Jude the Obsucre as a Bildungsroman novel

  Thinking Activity

Jude the Obscure 

            This blog is written in response to the thinking activity on the Novel 'Jude the Obscure' assigned by Dilip Barad sir, the Department of English, MKBU.

            Jude the Obscure is a novel written by one of the greatest Victorian Novelists, Thomas Hardy. It was published in 1895 and it is the last novel written by Thomas Hardy. After the publication of this novel, it was vehemently denounced by critics and the society because through this novel Hardy attacked the institutions which Britain hold the most dear, like higher education, social class and marriage. After its negative reception, Hardy resolved never to write other novels.

Thomas Hardy:-

              Thomas Hardy is one of the greatest novelists of all the Victorian novelists. He was born on 2 June 1840 In upper Bockhampton. He was the son of a master Mason. Hardy goat his formal education from the local schools around 8 years and later he read English, French and Latin books on his own. At the age of 16 he was apprenticed to an architect in Dorchester and then in London and again in Dorchester. He did this profession for almost 20 years. By this period he started to write poetry but none of it was published. His major success depends on his novels. His major novels are, 

• Desperate Remedies (1871)
• A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873)
• Far from the Madding Crowd (1874)
• The Return to the Native (1878)
• The Mayor of Caterbridge (1886)
• The Woodlanders (1887)
• Tess of D'Uberville (1891)
• Jude the Obscure (1895)

               'Jude the Obscure' was vehemently denounced by critics and the society. As a result of it Hardy never wrote novels and moved towards drama and poems, which are not popular.

Can we consider Jude the Obscure’ as a Bildungsroman novel? Justify your answer.

           Before considering 'Jude the Obscure' as a Bildungsroman novel, it is very much important to know what Bildungsroman novel actually means.

Bildungsroman is the combination of two German words: Bildung, meaning "education," and Roman, meaning "novel." 

"Fittingly, a bildungsroman is a novel that deals with the formative years of the main character, and in particular, with the character's psychological development and moral education. The bildungsroman usually ends on a positive note, with the hero's foolish mistakes and painful disappointments over, and a life of usefulness ahead." (Merriman Webster)

"Bildungsroman is a special kind of novel that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of its main character, from his or her youth to adulthood." (Britannica)

      In the nineteenth century these bildungsroman novels were more popular. Like,

• David Coperfield
• The Great Expectations
• The Ordeal of Richard Feverel

        Thomas Hardy is one of the masters of this style of novels. The novel 'Jude the Obscure' is a novel containing the same idea. The novel perfectly suits the definition of the bildungsroman novel. 

In the journal ‘JUDE THE OBSCURE’ AND THE ‘BILDUNGSROMAN', FRANK GIORDANO says that,

" 'Jude the Obscure' preoccupied with Jude Fawley's developing awareness of his personal being and his efforts to define himself in order to function effectively and usefully in the society." (FRANK GIORDANO)

         Through his life and various important experiences, Jude develops and learns to measure his own growth. Jude Fawley is a poor orphan who is raised by his great-aunt Drusilla in the West Country village of Marygreen. He was inspired by his schoolmaster Phillotson to learn Greek and Latin. Fate, social conditions, and his natural instincts will suppress his idealism and his hopes for an ecclesiastic career. 

The novel is divided into five parts according to Jude's journey of life.

1. Marygreen
2. Christminster
3. Melchester
4. Shaston
5. Aldbrickham
6. Again in Christminster

        At the age of nineteen, he meets Arabella Donn, she marries him on the plea that she is pregnant with his child. But this marriage completely falls down. Arabella is also disappointed with her husband and goes to Australia with her parents. Here she remarries. Jude goes to Christminster, where he gets work as a stonemason. Still he wants to go to the University for further education. Now he is near to the culmination of his life,when he meets his distant cousin Sue Bridehead, a free spirited young woman, who attracts his attention. Soon after he falls in love with her. When they both meet for the first time, they both have different opinions about religion. Jude is a devout Christian, whereas Sue embodies pagan sensuality and a New Woman’s freedom.

          Sue leaves for Melchester and has been admitted to a teachers’ training college. After that Jude himself arranges for Sue to work with Phillotson, his former schoolmaster. He discovers that they plan to marry. one night Sue and Jude spend a night with each other for some reason and when college authorities know about it, she is expelled. Here after Jude declares that he is married. Sue also declares her marriage with Phillotson but then Jude finds that she is unhappy with her husband. Till the date, Jude has a kind of passion for the admission in various colleges at Christminster. Jude feels frustrated and also guilty of his love for his cousin because he realises that his interest in her is not compatible with Christian norms and social laws. That is why he quit church and burned his theological books.

         Sue asks Phillotson to let her live apart from him, with Jude and he agrees. Jude and Sue stay in Aldbrickham but here Sue doesn't allow him physical relationship. In between, Arabella reappears. So by Arabella's appearance, she threatened to hold on Jude and as a result of it she allowed intimacy. In the meantime, Arabella returns from Australia and reveals in a letter to Jude that they have a son. Sue and Jude decide to adopt the little boy, called Little Father Time, who has never been christened. Jude and Sue do not get jobs because of their reputation. They move to various places for livelihood. They try to find a shelter again at Christminster, but are unable to rent lodgings because they are not married, and Jude stays in an inn while Sue and the children rent a room. The novel reaches its climax with the horrifying death of the children. Where Little Father Time Kills his siblings and hangs himself. 

