Feminism in The Importance of Being Earnest
Feminism in The Importance of Being Earnest
English 230
Ball State University
Christian Flatt
Feminism in The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest is a comic play written and enacted for the first time by
Oscar Wilde in 1985. The play is greatly influenced by the patriarchal society of the time that
valued men more than women. Almost the entire play is focused around the social roles and how
men and women interact. Oscar Wilde presents the women in the play in a paradoxical away,
making them powerless by society’s norms but strong in their character and influence.
The Importance of Being Earnest “satirizes Victorianism,” (Satiric Strategy in the importance
of being earnest) in comedic manor and suggests that society should change. Victorianism is
defined by The Free Dictionary as “Relating to or displaying the standards or ideals of morality
regarded as characteristics of the time of Queen Victoria”, this time period would be around the
latter two thirds of the 19th century. This is of significance because the play is mocking the
values and morals of the current society which have a direct effect on how women were treated
and supposed to act.
In The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde often switches the roles of the males and
females. From the first page we see Lane introduced who is a male house servant, a job that is
usually considered to be more feminine. It was possible for males to be house servants back then
but it’s the first peculiar gender difference from the beginning of the play.
In the first act of the play Algernon tells Jack not to eat the cucumber sandwiches because
they are specifically for his Aunt Bracknell. We see right away how Algernon has specifically
had a food planned out because his Aunt likes it. This is something that you usually do for
someone you love or respect. From the way Algernon talks about “Bunburying” to get away, and
his general disgust for love and marriage I would say he does this out of respect or fear of his
Aunt. This right here gets the audience to believe that Aunt Bracknell is an important character.
Feminism in The Importance of Being Earnest
Lady Bracknell makes a visit during the first scene and we can tell by the language that
she uses off the bat that she has some power over Algernon. “Lady Bracknell: Good afternoon,
dear Algernon, I hope you are behaving very well. Algernon: I’m feeling very well Aunt
Augusta. Lady Bracknell: Thats not quite the same thing, in fact the two things rarely ever go
together.” (pg.303) Right here we can see that Lady Bracknell, not only has some power over
Algernon but seems to be pretty insightful and smart. The audience see’s what kind of person
Algernon is from the beginning when he introduces Bunburying, and how he does it for pleasure.
This makes me wonder if Lady Bracknell expects something and really knows it’s a front.
The second scene in which we really see Lady Bracknell omit her dominance is when
Jack proposes to Gwednolen. Lady Bracknell quickly tells her daughter that they are not engaged
and to go sit in the carriage. This scene reminds me of a little kid getting in trouble and being
told to go sit in the car while the mom finishes up whatever important business she is doing. That
is precisely what is going on here. We see Lady Bracknell treating everyone else in the play so
far as little kids, and showing her power and superiority over them. When Lady Bracknell does
not consent of Gwedolen and Jacks marriage we see a little bit of the customs of society come
into play. Women usually had to have consent from their parents during this time period and
often didn’t choose who they married. Parents would make the choice and it often had something
to do with gaining money or status, somewhat of an exchange.
As we move on in this scene we can see more examples of lady Bracknell’s power and
dominance. Once Gwednolen has gone off to the carriage Lady Bracknell say’s “You can take a
seat, Mr. Worthing. [looks in her pocket for her notebook and pencil]” (pg 308) From this we see
Lady Bracknell try to control even the smallest of things going on. You can tell that she is used
to getting her way, and it’s most likely her way or the high way at home. Also it tells us that she
Feminism in The Importance of Being Earnest
takes out a notebook and a pencil that is on her. It wasn’t very characteristic of women at the
time to carry such items on them and yet again to me this shows she’s business like inferring
power.
In the third act we see Lady Bracknell encouraging Algernon and Cecily to get married
after she learns of the large amount of money that Cecily is bound to inherit. This type of
thinking is what defines Lady Bracknell, she is only worried about acquiring more money and
higher status which is often associated with males. Lady Bracknell seems to be the perfect
contradiction of a female of the time.
As the story goes on we see more and more how the women are in charge. Jack and
Algernon’s own deception in having the name “Earnest” gets them in a mess that can only be
fixed by getting baptized, and changing their name to Earnest. The two are both in love and are
at the hands of Cecily and Gwendolen. Cecily and Gwendolen set the tone of the relationships
and really have all the power over Jack and Algernon.
As the story moves on into the third act, we are introduced to Miss Prism who we find out
had lost Lady Bracknell’s Nephew twenty seven years back. Miss Prism had placed one of her
bags in the coat room of a railway station and forgotten it. She had thought that this bag had her
book in it when instead it held a baby boy. This shows some child neglect in the story and I
believe she chose the bag with the book so she could read but didn’t mean to forget the baby
when get got off the train. This is also a sort of pun because she chose books and learning rather
than getting married and having a baby. This is another way in which Wilde switches gender
roles in his incredibly diverse play write.
Feminism in The Importance of Being Earnest
As we can see throughout this play the gender roles have been flipped. A lot of the critics
have seen this as an insight into Wild’s own life and have related it to the fact that he was gay. I
don’t disagree with that, I believe that he felt the the social roles of the time were unequal and
not accepting. He could relate to women and saw them as equals to himself, for he knew if he
openly came out he would be hated and looked down upon. In a book written on Wilde, Edouard
Roditi talks about the play, “It’s tone is that of a satire, but of a satire which, for lack of moral
point of view, has lost its sting and degenerated into the almost approving banter of a P.G
Wodehouse.” This was published back in 1947 when the general views on homosexuals and
women were much like that of the society and play Wilde wrote of. I believe that many critic’s
disliked the play because of their own “moral standpoint” on how they really couldn’t accept
homosexuals therefor the whole gender role switch in the play did nothing for them.
I believe that Wilde presented the women in his play to be powerful and take on more
masculine characteristics of the time period. Throughout the play we see the women take on
much more powerful and intellectual roles than what society deemed acceptable for the time.
Wilde demonstrated how much of a joke the societal roles were and gender influence fell under
this. I believe the role reversals between the male and females of the play had the biggest impact
on the play.
Feminism in The Importance of Being Earnest
Work Cited
Roditi, Edouard. Oscar Wilde. New York City: New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1947. Print.
Reinert, Otto. "Satiric Strategy in the Importance of Being Earnest." Jstor. National Council of Teachers
of English, 1956. Web. 5 Dec 2011. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/372763>.
Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest and Other plays. New York City: Vangard Press, 1987.
295-358. Print.