As we enter the second act of the play, new characters living in the countryside are introduced: Cecily Cardew (Jack's ward), Miss Prism (Cecily's governess), Mr. Chausable (the reverend), and Jack's servants. What I found interesting was that the characters in the countryside were really no different than the people in the city. They all share this pompous attitude of being in the upper class and are also blatantly xenophobic. They feed off on compliments and excessive praise especially for their physical appearances, most of which are exaggerated and perhaps not as sincere. What is even more absurd is when Cecily meets Algernon (who makes an unexpected entrance under the identity of Ernest, Jack's "brother"), they both instantly fall in love with each other and Cecily, like Gwendolyen, loves him because of the name that "inspires absolute confidence". Cecily and Gwendolen obviously share this absurd notion of falling in love with a person based on this name and this demonstrates the one-dimensional character of the people in the play. They both keep diaries and record minute details of their "sensational" life such as the exact time that 'Ernest' proposed to them.However this one-dimensional character is not only limited to the women in the play, Algernon and Jack both engage in Bunburying and they both instantly seek marriage. They both decide to go christen themselves and to change their name to "Ernest" in order to please their "lovers".
Looking into the specific events in the play, I think the part where Gwendolen meets Cecily and they both claim to be engaged Ernest which then makes them despise each other is particularly interesting. Gwendolen's first impression of Cecily was that she had a sweet name and that they both would get along very well, and she adds that her first impressions are never wrong. However after all the drama surrounding Ernest, Gwendolen remarks the complete opposite, "From the moment I saw you I distrusted you. I felt that you were false and deceitful. I am never deceived in such matters" and adds that "my first impressions of people are invariably right" (158).
Another memorable line from the play is when Cecily loses patience and decides to put aside her shallow mask of manners: "This is no time for wearing the shallow mask of manners. When I see a spade I call it a spade" (156).
I thought your analysis of the interaction between Gwendolen and Cecily was very interesting as it provides insight into how Wilde is portraying women. While we've seen that women generally seem much more powerful than men in the play (Lady Bracknell, especially), the wavering emotions floating between Cecily and Gwendolen suggest the stereotypical trivial and indecisive nature of women. Gwendolen doesn't base her opinion of Cecily off of Cecily's qualities/faults, but rather her possessiveness over Ernest. The minute she learns that Cecily is also engaged to a man named Ernest, Gwendolen completely contradicts herself and insists that she always thought Cecily was "false and deceitful", with no concrete justification whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteI like how you brought up how people in this play seem to fall in love so fast. I think this is a commentary on how the Victorian elite all want to get married, and thus many times are idealistic when they meet people, and don't even really care to get to know them before they get married. Lady Bracknell even says that people shouldn't know each other before they get married. I think Wilde is mocking how shallow the Victorian elite are on the subject of marriage; instead of it being a union of people who love each other, often it is more of a business deal, something to elevate their social or financial status. Often, they don't even know each other!
ReplyDeleteI thought it was funny too when Gwendolyn changed what her first impression was but said that her first impressions were always correct. I think this is just another example of how image is more important that actually being earnest to the Victorian elite.