             Now at the end of the novel, after the death of their children, Sue and Jude become again opposite from each other's beliefs. But this time they have an ideology contradictory to what was their ideologies before, in the beginning. Sue, who was a free spirited woman who does not believe in orthodoxical ideas, at the end she becomes orthodoxical about her life and laws of God. The reason for her changing beliefs is her difficult life journey against the norms of the society and the death of her children. 

           At the same time Jude moves away from what he was earlier in the novel, a strong believer of Christianity. At the end he becomes the exact opposite of what he was earlier.

      Sue adopts a morality of guilt and sin, concluding that her children were sacrificed as a result of her sins. She feels that she has been punished by God for her relationship with Jude, she renounces her freethinking and is determined to repent her ‘sins’ by returning to Phillotson.

         Jude comes in relation with Arabella into a loveless marriage. It gives him physical and mental breakdown. As a result of it, Jude drinks heavily and deliberately seeks his own death; he exposes himself to rain and cold weather. Finally, he dies. This time only Arabella is there with the dead body of Jude.

            'Jude the Obscure' no doubt contains the moral and intellectual development of Jude but at the same time we should consider that the novel is rather tragic. The novel might be rather called a tragic Anti-Bildungsroman, a novel of disenchantment with existence and society, because it pictures the immense disparity between Jude’s imagined world and the real world, which causes his downfall.

"In Jude the Obscure, Hardy continues in the form of a tragic Bildungsroman, his main existential concern with man’s estrangement in the world. He reveals man’s loss of contact with the physical world. Jude is an existential outcast everywhere: at Marygreen, Christminster and Melchester" (Thomas Hardy's "Jude the obscure" as a tragic bildungsroman and a new woman novel)

           In this novel Hardy questions the very foundations of traditional marriage and class-based education. Hardy makes use of the form of a realistic Bildungsroman and introduces a New Woman character, but he goes far beyond this framework presenting psychological portraits of a modern man and a modern woman in a futile search for their selfhood. As Dr R. M. Patil says, "Sue's Character clearly proves that she is a 'new woman' who wishes to break down the conventional ways of living life." Hardy shows in a series of symbolic images the tragic clash between tradition and modernity in late Victorian society.

                The Development of the character of Jude ends up with the Modern insight of a free spirit man, but he loses everything in his life. And he dies at the end.      

           To conclude, Jude the Obscure is an excellent novel with moral and social concerns. He also denies the relevance of Christianity to a dehumanised society. 

Work cited:-

“Bildungsroman Definition & Meaning.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bildungsroman. 

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Bildungsroman. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved November 14, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/art/bildungsroman 

GIORDANO, FRANK R. “‘JUDE THE OBSCURE’ AND THE ‘BILDUNGSROMAN.’” Studies in the Novel, vol. 4, no. 4, 1972, pp. 580–91. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/29531557. Accessed 13 Nov. 2022.

Hardy, Thomas. “Jude the Obscure.” The Project Gutenberg EBook of Jude the Obscure, by Thomas Hardy, 1 Nov. 2022, https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/153/pg153-images.html. 

“Thomas Hardy's ‘Jude the Obscure’ as a Tragic Bildungsroman and a New Woman Novel.” The Victorian Web, https://victorianweb.org/authors/hardy/diniejko13.html#:~:text=In%20Jude%20the%20Obscure%2C%20Hardy,at%20Marygreen%2C%20Christminster%20and%20Melchester. 

Words:- 1550

Images:- 3

Thanks for visiting....

The Importance of Being Earnest

  

Thinking Activity

The Importance of Being Earnest

            This blog is written as a part of thinking activity on the play 'The Importance of Being Earnest' by Oscar Wilde assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad sir, Department of English, MKBU.

Click here to read 'Importance of Being Earnest' as a Comedy of Manners.

          

The play repeatedly mocks Victorian traditions and social customs, marriage and the pursuit of love in particular. Through which situations and characters is this happening in the play.

            'Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People' is a play Written by Oscar Wilde. It was first performed in 1895 and published in 1899. It is being considered as the greatest dramatic expression of Oscar Wilde. This play is a comedy and classified as entertainment for Victorian society. Through this play, Oscar Wilde ridiculed Victorian customs and traditions, marriage and particularly the pursuit of love. In this play almost each and every character is having particular characteristics through which Wilde repeatedly mocks traditions and social customs, marriage and the pursuit of love.

              When it was first performed, this play was considered as a light comedy and classified as entertainment for Victorian society. However this day releases creativity that combines different styles. Wild is also known as gay. In the Victorian society there was so many tough lose on homosexuality. Many critics have also argue that this play had homosexual connotations.

         After reading the whole play one can come to the conclusion that through this place Oscar Wilde criticises the rules, regulations and manners of Victorian society. It should be also noted that he gives the opposite portrayal of the society and its manners to mock or satire Victorian society. 

