Gender Roles In The importance of Being Earnest

Categories: The Importance of being Earnest

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In The Importance of Being Earnest, the question of each gender’s role in society often centers on power. In the Victorian world men had greater influence than women. Men made the decisions for their families, while women worked around the house. Wilde raises interesting questions about gender roles in The Importance of Being Earnest, by putting women (like Lady Bracknell) in positions of power and by showing that men can be irresponsible and bad at Decision-making The traditional view of gender relations in the Victorian era was that men were active, manly, assertive and economically independent whilst women were assumed to be passive, pliant and dependent.

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I believe that Oscar Wilde does challenge these traditional roles deliberately to make humor out of these characteristics and to make fun of the conventional roles of society. The two main male characters, Jack and Algernon, cannot really be regarded as masculine, or at any rate both of them do not fit the criteria for what characteristics a stereotypical Victorian man would be they are both what people at that time would call ‘dandy’s’.

Algy and jacks un gentlemanly behavior and trivial pursuits can be seen as comic and deliberate in making men seem less powerful and serious. Algy is also a little too concerned with clothing to come across as masculine. This can be seen when he criticizes Jack by saying that he had ‘never known anyone to put so much effort into dressing and to produce so little effect’. Algernon also says in Act two when talking to Cecily that he wouldn't trust Jack to buy his outfits as he has '"no taste in neckties".

Algy is dandy, making him unmasculine and a bit of a joke in the eyes of the Victorian audience. ?? A time in the play when we see women as having more power then men is in the character lady Bracknel, she is strong and blunt even coming across as a bit intimidating we get the feel that even Algy is afraid of her as he would rather make up a fake man then tell her that “ he cannot have the pleasure of dinning” with her.

Another strong female character we see is Gwendolyn. She is feminine in some aspects like how se wanted the proper engagement (she makes jack proposes formally), but at the same time she can be seen as more masculine then Jack especially because she is quite assertive. Gwendolyn is also breaking stereotypes as when her mother tells her to wait in the carriage but she defies her, were as most girls at this time would not even dare to disobey there mothers. A good example of Gwendolyn being assertive is when Jack is made to propose to her properly. Even though Gwendolyn knows exactly what he is going to ask her and she even tells him that she is going to accept him before he proposes, Gwendolyn insists on a proper proposal, which is absurd. ??Gwendolyn is clearly going to be more and more like her mother as she matures we see Algy mention this when he says that a girl’s worst flaw is that “they will end up just like their mothers”.

Her mother, Lady Bracknell, is probably the most masculine character in the play. She is very pompous and the most assertive of all the characters. She has the power to stop Jack from marrying Gwendolen and has the ability to boss the male characters of the play around. Lady Bracknell's masculinity is funny because it is almost absurd. She is seen as lacking some more feminine characteristics like sympathy for example she has no sympathy for Bunbury who she claims “should just make up his mind whether he is going to live or die” .She gives Jack no condolences when he says that he had "lost" both his parents, instead she says that he was careless, and when he explains that he was found she appears to be outraged and shocked giving us the impression that she has control over the situation.

Lady Bracknell has the upper hand over all the main characters in the play. ??After the examination of the female characters it can be concluded that the female characters are not really typical Victorian women than are Algernon and Jack typical Victorian men. Oscar Wilde has created characters that challenge the Victorian views of gender relations and this is what causes the play to be so funny. The characters are not what you would expect and can be seen as over exaggerated stereotypes of gender roles at the time.

Reversals of Traditional Gender Roles in The Importance of Being Earnest

The play The Importance of Being Earnest,' which was written and set in 1895 (Late Victorian Era), is heavily influenced by the patriarchal society of the time; this society valued men more than women. A central theme in the play is focused around the social roles of men and women and how they interact with each other during this time. Gwendolen is seen to be a typical Victorian woman on the surface, although she does not conform to typical Victorian standards and, necessarily, meet the requirements for her to be seen as lady' based on her actions and commentary throughout the play. Overall, I largely agree with this statement because Lady Bracknell is put in a position of power as she gets the final decision on who her daughter gets to marry also, secondary characters, like Gwendolen, do not conform because she is not submissive as she does not listen to Lady Bracknell when she is given orders. However [Think of an opposing view " do the women conform to their roles?]Wilde presents the women in a way that contrasts how powerless they are in society as he creates headstrong female characters who have the ability to influence the men's choices as well as being able to make their own. An example of this is that the women are able to choose their partners, women were rarely given this choice, instead their fathers, brothers or even uncles would be given the control over who the women had interactions with, especially if they were of romantic interest and were considered as being suitable husbands.

For example, Gwendolen breaks traditional Victorian gender roles by dismissing her mother's instructions when she is asked to wait in the carriage after accepting Earnest's' (Jacks) proposal without permission, which makes her mother state pardon me, you are not engaged to anyone. When you do become engaged to someone, I or your fatherwill inform you of the fact later when she has to obtain permission, she does not go to her father Lord Bracknell', instead she asks her aunt. Wilde places Lady Bracknell in a position of power which is quite intimidating; in the first act, Algernon's behaviour seems rather erratic, from inspecting sandwiches to informing Jack they are specifically for his aunt, from this one can interpret that he is intimidated by Bracknell, and the audience is aware that her social standing is quite respectable as her title, Lady, suggests. However, as the play moves forward we are introduced to the idea of a female character ultimately having much more power and influence than any of the other characters we're introduced to. It's unusual for a woman during the Victorian times to be so dominating and in control yet Gwendolen and Cecily also appear to have a great deal of power over their male partners. For instance, Jack and Algernon desperately attempt to christen themselves Ernest purely because Gwendolen and Cecily threaten to withhold their affections from them as they are not Ernest by doing this they essentially force Jack and Algernon into changing their names in order to be with them.

Although they have some power, it is clear that Wilde created Bracknell's character to play out stereotypical male roles, Algernon/Banbury cannot be described as masculine, instead during this time he would have been regarded as being dandy, meaning a man who pays great attention to fashion and often dresses with a flamboyant style , This is not something that Wilde chooses to disguise, instead Algernon embraces what could be described as his feminine' side and continues to brag to Cecily "I never have any appetite unless I have a buttonhole first ". It is clear that Wilde's aim is to present Lady Bracknell as most masculine in the play especially in comparison to her nephew. Another way Lady Bracknell exercises her power is when she pretends' to know of politics in order to decide whether Ernest' can be considered a worthy candidate in regards to Gwendolen's engagement oh they count as Tories. They dine with us. This shows off her masculinity as women at the time did not have the right to vote and wouldn't have held much of an opinion about political views or the political state of the country, instead this would have fell to her husband, however, Lord Bracknell is completely absent from the play but is referenced often and is presented as being very submissive to his wife as she informs Algernon that Lord Bracknell Will have to dine upstairs and that fortunately he is accustomed to that suggests to the audience that his presence is rather insignificant and he is only needed when it suits Lady Bracknell, this explains why he has no control of Gwendolen's future husband and is ultimately absent from the play. Because of the clear difference between Lady and Lord Bracknell it emphasises the role of the men and women during the Victorian era, the traditional view was that men were dominant, assertive and independent, and women were quite submissive, passive and dependent, feminist critics would argue that this play isn't about non-conforming to roles that aren't equal but that instead it can be argued that it is a clear case of role reversal, rather than Lady and Lord Bracknell sharing the responsibilities between each other.