Social Standing Earnest Essay

Submitted By s631086
Words: 819
Pages: 4
Open Document
Reilly Killian, Macy Ford and Walker Smith
Period 1
AP English 4
November 19, 2014
Social Standing in “Importance of Being Earnest”
1. Other differences that are evident in the questions asked and the answers provided are when Lady Bracknell asks if Jack knew everything or nothing. Jack hesitated before he answered because he did not know if she wanted him to answer yes or no.
When he answered he knew nothing she “was pleased to hear.” Lady Bracknell did not approve of education because she thought it would lead to uprising by the lower class.
Another difference in reaction in the question asked and the answer provided was in the question about when Jack admitted he had no parents. He did not think that Lady
Bracknell would not let him get married to Gwendolen because he did not know who his parents were. Lady Bracknell did not approve of this answer because she wants to know the family name of who she is going to marry her daughter off to, because she would not let Gwendolen marry into a bad family name.
2. Lady Bracknell states characteristics for the husband that must live up to their standards, Jack meets the following standards; has an “occupation” of some kind, good age, has a lot of money and is not too confident in himself. However, Jack does not have a known family name due to the fact that he never knew who his parents were and adopted from a rich family. Lady Bracknell approves of his income, but she doesn't want her daughter to marry someone who does not have a name for themselves. 3. In both speeches Lady Bracknell has similar and different reactions to Jack and Cecily.
Lady Bracknell’s difference in her question reactions are in the ages she asks about.
For Jack it was important that he was 29 because that was the right age to be getting married at, but for Cecily being 19 Lady Bracknell said it was too young but it was okay for Algernon to still marry her. This contradicts the requirement for Jack showing that it actually was not important requirement for marriage. The only requirements that Lady
Bracknell was actually worried about was social status and wealth. In the first speech, she does not give approval to Jack because he does not know what family he comes from, and if her daughter is going to inherit his name, she will not let them get married.
In Cecily’s speech, she approves for Algernon to marry her because Cecily has a large inheritance and Algernon is in a large amount of debt, therefore it would help her family member out. Lady Bracknell’s views morph into ways that help her family out.
4. Wilde states that the importance of social status is ridiculous. Wilde makes a point to bold differences in the behavior of the upper class and the lower class. The upper class is so occupied with the idea of their social rank, while maintaining a perfect social status that they lose sight of what is actually important and ends up making their lives a lot worse. Wilde is trying to say that the more you care about insignificant things in life, you will end up making a more mess
Show More

Related Documents: Social Standing Earnest Essay

TIOBE COURSEWORK 2 2015 Essay

How are Victorian attitudes to marriage explored through the comedy of “The Importance of Being Earnest”? Comedy has always been seen as a low status genre with the key roles of: mocking those in authority, subverting the status quo, invert accepted hierarchies, challenge social and political system, and transgress what is usually accepted which is presented in “The Importance of Being Earnest” as Wilde uses a “trivial comedy for serious people” to raise questions of the attitudes towards marriage…

Words 1465 - Pages 6

Shakespeare's Macbeth-Blissful Ignorance And The Power Of Knowledge

people like their unescapable social destiny.” (Huxley 12) The emphasis on got exemplifies how the society has accepted this ignorant lifestyle which lacks of freedom in order to have happiness. They are required to fill the role that they were conditioned to do. Their whole lives were created for them with no freedom of choice or knowledge and yet they are still happy. If you do not know what wrong is well, nothing can be wrong. By using the phrase “unescapable social destiny” (Huxley 12), the Director…

Words 806 - Pages 4

Pathetic Comedy In Shakespeare

Elizabeth Dammeyer AP Senior English Mrs. McFarlan March 3, 2013 Desperate Laughter For thousands of years, comedy has been used to bring people together, to make people forget their troubles, but most importantly, to entertain. While comedy’s main objective is to get a rise out of the audience, writers utilize the absurdity of satirical situations to subtly bring light to contemporary societal problems and provoke change within a culture. While many people are resistant to change, if the impetus…

Words 4773 - Pages 20

Wuthering Heights Indecisiveness Quotes

Despite her mischievous tendencies, Neely remarks that “she had the bonniest eye, the sweetest smile, and lightest foot in the parish. I believe she meant no harm; for when once she made you cry in good earnest, it seldom happened that she would not keep you company” (34). For most of her childhood Catherine was a compassionate person who truly cared about the well-being of others. The reader gets a better glimpse of this nature when Heathcliff is brought…

Words 1530 - Pages 7

1844-1877: A Bynamic Change In The Development Of The United States

to a seemingly inevitable armed conflict. When conflict finally did erupt in earnest, it appeared for a time that the “great experiment,” not yet even one hundred years old, might be torn asunder. While the nation was rife with sectional tension in the 1840s, differences between the North and South had not occurred over night. Indeed, the Missouri Compromise of 1820 provides evidence of the deep-seeded and long-standing differences between the worldviews of the North and South. As well the contested…

Words 1424 - Pages 6

RELIGION 100 STUDY GUIDE Essay

Rachel Gelb What is religion? (Three-step process) a) Original Binding (Humanity and creator in direct relation with each other) b) Unbinding (relationship between created and creator is severed) c) Re-Binding (Religion) (GOAL: reconnect with the divine and make things right) Myth vs. reality: (Religion has mythical elements, includes aspects of ritual, morality, theology, and mystical elements. Cannot be reduced to a myth) What does it mean to be religious? a) Existentialism: a focus on being…

Words 1588 - Pages 7

Book Summary: Jesse Lee Home At Seward

I believe we Americans and also our Allies are fighting for the purpose of freedom. Many of our early ancestors fought for the very same purpose, so their children and children’s children, etc., would be free. … I only truthfully know that I am one of God’s children regardless of race, color, or creed. You or I or anyone else is not to blame what we are. But we are all proud to be what God has made us. Why was it Thomas Jefferson and his men signed the Declaration of Independence? You or I know…

Words 1712 - Pages 7

Research Paper

enjoy another day disguised as a career. It’s 5 a.m., I slowly raise my head, ignoring the alarm clock on the night table to my left, made of cherry wood, with its two perfectly aligned drawers and antique brass horse-shoe shaped handles gracefully standing tall from its curved yet simplistically ornate legs. I turn to my right and see Ruth, my wife of 30 years sleeping in what appears to be a deep REM stage, no doubt on an excursion fulfilling her wildest imagination. I slowly turn to the left pulling…

Words 2301 - Pages 10

Assigment China Rent A Center Essay

rent-to-own transaction to patrons who do not normally qualify for financing from the traditional retailer through kiosks within retailers locations. China is the second largest economy in the world with a population of over 1.37 billion. According to Earnest and Young, China has around 150 million people earning at least US$100 dollars a day and as the country continue to make the necessary economic reforms the number will continue to grow. EY further predicts that by 2030 around one billion people in…

Words 3472 - Pages 14

Synthesis: Corporation and Partnership Act Law Essay

Unit 3 Chapter 13 Sole Proprietorship Not a separate “legal” entity No difference between business and entrepreneur But it is a separate “accounting” entity. For tax purposes Total Liability for unpaid debts or torts Unlimited liability does not need writing The franchise Organization selling to franchisee the right to use name for business Can only sell products that are authorized by franchisor Protections for franchisees (state and federal law) Common Contract terms Territorial…

Words 3238 - Pages 13