              This play makes the audience laugh at their own values and beliefs. He also gives melodrama with the touch of farce. While going through the play, one can not say which genre is dominant, Comedy or Satire, because both go parallel in this play. While talking about determining particular genre of this play, Brigitte Bastiat says that,

"Wilde uses absurd and exaggerated, nonsensical language, paradoxical humour and puns. In fact, he invents a new genre, difficult to imitate, combining farce, comedy of manners, social satire and, I would add, “gender parody”. 

He further says that,

"Judith Butler defines “gender parody” as follows: “Gender parody reveals that the original identity after which identity fashions itself is an imitation without an origin.”

 

• Name Earnest 
• Marriage System
• Gender Identity
• Triviality of people
• Flipping Personality
• Female Mindsets

          

Name Earnest:-

      According to Merriam Webster Dictionary the word 'Earnest' is characterised by or proceeding from an intense and serious state of mind.

"If you are earnest, it means you are serious about something."

     The meaning of the Name Earnest is opposite to what Wilde describes through Jack.

        In this play Jack Worthing has a split personality by using two names - Jake and Earnest. Algernon uses the Name 'Earnest When he meets Cecily. Both the ladies are fond of the name Earnest. In act 2, Cecily and Gwendolen quarrel with each other for the name Earnest, as this name was introduced by both Jack and Algernon. This dispute arises because of another reason and that is that both Cecily and Gwendolen are deeply fond of the name Earnest. 

           Here, Wilde gives an illustration of the Victorian craze behind silly things. Both Cecily and Gwendolen are made of the name, not of Actual person.

Gender Identity:-

                Male and Female Characters have opposite nature from their Gender. When Lady Bracknell talks Jack she is glad to hear that Jack smokes because 

‘A man should always have an occupation of some kind’

      It is an opposite stereotype about women’s activities. Upper-class women were idle but sometimes did some volunteer work or some craftworks at home. It was assumed that they had “an occupation of some kind”. But what do we know about what men and women are supposed to do, like and dislike? What are men’s and women’s preferences supposed to be?

      Gwendolen says in Act II that ‘‘the home seems to be the proper sphere for the man’’. Well it sounds too funny if we will take it as an example to look at modern society. Though in the 21st century, so many things have changed about gender stereotypes, many times we can see that if a man is allotted to household work, people see it as something which is out of their syllabus. The same thing if we think about women who are more independent in their life and earning their livelihood, it is being highly criticised by the society. So through these dialogues, Wilde depicts what Victorian society lacks.  

            Throughout the play, Oscar Wilde asks the following question: is biology always the framework which constrains socialisation practices, making it impossible for culture to minimise, rather than eliminate, the effects of natural biological differences between men and women? This question is also striking in our minds even in the modern World.

        Oscar Wilde depicts women more superior than men. In the play, Algy and Jack are idle and lazy, but morally the women are not better than them: like them, they are idle, lie, cheat and are interested in money. Now Wilde also gives an idea of their similarities.

Marriage:-

           In the Victorian society, Marriage was seen to encourage social stability and moral behaviour, and allowed secure transfer of property within a family. In 1870s property acts was passed and women got right over their wages. 

        Oscar Wilde has captured this phenomenon in this play by the different perspective of women towards their property and its spending. The objectives of marriage stay the same from the beginning to the end of the play. The concept of marriage is based on Money, Social status and family identity. This is portrayed by the character of Lady Bracknell. 

"What is your income?"

"To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness. Who was your father? He was evidently a man of some wealth. Was he born in what the Radical papers call the purple of commerce, or did he rise from the ranks of the aristocracy?"

"To be born, or at any rate bred, in a hand-bag, whether it had handles or not, seems to me to display a contempt for the ordinary decencies of family life that reminds one of the worst excesses of the French Revolution".

             All these dialogues are spoken by Lady Barcknell, by which we can get that she is the one who wants that a man who is not wealthy or unknown from his own identity is not suitable for hee daughter.

Algernon says, 

“Divorces are made in heaven.”

This statement exposes the problems which were among a lot many married people and till now. People thought and think of marriage as a bound not bond.

Love:- 

       Love is portrayed in the play conditioned with the name. Love of two gentlemen is because of their true affection towards their beloved. Jack loves Gwendolen and that is it. There is not any condition of his love. He just wants her in his life. Algernon also does the same. But on the other hand, love of Gwendolen and Cecily is conditioned with the name of their beloved. In act 1, Gwendolen gives explanation why she likes the name Earnest, by her statements,

"It suits you perfectly. It(Earnest) is a divine name. It has music of its own. It produces vibrations."

"Jack? . . . No, there is very little music in the name Jack, if any at all, indeed. It does not thrill. It produces absolutely no vibrations …………….……….. The only really safe name is Ernest."

Flipping Personality:-

            Almost all the characters have double personalities. Jack has another personality named Earnest. Algernon also Bunburying himself. He also introduces himself as Earnest at Manor House. Both the Female characters show their double standard personality particularly when they come to know about each other's Earnest. First they go with arguments and later on when they both come to know that none of them have the name Earnest They call each other sisters.

