Society in The Importance of Being Earnest, Salome, and The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
In Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, Salome, and The Picture of Dorian Gray we see certain themes and similarities that reflectWilde’s ideas about society and aspects of it. Oscar Wilde chose to focus The Importance of Being Earnest, Salome, and The Picture of Dorian Grayon satirizing the life of the aristocracy, marriage, the nature of evil, and theproblems of women by using underlying themes and implementing aconvoluting style in the stories.The Importance of Being Earnest, a play by Oscar Wilde, allows areader to see the ridiculousness of the aristocracy; particularly the Englishone. His characters are typical Victorian snobs; they are arrogant, overlyproper, formal, and concerned with money. Lady Bracknell especiallyembodies the stereotype of the Victorian English aristocrat. An example ofthis is seen when she forbids her daughter to marry to Ernest(Jack) , whomshe does not think is suitable because of his ambiguous background. Awoman who is foolish enough to stop her daughter from marrying her lovebecause she does not approve of his background is too superficial. LadyBracknell constantly behaves in such an incorrect manner throughout thenovel. She speaks of how good she is and how her family is this and that andnever seems to respect anyone who she does not think is of her stature orworth. According to Bracknell “Never speak disrespectfully of society”because “only people who can’t get into it do that.”(Pg 98, Act III) Wilde’sdistaste of aristocracy can be seen directly in this play.Even the characters who are supposed to be good natured are utterlyridic…
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…ing but bring harm to asituation. The Picture of Dorian Gray shows us how the love for the aestheticresults in tragedy. In all three, Wilde’s message that infatuation for thesuperficial will do nothing but bring troubles. This is a very strong commontheme in all three works.In The Importance of Being Earnest, Salome, and The Picture ofDorian Gray, Wilde portrays several underlying themes. His disapproval ofthe aristocracy, marriage, the nature of evil, and woman are apparent in allthree works. From his writing, one can draw valuable lessons on life andlearn about mistakes that should not be made. His work shows us how lifecan be interrupted and even ended as a result of certain things. OscarWilde’s work is the product of a man who had several disagreements with thesociety in which he lived in and chose to satirze it through his work.
