The Importance of Being Earnest

     In the comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde characterizes his characters as shallow and rather superficial. These character traits portray the common stereotype of people in the Victorian Age.  In Wilde's satirical comedy, these characters make the physical journey from Hertfordshire to the Manor House of Jack Worthing in the countryside. The shallowness and hypocrisy of these characters is revealed when all of the characters join together at the Manor House. The physical journey that these characters take and what occurs at their destination reveals the meaning of the work as a whole: the dangers of shallowness and lies.
     Algernon is the first to show up at the Manor House in attempt to become engaged to Jack Worthing's ward, Cecily. Algernon disguises himself as Ernest, the fictional brother of Jack who is believed to have relations with Cecily. Jack has created Ernest for the pure purpose of being able to leave his rather dull life behind in the country and travel to London to enjoy himself. So, what begins as a lie Jack created, suddenly erupts before both Algernon and Jack's eyes when Algernon discovers that Jack is also at the manor attempting to win over Gwendolyn Fairfax under the name of Ernest. Through much confusion, chaos, and deception it is revealed to Gwendolyn and Cecily that Ernest really does not exist and that they were being deceived the entire time. The journey from Hertfordshire led all these childish and trivial people to convene in one place and this is how the secret of Ernest was leaked. The comedy and stupidity of the characters adds to the satirical tone of the play. The chaos that the secret of Ernest creates conveys the dangers of lying but also how common it was among the superficial people of the time period.
     The way that Gwendolyn and Cecily react is also a factor in portraying the shallowness of the time period. These two woman have never been acquainted  until they make the journey to Jack's manor house in the country. Here, the women find out that they have been supposedly in love with the same fictional man. Gwendolyn herself marveled at purely the name Ernest and was not pleased with the name Jack. Cecily had also imagined Ernest and her engagement and life together in her journal. Both of these are examples of the stereotype of people in the Victorian Age. The women attempt to act calm, collected, and polite with one another once they have found out that they have been in love with the same man, this again reveals their foolishness and superficiality. Also, the fact that the women decide to forgive the men because they are both changing their name to Ernest is outrageous but at the time characteristic of the personality of women. Overall, the journey and meeting between these two women encompasses the personalities of two typical women in the Victorian Age depicting their foolishness and one-dimensional personalities.
     Ultimately, the journey the characters make from Hertfordshire to the country estate is how the false character of Ernest is revealed. This journey is how the chaos begins and the characters' shallowness shines through even brighter. Algernon and Jack are caught telling lies and being deceptive, common in the time period but also causing havoc with their families and those that they love. Also, the superficiality of the women of the time period is revealed by the meeting of Gwendolyn and Cecily and their decision to remain with Algernon and Jack as long as they are both christened under the name of Ernest. Comedy is infused throughout and the characters are perfect satirical examples from the time period.

Poetry Blog Assignment

Poem #1: a song in the front yard-Gwendolyn Brooks
page 348-349

• This poem is about a young girl who has lived a privileged life but notices that something is missing. She is missing out on true freedom and fun that the other children are having. Her mother is the one holding her back from this freedom and placing a strict attitude over her daughter that is causing her daughter to long to be 'a bad woman too.'  This young girl has realized that the less wealthy children are enjoying their time, while she is not able to because of her strict rules. In conclusion, the girl is stating that she would rather have freedom to play and enjoy her life rather than live her wealthy, privileged, life. I enjoy this poem for its innocent theme. I find it interesting how children have their own ideas and standards before they are introduced to stereotypes and prejudices by their parents or other adults. 

A contrast is created with the use of symbolism between the front and back yard in this poem. This symbolism is extended throughout the entirety of the poem. The front yard is depicting the speaker's high class lifestyle: full of wealth and most likely spoiled with material objects; this is where she has been her entire life. But she wants "a peek at the back". The backyard therefore contrasts with the front yard. The backyard is symbolizing the freedom and less honorable lifestyle of the other people surrounding this girl. The backyard is where the speaker desires to be; free to play and out of reach of her mother's strict rules. She is tired of living a perfect and proper lifestyle projected in the line "A girl gets sick of a rose". The speaker is telling us through the symbolism of a rose that she is tired of putting on an act that she is perfect and happy. This also demonstrates the theme of the piece that wealth surely cannot cure any problems; this poem is just one example that portrays an unhappy individual stuck in a world of wealth and perfection that is yearning for an escape. 

Another technique that adds to the meaning of this poem is tone. The accepting tone of the speaker contributes to the innocent theme. The speaker sees the underprivileged children playing and enjoying themselves and throughout the poem she speaks of craving this lifestyle. The girl is accepting of these people unlike her mother who is judgmental of the lower class and  "sneers" but the girl says "it's fine". The young girl still has her innocence and has not been introduced to the standards of her higher class status that her mother and many others of this class hold. The girl is looking on these people, enjoying themselves, and envying them for their freedom and smiles that she does not feel in her suffocating world. 