Cecily: "You will call me sister, will you not?"

          Lady Bracknell does not give her approval to Jack's proposal of marriage. Lady Bracknell is, of course, a master of paradox in the play. Initially she rejects Jake when he appears as Jack and Cecily. When she finds Cecily has a large fortune, she immediately approves of her marriage to her nephew Algernon. During a heated argument about the belonging of Jack Worthing, Lady Bracknell confesses, "I dislike arguments of any kind. They are always vulgar, and often convincing".This time she is not giving her consent for the marriage of Jack with her daughter as she doesn't know anything about the birth of Jack. Jack refuses the marriage of Cecily as he is her guardian. The bet of Jack and Lady Bracknell is also amusing. He will only give his consent if Lady Barcknell will give her consent for the marriage of her daughter Gwendolen with Jack. 

"But my dear Lady Bracknell, the matter is entirely in your own hands. The moment you consent to my marriage with Gwendolen, I will most gladly allow your nephew to form an alliance with my ward."

      This statement of Mr. Worthing is also amusing. This presents how people look for their own sake only.

Triviality of the Time:-

            Triviality of the play is commencing from the starting to the end, throughout the play. Incidents like,

• Jack as Earnest
• Algernon as Bunbury
• Proposal of Mr. Earnest to Gwendolen
• Lady Bracknell's Arguments over their marriage
• Announcement of the Death of Earnest 
• Algernon introduces himself as Mr. Earnest Worthing
• Gwendolen and Cecilia's arguments over the name of their beloved
• Lady Bracknell's heated Arguments over the marriage of Cecili- Algernon and Jack-Gwendolen
• Miss Prism's past, where she forgot a child in the Clock room of the Victoria Station.
• That child is Jack and his real name is Earnest

          In act two, we can see the identity crisis also. Gwendolen speaks below dialogue to make her feel inferior and to mock Cecily's family existence.

" GWENDOLEN.

Perhaps this might be a favourable opportunity for my mentioning who I am. My father is Lord Bracknell. You have never heard of papa, I suppose."

            All these incidents make this play more sarcastic and humorous. The scene of Prism is rather sarcastic which shows hiddenly what happens when women start to read and write. Because during the Victorian era, women got rights of education and voting. 

           To sum up, throughout the play Wilde does not treat characters and situations seriously, thus debunking the very notion of seriousness. This showed that there was a lack of seriousness in people about seriousness. Wilde satirizes the Victorian society in a witty way where the audience laughed at their own mistakes. 

          Here is the whole play:-

  

I hope this blog will be helpful to you.

Thanks for visiting…

Words:- 1820

Images:- 4

Videos :- 3

Hard Times

 Presentation Semester 1

Education and Industrialism in 'Hard Times'

This is my presentation on Paper no. 104: Literature of the Victorians:

Education and Industrialism in ‘Hard Times’ from Trushali Dodiya

Here is the video Recording of my presentation video:

I hope this presentation will be helpful to you.

Thanks for visiting...

The Development of English Drama

 Presentation Semester 1

The Development of English Drama

This is my presentation on paper no. 105: The History of English Literature From 1350 to 1900:-

The Development of English Drama from Trushali Dodiya

Here is video Recording of my presentation:

I hope this presentation will be helpful to you.

Thanks for visiting...

Assignments

 

★Semester 1

1. Paper no. 101:- Literature of the Elizabethan and Restoration period 

2. Paper no. 102:- Literature of the Neo-Classical period

3. Paper no. 103:- Literature of the Romantics

4. Paper no. 104:- Literature of the Victorians 

5. Paper no. 105:- The History of English Literature from 1350 to 1900

★Semester 2

1. Paper no. 106:-The 20th Century Literature: 1900 to World War II

2. Paper no. 107:- The 20th Century Literature II

3.Paper no. 108:- American Literature

4. Paper no. 109:- Indian and Western Literary Theory and Criticism

5. Paper no. 110:- History of the Twentieth Century Literature

Assignment 105: Literature of the Romantic period

       This blog is written as part of assignment of semester 1, assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad, Department of English, MKBU. In this blog I am going to discuss the Literature of the Victorian period.

Name:- Trushali Dodiya

Roll No:- 21

Semester:- 1(Batch 2022-24)

Enrollment number:- 4069206420220011

Paper No:- 105

Paper name:- History of English Literature from 1300 to 1900

Paper code:- 22396

Topic:- Literature of the Romantic period 

Submitted to:- Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

Email Address:- trushalidodiya84@gmail.comA

Literature of the Victorian Period

Table of contents

• Introduction
• Literary characteristics
• Poems
• Novels 
• Essays
• Conclusion

Introduction:-

               The Victorian age begins with the execution of Louis XVI and accession of Queen Victoria in 1837. This age has produced so many works which have acquired a lasting position in English literature. In this age Industrialism gets its way and thus gives importance to materialism. Though industrialism and materialism was one side, the other side were the writers of the era, who gave much importance to human life and its truth.

