Romance and Marriage Flashcards
Cecily and Gwendolen
Marriage/Romance
-Control the course of their love-affairs before they begin.
-Gwendolen form the mention of the name Ernest ‘I knew I was destined to love you’.
-Reduces Jack to a state of ‘nerves’ and ‘amazement’ – reveals she has pre-planned engagement.
-Cecily – anticipated her Romance ‘Why we have been engaged for the last three months’. – Aly also reduced to state of nerves.
-Despite this – both insist on form and style in their marriage proposal.
-Women’s power of partners – fleeting and illusory – disappear upon marriage.
-Gwendolen – makes him propose to her in a way that conforms to conventions – insists on form and good taste – indication of sincere love and passion – becomes an exercise in styles.
-Romance based on her being admired ‘I hope you will always look at me just like that, especially when there are other people present’. Cares more about her reputation, about people perceiving her as being loved than true love itself.
Lady Bracknell on marriage
Marriage
-Obsessed with lineage and class.
-Attitude to marriage – reveals mercenary nature of aristocracy – marriage is a business arrangement between two powerful families.
-Parents select husbands – carries round notebook to cross examine potential husbands- farcical exageration - social satire.
-Lets Algy marry Cecily – swayed by ‘about a hundred and thirty thousand pounds in the Funds.’
-Embodies the Victorian Upperclass view of marriage.
Algy on marriage
Marriage
-Cecily and Algy – Embrace happily – audience remember Algy’s earlier views on marriage:
-‘If I ever get married, I’ll certainly try to forget the fact’ and ‘in married life three is company and two is none.’
-However – determination to continue Bunburying – Wilde’s suggest it’s a man’s world – problematic whether happiness and independence of women can be maintained.
-Perhaps rebellious attitude towards marriage signals some future need for social reforms.
Algy: I thought you had come up for pleasure?… I call that buisness.
-Mocks marriage as an institution of love.
-unromantic view of marriage.
-Satirizes upper-class mercenary views of marriage.
-Rhetorical question - in order to create a witty and comedic critique.
Algy: Girls never marry the men they flirt with. Girls don’t think it right…
-Gender theme too.
-Don’t marry the men their attracted to - probably marry rich.
-However, inverts relations between the sexes, suggesting girls have some choice over who they marry.
-However may be ironically - due to arranged marriages - suggested by repition of girls - ironically as though they have a choice.
-Yet - proleptic irony - the girls in this play defy social convention - marry the men the flirt with.
-Epigram - style over substance - satirizes society.
Algy: Divorces are made in heaven
-Mocks marriage as an institution of love.
-Epigram. Subverts expectations. -Inverts clichè Victorian phrase ‘marriages are made in heaven’
-Perhaps social satire of the nature of mercenary Victorian marriage – love rarely a factor.
Algy: you seem to me to be in every way the visible personification of absolute perfection.
-Gushing romantic language.
-Ironic considering Algy’s earlier views on marriage. -hyperbole
-Romantic language.
-Satirising superficiality of their love, they barely know each other/fixation on appearance.
-Oscar Wilde may be having a dig at Romantic literature. Especially the three-volume sentimental novels of the era.
Cecily: I don’t think you should tell me that you love me wildly, passionately, devotedly, hopelessly. Hopelessly doesn’t seem to make much sense does it.
-Excess of adverbs mocks romantic language.
-Assertiveness of Cecily subverts usual stereotypes of shy country girl.
-Corrects him with rhetorical question – power.
-First wave feminism, “new woman”, more assertive, independent and intelligent.
-Reveal triviality of upper class – cares more about style than substance.
-Forwardness during this romantic moment breaks the romance and creates bathetic humour.
“The very essence of romance is uncertainty.”
-Melodramatic claptrap – ridiculous, pretentious nonsense – perfectly phrased but meaningless.
Lady Bracknell: “the number of engagements that go on seems to me considerably above the proper average that statistics have laid down for our guidance.”
-Theme of Society, morality and rules.
-Comical exaggeration of Victorian obsession with propriety and reputation.
-Scientific language - makes it sound like its a matter of health - mocks the importance laid on scandal and reputation in upperclass society.
“You can hardly imagine that I and Lord Bracknell would dream of allowing our only daughter - a girl brought up with the utmost care - to marry into a cloak-room, and form an alliance with a parcel? Good morning, Mr. Worthing!”
-Power and Class.
-Satirizing aristocracy obsession with heritage, how they were not allowed to marry for love.
Satirizes aristocracy’s obsession with class.
Satirizes Lady Bracknell’s lack of empathy and cold heartedness. -dehumanizes him to a parcel.
-farcical use of extended metaphor - suggesting his family linage is a cloak room and that he is a parcel.
Com. Of manners. - says good morning – keeping up appearences.
Algy: The amount of women in London who flirt with their own husbands is perfectly scandalous. It looks so bad. It is simply washing one’s clean laundry in public.’
-Irony, flirting with someone who is not your husband is mor scandalous.
-Comedy of manners. -Adverb ‘perfectly’ and adjective ‘scandalous’ – mimics language of upper class – comedy of manners.
-Satirize strict Victorian moral code – exagerates it to a farcical level ridicule how everything is seen as scandal.
-Perhaps suggest need for social change.
Inverts common euphemism ‘dirty laundry’ - satirises polite societies excessive use of metaphors.
-Theme of morality.
Chasuble: I would hang from her lips (Miss Prism glares) I spoke metaphorically – my metaphor was drawn from the bees.
-Metaphor – hang from lips is a metaphor for listening.
-Pun – mean kissing, or other sexual lips.
-Religion, and religion being strict about who can have relationships - cuases sexual repression.
-Comical embarrassment- embarrassed about his sexual feelings - show through paralinguistic humor.
