Wearing the Mask of Earnestness: Exploring the Artificial Life in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest
Year: 2021
Type: article
Abstract: This paper attempts to present how reality and fiction intersect in Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest to challenge, if not subvert, social obligations and perception of identity in Victorian society.In so doing, the paper critically attempts to touch upon the concepts of duality and appearance as they possess the utmost importance for the Victorian sense of morality.The article also strives to show how Wilde undermines the basis of the truthful representation of gender identity instead of the Victorian perception of the term.In the play, as the paper argues, Wilde hints at the idea that there is a difference if we can call it a duality of identity between the appearance and what is hidden beneath.In the case of the fictional characters, they wear fake identities or imagine a view of identity to suit the public's expectations, challenging the perception of stable autonomous identity that the Victorian believed.However, the inner and outer worlds of the characters are pretty different from inside and outside, so that they constantly +vacillate in-between these identities.The paper concludes that, as Wilde hints, it is impossible to define a person fully when they display various identities simultaneously as in the modern sense.
Source: DergiPark (Istanbul University)
Authors: Güneş, Ali, Şentürk, Selçuk, Şentürk, Zeynep
Institutions: İstanbul Sabahattin Zaim Üniversitesi, Kafkas University
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4287120159