       This period seemed lean. It lost the poetic fruitfulness of the romantic age. Among the multitude of social and political forces of the age, four major things stand out clearly:- 

• Democracy
• Equality in the nation without ruler
• The age of comparative peace
• Rapid progress in all the arts and sciences and in Mechanical inventions

           The long struggle of the Anglo-Saxons for their personal liberty is settled, and democracy becomes established. The last vestige of personal Government and of the divine right of rulers disappears; the house of commons become the ruling power in England. The age is remarkable for the growth of democracy following the Reform bill of 1832, for the spread of education among all classes, for the rapid development of Arts and science and for important mechanical inventions and for the enormous extension of the bounds of human knowledge by the discoveries of science.

          It is an age of democracy, age of education, of religious tolerance, the growing brotherhood, and of profound social unrest. The whole nation becomes free and equal. The slaves become freed.

             This is an age of equality. The whole nation realised that the common people bear the burden and the sorrow and the poverty of war, and also realised that war is not the answer to all things.

            Vast number of inventions took place in this age from spinning looms to steamboats, and from matches to electric light. All this material thing, as well as the growth of education, have their influence upon the life of people. All these inventions make an influence upon literature, prose as well as poetry.

Literary characteristic

1. An age of prose:-

                 Though the age produced many poets, this is an age of prose. The number of readers has increased a thousand fold with the spread of popular education. It is the age of newspapers, magazines, and modern novels. First two being the story of the world's daily life, and the novel is our pleasant form of literary entertainment. By then our modern problems and ideas can be present.

                   The novel in this age fills a place, which the drama held in the days of Elizabeth; and never before, in the English language, has the novel appeared in such numbers and in such perfection.

2. Moral purpose:-

                    In this age, literature came with the didactic moral preach. Through the literature, people get some moral insight. Art is not only sake for art, but for moral preaching. People learn something by every case, a definite purpose to sweep away error and to reveal the underlying truth of human life.

3. An age of doubt and pessimism:-

                  This age followed the new conception of man and of the universe which was formulated by science under the name of involution. It is also spoken of as a prosaic age, lacking in great ideals. Both these seem to be the result of judging a large thing when we are too close to it to get its proportion.

4. The New Education:-

            The Education Act makes a certain measure of education compulsory. It gave rapid rise to an enormous public reading. In this age printing became cheap and the demand for books increased. Due to this, the production was multiplied. In this age the most popular form of literature was the novel.

5. The Achievement of the Age:-

              With all its immense production, this age has produced no supre writer. As Edward Albert notes in his book, History of English Literature,

"It revealed no Shakespeare, no Shelley, nor a Byron nor a Scott". (Long)

          Though the general literary level of this age was high. 

6. International Influences:-

                 During the 19th century the interaction among American and European writers was remarkably fresh and strong. In Britain the influence of the great German writer was continuous and it was championed by Carlyle and Matthew Arnold.

      Though in the Victorian era, novels were the dominant form, it mainly has three forms;

1. Poem
2. Novel
3. Essay 

Poem:-

       There are two greatest poets of Victorian literature.

1. Alfred Tennyson
2. Robert Browning 

         Alfred Tennyson and Robert Browning both are considered as the best poets of the Victorian Era. Both have their own ways and inspirations in writing poems. 

★ Alfred Tennyson

       More than any other Victorian-era writer, Tennyson has seemed the embodiment of his age, both to his contemporaries and to modern readers. Alfred Tennyson was born in the depths of Lincolnshire. When he was not quite 18 his first volume of poetry, Poems by Two Brothers (1827), was published. In his poetry there is of themes of madness, murder, avarice, miserliness, social climbing, marriages arranged for profit instead of love, and estrangements between families and friends. His major works includes, 

• In Memoriam
• Idylls of the King
• Poems by Two Brothers
• The Charge of the Light Brigade
• Ulysses

★ Robert Browning

         Browning was born on May 7, 1812 in Camberwell, a middle-class suburb of London. His most noted work was The Ring and the Book (1868–69), the story of a Roman murder trial in 12 books. At the time of his death in 1889, he was one of the most popular poets in England. His poems are based on the themes like, Death, Truth/Subjectivity, Delusion, Beauty, The quest, Religion, The grotesque. His mojor works are,

• The Pied Piper 
• Men and Women
• The Ring and the Book
• Asolando
• The Ring and the Book

 There were also other poets like,

      But among all, Tennyson and Browning are the glory of Victorian poetry.

Novels:-

     Novel is the dominant form of Victorian literature. These are some of the major and minor novelists of the Victorian Era.

        Charles Dickens, Thackeray and Hardy are considered as the greatest novelists of this period.