Poem #2: The Good-Morrow-John Donne

page 357

• This poem is about a couple that is discovering their deep and passionate love for one another. The speaker conveys his message of his intense love for this woman in three stanzas. He speaks of their love as eternal and speaks of how his lover completes him and that he needs her to survive. I enjoy this poem because it is a love poem and I like to read new, and unique ways of speakers conveying their love to their partner. 

Overstatement or exaggeration is present throughout this love poem. Particularly in the opening stanza, the speaker is wondering how he and his lover had survived before they had fallen in love. He uses the examples of still being breast fed until they had fallen in love and also the example of the "seven sleepers' den" which is a Christian legend, the cave was occupied by two young children sleeping for two centuries. Obviously, these adults had stopped breast feeding long before they fell in love and also had not slept for 200 years but these overstatements enhances the feelings that the speaker is aiming to convey. The speaker also says, "Love  so alike that none can slacken, none can die" this is an overstatement because love, a feeling, cannot give a person immortality.  The speaker is trying to demonstrate how in love and how badly he needs his counterpart to survive and he does this with the use of exaggeration. 

Another literary technique used is point of view. We hear the feelings of this young man about his lover, what better way to know what his real feelings are than through his own point of view? His point of view reveals an emotional, jovial, and optimistic tone. From his point of view it is revealed to the audience that he has a strong connection with this woman. He speaks of having a future together showing his optimism in their love. Throughout the poem the speaker uses 'we, us, and our' when speaking of him and his lover. This shows that he views them as one single unit functioning together and facing the rest of their lives together. This is also present in his statement, "Let us possess one world; each hath one, and is one." The first person point of view of the speaker reveals his loving tone and enhances the meaning of the poem. The meaning of the poem is truly how encapsulating true love is. 

The Handmaid's Tale

In Margaret Atwood's satiric novel, The Handmaid's Tale, she consistently references titles, names, and events from the Bible. By using these allusions, Atwood enhances her critical tone of traditional views and values of strict and structured religion. For example, the author takes the  traditional stereotyped roles of women given by society and blows them out of proportion in her fictional society of Gilead. The jobs of cooking and cleaning have been given to the Martha's. Atwood alludes to Martha from the New Testament who dedicated her life to caregiving and housekeeping. Other examples include: the Guardians of the Faith acting as the security guards in Gilead, supposedly "protecting" the society, the Commander's of the Faithful, the members of Gilead who have the most power and who starve woman of their power, the Eyes of the Lord, who are the government spies, and the Angels who are also guards. The names of stores are also biblical allusions: "Lilies of the Field" and "All Flesh."  The Soul Scrolls are meant to increase the piety and holiness in Gilead. In the society, by naming the places and people after events or people in the Bible, Gilead is trying to enhance the religious foundation that Gilead has been built upon. By basing her society on traditional religious views, Margaret Atwood uses voice to portray the flaws and faults of this society and shows the reader how disturbing some of our everyday values and beliefs would be if they were exaggerated to extremes.





"But this is wrong, nobody dies from lack of sex. It's lack of love we die from. There's nobody here I can love, all the people I could love are dead or elsewhere. Who knows where they are or what their names are now? They might as well be nowhere, as I am for them. I too am a missing person" (Atwood 103). 

This quotation takes place when Offred is daydreaming about the past and Luke. She is reminiscing about her and Luke's love making. Offred speaks of how much she believed her body needed to have sexual intercourse with Luke. In this quotation, Offred is realizing that it was not just the sex that she needed, she needs the love and the compassion of another human being. As a Handmaid, Offred still engages in sexual intercourse, although not with a man she loves or shares any passion with. By losing her family and anyone who loved her, Offred seems to have lost herself and she is recognizing that. Offred has been objectified and has therefore lost any emotional connections with another human being which is dehumanizing to Offred. Similarly, this may occur in today's society when women are objectified for the attractiveness of their physical attributes, for some time a woman may be okay with this but eventually she will realize that she needs the compassion, love, and care of another human being to make her feel like she matters and belongs. Otherwise, a woman used purely for sexual purposes may lose herself and feel lost from the rest of the world, like Offred feels lost and trapped in Gilead.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale, on the surface it appeared to be a novel with interesting characters and a plot that intrigued me as a reader. By analyzing the meaning of the work as a whole and Margaret Atwood's intentions the novel became even more appealing and interesting. Although exaggerated the similarities between Gilead and our society in 2013 were shocking. Atwood really captured the reality of many common issues and transformed them into a satiric novel that would insult some and surprise and inspire many to think and the change their ways. One of the most prevalent themes in this work is the objectification of women. Most people are not concerned or worried about this hardship that many women endure day after day. By Atwood taking this concept and transforming it into something so much deeper it really showed me the dangers of what our society is turning into. While The Handmaid's Tale was enjoyable to read it also contains many lessons and themes that our society should examine and try to learn from because the consequences may be toxic.