Gender Flashcards
‘I have dared to love you wildly, passionately, devotedly, hopelessly.’
‘Hopelessly’ - doesn’t make sense, and Cecily calls him out on it! Again, Algernon’s loss of control over his language suggests that Cecily has the power here.
Hyperbole = characteristic of farce
In Act Two, Algernon declares his love to Cecily, who is writing down his comments in her diary.
‘I have dared to love you wildly, passionately, devotedly, hopelessly.’
In Act One, Lady Bracknell expresses no sympathy with Algy’s sick friend ‘Bunbury’ as she does not approve of the ‘_________’ and tells her sick husband that ‘__________.’
‘modern sympathy with invalids’
‘health is the primary duty of life.’
‘modern sympathy with invalids’
‘health is the primary duty of life.’
Comic reversal = Lord Bracknell’s ill health (he is never seen, and referred to as unwell) represents a comic reversal of the Victorian female invalid and implies his emasculation by his wife, while implying her power.
Comedy of Manners = a stock character from the Comedy of Manners is the Victorian Dowager, an older woman who has and uses her power, like Lady Bracknell.
Subverts the stereotype of the dutiful wife = her husband is an invalid, but she has no ‘sympathy’ for him.
In Act 2, Gwendolen tells Cecily that she won’t have heard of her father, Lord Bracknell, as he doesn’t leave the house.
‘The home seems to me to be the proper sphere for the man’
‘The home seems to me to be the proper sphere for the man’
Epigrammatic = this seems to be a comic reversal of the phrase ‘the home is the proper sphere for the woman’
Foreshadowed = In Act 1, Algy tells Jack that ‘all women become like their mothers’. In Act 2, this seems to be coming true as Gwendolen mirrors her mother’s views.
Separate spheres debate = this is a clear reference to the debate of the time, as Wilde challenges the Victorian view that women belong in domestic roles.
The cigarette case
Symbol of male deception - Wilde made a habit of giving inscribed cigarette cases to his young male friends and lovers.
The cigarette case is a symbol of Jack’s double life, which is a notably masculine characteristic as only men bunbury.
The male characters…
…often conform to stereotypes of masculine behaviour, like patronising women and being sexually voracious.
The female characters…
…often conform to stereotypes of feminine behaviour, like an obsession with appearances, vanity and jealousy.
At times, Wilde…
…subverts gender roles as we see the women exercising power and control over the opposite sex.
Arguably, social class…
…is shown to be a greater determinant of behaviour than gender, as there are significant similarities between male and female characters.