★ Charles Dickens:-

      Charles John Huffam Dickens, was born on 7 February 1812 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England and died on 9 June 1870 in Gad’s Hill, near Chatham, Kent. English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian era. His famous works are,

• A Christmas Carol
• David Copperfield
• Bleak House
• A Tale of Two Cities
• Great Expectations,
• Our Mutual Friend
• Hard Times

★ Thomas Hardy:-

         One of the most renowned poets and novelists in English literary history is Thomas Hardy. He was born in 1840 in the English village of Higher Bockhampton in the county of Dorset. He died in 1928 at Max Gate, Dorchester. His famous works are,

• Under the Greenwood tree
• The pair of Blue eyes
• Jude the obscure
• Yes of D'Urberville

★ William Makepeace Thakeray:-

        Thackeray was born in 1811 in Calcutta, India. He is a master of a pure and simple style. In all his works there is a subtle charm, impossible to describe, which gives the impression that we are listening to a gentleman. His major works are,

• Henry Esmond
• Vanity Flair
• Pendennis
• The Newcomers
• The four George's

Other novelists and their famous works are

★ Essays:-

       In this age a prolific number of essays were also written. The major essayist are,

          After reflecting on the works of the Victorian writers, three marked characteristics invite our attention. First, our literary men are no less than great scientists. They have made truth the supreme object of human endeavour. All the poets, novelists and Essayists were questing over so many different ways of discovering the truth of life. "One seeking truth in the natural, the other in the spiritual history of the age" (Long). Second, literature has become the mirror of truth. Third, literature has become animated by a definite moral purpose. It is not enough for the Victorian writers to create or attempt an artistic work for its own sake; the work must have a definite lesson for humanity. The poets are not only singers, but leaders; they hold up an ideal, and they compel men to recognize and follow it. They presented pictures of human life, and at the same time called us to the work of social reform, or drove home a moral lesson. The essayists are nearly all prophets or teachers, and use literature as the chief instrument of progress and education.

"They write books not primarily to delight the artistic sense, but to give bread to the hungry and water to the thirsty in soul." (Long)

         Milton's famous sentence, "A good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit," might be written across the whole Victorian era. 

★ Conclusion:-

              To conclude, four things emerged from Victorian literature. First, literature of this age has come very close to daily life, reflecting problems and interests, and it is a powerful instrument of human progress. Second, the tendency of literature is strongly ethical; all the great poets, novelists and Essayists of the age are moral teachers. Third, science in this age exercises as in calculable influence, This summed up in the world 'evolution'. Fourth, though the age is generally characterised as practical and materialistic it is significant that nearly all the writers from the nation delights to honour vigorously attack materialism and exalt a purely ideal conception of life. Thus all the literature of this era is mainly based on these four tendencies.

Words:- 1863

Images:- 6

Tables:- 3

Work cited

“Alfred, Lord Tennyson.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/alfred-tennyson. 

Long, William J.. English Literature. India, Copia Interactive, LLC, 2021.

“Robert Browning.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Browning. 

“Robert Browning.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/robert-browning. 

Assignment 104 'The Importance of Being Earnest' as Comedy of Manners

     This blog is written as part of assignment of semester 1, assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad, Department of English, MKBU. In this blog I am going to discuss The Importance of Being Earnest as Comedy of Manners.

Name:- Trushali Dodiya

Roll No:- 21

Semester:- 1(Batch 2022-24)

Enrollment number:- 4069206420220011

Paper No:- 104

Paper name:- Literature of the Victorians 

Paper code:- 22395

Topic:- The Importance of Being Earnest as Comedy of Manners

Submitted to:- Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

Email Address:- trushalidodiya84@gmail.com

'The Importance of Being Earnest' as Comedy of Manners

Table of content

• Introduction
• Comedy - General Introduction
• Comedy of Manners
• Brief Introduction of the Playwright Oscar Wilde
• Importance of Being Earnest
• Characters
• Major Conflict 
• Importance of Being Earnest as a Comedy of Manners
• End of the Play
• Conclusion 

★ Introduction:- 

           'The Importance of Being Earnest' is a play written by an English author Oscar Wilde. It was first performed in 1895 and published in 1899. It is being considered as the greatest dramatic expression of Oscar Wilde. Its full title is The 'Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People', which is written in three acts containing the content to basically make a satire on Victorian social hypocrisy. The title itself suggests what will be there in the text. It is basically a farce created by the characters of the play, first by Jack and Algernon and then by Gwendolen and Cecily. Throughout the play, we come across many such events and actions which are considered as an important part of the Victorian society. This comedy is considered as Comedy of Manners, a genre which was prevailing in Victorian society.

★ Comedy - General Introduction:-

    According to R. J. Rees, Comedy is generally defined as a literary work that is written to amuse or entertain a reader. In a comedy, characters can certainly suffer misfortune, but they are typically comedic situations with positive outcomes.(Rees et al. Comedy: the Light and the Dark 179-201) R. J. Rees classified Comedy in five groups)     

1. Romantic comedy
2. Comedy of humours
3. Comedy of Manners
4. Sentimental comedy
5. Black or Dark comedy

      Though, all these have similar genre- comedy, all have different structure and way of expression, which distinguish them.

