Response to Michael Vance's analysis of The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde.

In my first post I will be discussing Michael Vance's personal analysis on Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest, posted on May 2000. Wilde’s play was first preformed in 1895, with a purpose of satire of his age’s society and their customs, or in Michael Vance’s words “a caricature in its ability to point up flaws and distinctive features by enlarging and expanding upon them to the point where they dominate the portrait and give it a distinctly comic dimension.” (Vance). The play includes some issues which todays society still faces such as wealth, social class, and dishonestly. Michael Vance focuses on the central subject being teased, which is marriage.

The main plot of the play involves two men, who are in love with women that only accept them in marriage because they believe that both their names are Earnest. With this idea, Wilde clearly states his opinion about how people interoperate marriage, and what it really is. He also makes the brides seem shallow, childish, and a little foolish. For example, Cecily (one of the two brides) creates her wedding fantasy with ‘Earnest’ in her journal before she even has a chance to meet him. Vance also mentions that the one of the early signs of marriage being criticized is when Algernon (one of the two men) claims that he believes marriage is more business then pleasure. He continues to explain that romance ends when the marriage has begun.

Vance’s analysis of Wilde’s play is in my opinion quite accurate, I agree with the fact that Wilde does a great job pointing out the soullessness and simplicity of marriage in his time. What puzzles me though is the question of marriage still being this way in today’s world, although the lenience of class/race/ethnicity between two partners has grown greatly, has marriage really changed from what it used to be? Todays divorce rate in the United States is continuously estimated to be about 50% of marriages, wouldn’t that statistic apply to Wilde’s era if divorce was as socially acceptable as it is today?

(polished)