Wilde's commentary about how the privileged class of England keeps its power and she firmly believes the middle and lower classes should never be taught to think or question as it would breed anarchy and the possibility that the upper class might lose its privileged position. Wilde has created a memorable instrument of his satiric wit, questioning all he sees in Victorian upper-class society.
       • However, Gwendolen suggests the qualities of conventional Victorian womanhood, leads an idle life, very cynical about social life-performer on the social scene.

2. Passion/ sexuality

   • "It is a divine name...it produces vibrations"
     • "Gwendolen is devoted to bread and butter"
     • appetite for sex, bawdy heritage of Restoration Comedy
   • Wilde's use of bawdy humour, sexual innuendo
   • "pray don't talk to me about the weather, Mr Worthing"= subversion of polite conversation/societal rules
   • "women only do that when they have called each other a lot of other things first"
   • "naturally stirred the deeper fibres of my nature. Your Christian name has an irresistible fascination"
     • Gwendolen opposing traditional Victorian conventions with her risqué nature/humour and bawdiness regarded as a masculine quality
   • "Mary Farquhar, who always flirts with her own husband across the dinner table"
   • "own" - possessive pronoun

3. Love, marriage, money and status

   • Gwendolen has shallow ideas of love. Illusion of love and marriage by projecting these ideal qualities onto Ernest. in love with a more idealised version of Jack. superficiality>reality- superficial lust, fallen in love over a superficial factor. Her sole purpose is to marry someone named Ernest. By personifying the name Ernest, Wilde suggests that Gwendolen is giving character to a man that doesn't exist yet longs for. Marriage in upper class households is a farce.
     • "my ideal has always been to love someone of the name of Ernest"
     • "My own Ernest"
     • "I pity any woman who is married to a man called John"
       • disparages the names based on her stereotypes
       • her characterisations of Johns and Jacks as homebodies creates a humorous contrast with the fictional Ernest who sees himself as a reprobate man
       • desire to marry a man names Ernest strengthens the idea that this is a world without principles makes love in this comedic play, appear to be an insincere performance
     • Gwendolen's attitude creates a comic dilemma for Jack while satirising romantic ideals
     • "I hope you will always look at me just like that, especially when there are other people present"- insincere facade, importance of appearance and social profile by encouraging public spectacle of adoration
   • satire of marriage and emphasis of superficial nature of relationships- "the only way to behave to a woman is to make love to her, if she is pretty, and to someone else , if she is plain"
   • Algernon's curiosity in a woman he's never met mirrors Cecily's obsession with 'Ernest' a man she's never met, suggests love takes root in the imagination rather than in real life
   • "in married life three is company and two is none"
     • subversion of idiom- Wilde corrupts/manipulates the saying 'two's a company, threes a crowd' to humorously chastise the conservative audience
     • perhaps portrays upper class marital affairs
     • epigrammatic wit
   • Wilde mocks Victorian attitudes towards marriage and asks why bloodlines and wealth should be more important or prioritised over love. Lady B is a firm believer in marriage being a duty rather than pleasure = "Lady Harbury, who seems to me to be living entirely for pleasure now"
     • "pardon me, you are not engaged to anyone" - her control highlights the powerful role she will play in the game of love. Master of matrimony, active agent in Gwendolen and Jack's love story. Audience enjoy the complicity of their relationship behind the comic villain's back

4. Lies , deceit, confusion and disguise

   • Gwendolen cannot see that the man calling himself Ernest is fooling her with an extensive deception. her own image consciousness blurs her judgement
   • "if you don't take care, your friend Bunbury will get you into a serious scrape some day"
     • In directing Algernon to 'take care' Jack shows his fundamental misunderstanding of deception - while lying requires careful attention to detail, it's a careless act. Ironic Jack takes such a high moral tone when he has been hiding his true identity all along"
   • "I certainly wouldnt want to know Bunbury"
     • Jack believes once he's married to Gwendolen, he'll no longer need the ruse of the irresponsible brother beause he would be satisified and won't feel the need to escape. However, Algy argues with the suggestion that it is married men who need Bunbury the most
       • "my poor friend Bunbury is very ill again"
       • Jack & Algernon have both invented secondary identities that allow them to escape the weight of social expectations, become actors in their own lives
   • "like most metaphysical speculations has very little reference at all to the actual facts of real life"