★ Comedy of Manners:-

        The phrase Comedy of manners is often used in literary history and criticism, though its meaning is not always clear. It applied in England to the Restoration dramatists, especially Congreve and Wycherley. During the Restoration period the chief dramatic mode was comedy. In the Puritan Age Theatres were closed and after the Restoration of Charles II, he gave freedom for dramatic expressions. And if you suppress something for a longer period of time, it will rise more. The vulgarity which was there before the Puritan Age, is doubled in the Restoration era. The comedy of Manners is an outcome of it. It makes fun not so much of individual human beings and their humours as of social groups and their fashionable manners. It is generally more or less satirical though in a good natured way. The comedy of manners is most likely to be found in an aristocratic group. It is a highly artificial form of drama, full of verbal wit, and sometimes inclined to be cynical and hard. Oscar Wilde and Sheridan are also the biggest writers of this kind of comedy.(Rees et al. Comedy: the Light and the Dark 179-201)

• Wycherley's "The Country Wife"; it was showing the moral weakness of a particular social group, asking us to laugh at it but not necessary to approve of it.
• Sheridan's "The School for Scandal"; it depicts immoral behaviour of Lady Sneewell and Sir Benjamin- presumably because it is not sexually immoral (Rees et al. Comedy: the Light and the Dark 179-201)

        The subject of Comedy of Manners is the way people behave, manners they employ in a social context; the chief concerns of the characters are Sex and Money( and thus the interrelated topics of Marriage, adultery and Divorce); the style of distinguished by the refinement of raw emotional expression and action in the subtlety of wit and intrigue.(Hirst Comedy of manners)

★ Brief Introduction of the Playwright Oscar Wilde 

      Oscar Wilde's full name was Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde. He was born on 16 October, 1854 in Dublin, Ireland and died on 30 November, 1900 in Paris, France. He was a poet, dramatist and novelist. His major fame rests on three of his works.

• His only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891)
• His comic masterpieces Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892) 
• The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).

       He was a spokesman for the late 19th-century "Aesthetic movement" in England, which advocated art for art’s sake. 

"Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known."(English and Robinson 20 Oscar wilde quotes that make us want to be his best friend)

         He was the object of celebrated civil and criminal suits involving homosexuality and ending in his imprisonment (1895–97).(Oscar Wilde) Wilde's writing was dominated by the relation between life and art. This explains his mockery against the negative aspects of the society. In Spite of his genius in his works, he got less importance in the history books. His Name is not even mentioned in some of the best History books. 

★ The Importance of Being Earnest:-

          Importance of Being Earnest is a three act Play written by Oscar Wilde in the late 19th century. This work is a true reflection of the Victorian society in which the writer lived. This work is a true representation of the triviality of the upper class people by simply Mocking at them. In this work, we find a touch of the satire, but it is not harsh like that of Swift and Pope. Wilde makes satire on the aristocratic people by simply laughing at their way of living. In this play by encoding the importance of the Name of "Earnest", Wilde illustrates how Victorian people were living.

Major characters

• John Worthing - J.P.
• Algernon - Moncrieff
• Rev. Canon Chasuble
• Merriman - the Butler of Algernon 
• Lane - Manservant of Jake
• Lady Bracknell - Mother of Gwendolen
• Hon. Gwendolen Fairfax
• Cecily Cardew 
• Miss Prism, Governess of Cecily 

Major conflict:-

           The major conflict of the play is the importance of the Name 'Earnest'. Both Gwendolen and Celily are fond of the name 'Earnest' , not a real person. As Jack changes his Name to Earnest to come to the City, because of his name, he is adored by Gwendolen. Cecily also likes Algernon as he comes to her home as disgusting as Earnest. 

★ 'Importance of Being Earnest' as a Comedy of Manners:-

          The importance of Being Earnest is a Comedy of Manner. The plot revolves around lust between characters, the play features verbal wit and Algernon acts as an unscrupulous character - these are all main features of a Comedy of Manners.

         As its Title suggests, Oscar Wilde stated that this play is for serious people, going to be trivial. The second way this could be interpreted is that he meant the subtitle in a very witty and sarcastic way

         It is based on dialogue, which takes the form of paradoxes, epigrams and irony. It gave emergence to the comic effect upon the readers and the audience. The play contains enormous paradoxical statements, witty epigrams, ironical or sarcastic remarks that are made by the characters by their interaction. This evokes laughter and humour from the audience. In fact all the characters have paradoxical personalities. Their behaviour is completely different. We all accept the view that truth is always pure and simple, but Algernon remarks:

"The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility". (Wilde The importance of being earnest)

    Jack makes a number of paradoxical remarks. In act 1, On seeing tea-cups and cucumber sandwiches laid out for tea, he says,

"Why all these cups? Why cucumber sandwiches? Why such reckless extravagance in one so young? 

          Gwendolen also gives paradoxical statements when her mother Lady Bracknell does not give her approval to Jack's proposal of marriage. Lady Bracknell is, of course, a master of paradox in the play. Initially she rejects Jake when he appears as Jack and Cecily. When she finds Cecily has a large fortune, she immediately approves of her marriage to her nephew Algernon. During a heated argument about the belonging of Jack Worthing, Lady Bracknell confesses, "I dislike arguments of any kind. They are always vulgar, and often convincing".

        Cecily and Gwendolen both have paradoxical personalities, as they both love the name Earnest not a person. In act 1, Gwendolen gives explanation why she likes the name Earnest, by her statements,

"It suits you perfectly. It(Earnest) is a divine name. It has a music of its own. It produces vibrations."

