Matriarchal Figures in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde and Persuasion by Jane Austen

Matriarchal Figures in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde and Persuasion by Jane Austen

‘A dominant female member of the family’[1] is often described as amatriarch. Lady Bracknell in ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ andLady Russell in ‘Persuasion’ fulfill this role therefore can bedescribed as matriarchs, and as such they play vital roles. Theyaffect the lives of Gwendolen and Anne, by imposing their beliefs onthem.

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Although Lady Russell is not related to any of the characters in‘Persuasion’, after Anne’s mother died Lady Russell took on the roleof her mother. Lady Russell has some control over Anne, as Anne ‘hadalways loved and relied on’ her and cannot believe she would ‘becontinually advising her in vain’. The matriarchs are pivotal as theyare the prime reasons for the plots’ complications; Lady Bracknelltries to prevent two potential marriages between Jack and Gwendolen,and Algernon and Cecily, and she is the reason Jack finds out abouthis family connections. Lady Russell persuades Anne not to marryWentworth causing eight years of heartache and misery, as she waswrongly persuaded. She induces further complications by trying topersuade Anne to marry William Walter Elliot, when Anne and Wentworthmeet again.

Lady Bracknell’s importance is enhanced because she overshadows herhusband, which is true to her matriarch ways, and he occupies asubordinate position. Lady Bracknell has taken the opposite role tothat which society accepted in the 1890’s, her husband stays at home,while she goes to social gatherings. Her husband’s role is summed upin Gwendolen’s speech to Cecily about her father.

‘The home seems to be the proper sphere for the man. And certainly,once a m…

…y say that Anne should marry formoney ‘she deprecated the connexion [to Wentworth] in every light’,and only approves of alliances with men with money, such as CharlesMusgrove and William Walter Elliot. The matriarchs actions and adviceto women would be ‘don’t marry for money, but go where money is’[8].

[1] The Pocket Oxford Dictionary

[2] York Advanced Notes ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’

[3] Richard Foster , Wilde as Parodist: A Second Look at TheImportance of Being Earnest

[4] Inside the House of Fiction, ‘Jane Austen’s Cover Story’

[5] Dan Rebellato, Drama Classics Series, ‘The Importance of BeingEarnest’

[6] York Notes Advanced – ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’

[7] Richard Foster , Wilde as Parodist: A Second Look at TheImportance of Being Earnest

[8] Juliet McMaster , Alfred Lord Tennyson as quoted in ‘Class’

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