"Jack? . . . No, there is very little music in the name Jack, if any at all, indeed. It does not thrill. It produces absolutely no vibrations …………….……….. The only really safe name is Ernest."

★ Importance of the Name 'Earnest'

         In this play Jack Worthing has a split personality by using two names - Jake and Earnest. Algernon uses the Name 'Earnest When he meets Cecily. Both the ladies are fond of the name Earnest.

(Parker The importance of being earnest)

        In act 2, Cecily and Gwendolen quarrel with each other for the name Earnest, as this name was introduced by both Jack and Algernon. This dispute arises because of another reason and that is that both Cecily and Gwendolen are deeply fond of the name Earnest. 

          The triviality also arises when Jack Worthing wants to end the chapter of Mr. Earnest by declaring him dead. 

"Poor Ernest! He had many faults, but it is a sad, sad blow."

       But at the same time Algernon introduces himself as Mr. Earnest to Miss. Cecily and Miss. Prism. Which is disastrous for Jack, but when we go through this scene, we completely laugh. Gwendolen and Cecily represent another paradox when they come to know about the mystery of the name of both Jack and Algernon. They call each other sisters 

"You will call me sister, will you not?"

      Another farce came when Jack and Algernon after being rejected by their beloved eat muffins. And Cecily tells to Gwendolen,

"They have been eating muffins. That looks like repentance."

Now Jack and Algernon both want their names to be Christened as Earnest. 

"GWENDOLEN and CECILY [Speaking together.] Your Christian names are still an insuperable barrier. That is all!

JACK and ALGERNON [Speaking together.] Our Christian names! Is that all? But we are going to be christened this afternoon."

          As they both want to christened their names, both the ladies forgive both the gentlemen and accept them. Another barrier arises is that Aunt Augusta refuses the marriage of both couples. But she changes her decision of the marriage of Cecily and Algernon, when she comes to know about the fortune of Cecily. This time she is not giving her consent for the marriage of Jack with her daughter as she doesn't know anything about the birth of Jack. Jack refuses the marriage of Cecily as he is her guardian. The bet of Jack and Lady Bracknell is also amusing. He will only give his consent if Lady Barcknell will give her consent for the marriage of her daughter Gwendolen with Jack. 

"But my dear Lady Bracknell, the matter is entirely in your own hands. The moment you consent to my marriage with Gwendolen, I will most gladly allow your nephew to form an alliance with my ward."

      This statement of Mr. Worthing is also amusing. This presents how people look for their own sake only.

★  End of the Play:-

         The end of the play is beyond all the incidents. It provides the real sense, why Wilde gives the subtitle 'Trivial comedy for serious people'. At the end we come to know what actually the title means 'Importance of Being Earnest'. Miss Prism is Lady who was working in Lord Bracknell's house twenty eight years ago. When Lady Barcknell asks to Miss Prism she says,

"I prepared as usual to take the baby out in its perambulator. I had also with me a somewhat old, but capacious hand-bag in which I had intended to place the manuscript of a work of fiction that I had written during my few unoccupied hours. In a moment of mental abstraction, for which I never can forgive myself, I deposited the manuscript in the bassinet, and placed the baby in the hand-bag."

        Now this statement is quite trivial. A lady who as her daily work takes the baby out as usual, she replaces her written copy of her manuscript with the baby. And forgets it at the railway stations in London. It is ridiculous that one can forget a baby. Mr. Worthing has doubts as he has the same history, who was found at the same place on the same day. After too much endeavour he finds the hand bad and tells to Miss Prism,

"Is this the hand-bag, Miss Prism? Examine it carefully before you speak. The happiness of more than one life depends on your answer."

     Now slowly and steadily the fact comes out that Jack is the boy who was left by mistake by Miss Prism, which is actually the son of Earnest John, who was christened by the same name as his father. So now his actual and christened name is Earnest and Elder brother of Algernon. Now there is no option for his family and by this the problem of Lady Bracknell has been solved. The question of Gwendolen has also been solved as his real name is Earnest.

★  Conclusion:-

          To conclude, by the various illustrations of actions of the upper class society of the Victorian society in The importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde gives us how the society of his time was. By this play he becomes successful to satirise his own society and way of behaviour of people. Though he didn't get that important space in English literature, this work puts him at the forefront. 

Words:- 2292

Images:- 5

★ Work Cited

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Oscar Wilde. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved November 5, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Oscar-Wilde 

English, Micaela, and Katie Robinson. “20 Oscar Wilde Quotes That Make Us Want to Be His Best Friend.” Town & Country, Town & Country, 18 Apr. 2022, https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/reviews/a2382/best-oscar-wilde-quotes/. 

Hirst, David L. Comedy of Manners. Taylor & Francis, 2017. 

Parker, Oliver. “The Importance of Being Earnest.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 21 June 2002, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0278500/. 

Rees, R. J. “Comedy: the Light and the Dark.” English Literature: An Introduction for Foreign Readers, The Macmillan Press, London, 1973, pp. 179–201. 

Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People. Gutenberg , https://www.gutenberg.org/files/844/844-h/844-h.htm.