...The Importance of Being Earnest—Oscar Wilde Plot Summary: 1. Mr. Earnest Worthing (Jack) enters Algernon Moncrieff’s flat in the Mayfair section of London’s Went End claiming to be visiting in town for “pleasure”. When Algernon informs him that Lady Bracknell and Gwendolen will be coming by, Jack, delighted, confides in Algernon of his intentions to propose to Gwendolen. 2. Jack and Algernon have a debate over whether the subject of marriage is of “business” or “pleasure” which eventually leads to Algernon confronting Jack about the “cigarette case Mr. Worthing left.” 3. Algernon forces Jack to explain the inscription on the inside of the case: from “little Cecily” to “her dear Uncle Jack”. Jack admits that his name is not Earnest but rather Jack, claiming that he is “Earnest in town and Jack in the country.” 4. Jack tells Algernon about the false brother he created as an excuse to get out of the country. Algernon tells Jack that he has invented a friend call Bunbury whose sudden illnesses give him Algernon a chance to get away to the country. 5. Jack tells Algernon that if Gwendolen consents to marry him then he will “kill off” his imaginary brother Earnest, as “little Cecily” is getting too interested in Earnest. Lady Bracknell and Gwendolen arrive. 6. Algernon tells Lady Bracknell that due to the illness of his friend Bunbury he will be able to keep their dinner appointment. Lady Bracknell replies by voicing her irritation about Bunbury’s...
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...conducted in searching for new personality insights by comparing the already established personality trait theory, Eysenck’s Theory and the Big Five Theory. - Method An online survey (See appendix – A) was created for the length of ten days time with the website “Survey Monkey”, and obtained 64 responses. In hoping to obtain a more focused response pattern and simplicity, university students were the chosen group to attempt this survey. Before entering the survey, interviewees were asked to indicate their sex and age. Male composed 41 of the responses and 23 of them were by female, with the age distribution of the 64 from 19 years old to 24 years old. They were asked to name 10 pairs of salient personality descriptors in the order of importance, with two examples provided. - The Results As for the results, there were no dominant descriptors occupying any of the top 3 spots of the pairs, but despite the large number of descriptors obtained, a total of 640 pairs, there were also a noticeable overlap of data. There were around over 8 pairs of descriptors receiving over 30 counts (See Appendix – B), while the pair Nice v. Rude reached 54 counts, 84% of the participants believe that Nice and Rude is at least top ten of the most important descriptors in personality. Calm v. Moody, Harding Working v. Lazy and Happy v. Unhappy were pairs, which also reached the 50s, receiving 53, 51 and 51 counts respectively. These results are to be categorized into different dimensions in the later...
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...An Examination of Conscience I believe in a loving Savior Who forgives my sins and Who gives me the grace to become a saint. Jesus Christ, through the ministry of His priests, does both in the Sacrament of Penance. "As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you ... Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained." (John 20:21-23) "If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow." (Isaias 1:18) "I am not come to call the just, but sinners." (Matt. 9:13) "Men have received from God a power not granted to angels or archangels. Never was it said to the heavenly spirits, ‘Whatsoever you shall bind and unbind on earth shall be bound and unbound in heaven.’ The princes of this world can only bind and unbind the body. The power of the priest extends further; it reaches the soul, and it is exercised not only in baptizing, but still more in pardoning sins. Let us not blush, then, to confess our faults. He who blushes to discover his sins to a man, and who will not confess, shall be covered with shame on the Day of Judgment in the presence of the whole universe." (St. John Chrysostom, Treatise on Priests, Bk. 3) Prayer before Confession: O Lord, grant me light to see myself as Thou dost see me, and the grace to be truly and effectively sorry for my sins. O Mary, help me to make a good confession. How to Confess: First examine your conscience well, then tell the...
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...The importance of being earnest essay "A Trivial Comedy for Serious People," The Importance of Being Earnest jokingly criticized Victorian manners and morals and attacking the society of the rich and luxurious. Oscar Wilde incorporated his own beliefs and ideology into the play by alluding to Victorian society "lets duplicity led to happiness." It is this "happiness" Wilde's play focuses on by concentrating the theme of the play on marriage. Alluding to marriage, The Importance of Being Earnest begins with the witty and selfish Algernon. It is Algernon who is the amoral bachelor and has not one problem with that because he believes that "divorces are made in heaven" and is utterly against marriage as viewing marriage a waste of time (118). The reasoning for Algernon's views is a stand in for Wilde's own beliefs. The aristocratic Victorians valued duty and respectability above all else. Earnestness a determined and serious desire to do the correct thing was at the top of the code of conduct. Appearance was everything, and style was much more important than substance. So, while a person could lead a secret life, carry on affairs within marriage or have children outside of wedlock, society would look the other way as long as the appearance of propriety was maintained. For this reason, Wilde questions whether the more important or serious issues of the day are overlooked in favour of trivial concerns about appearance. Gwendolen is the paragon of this value. Her marriage proposal...
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...To what extent do male and female literary characters accurately reflect the role of men and women in society? A lasting piece of literature is a work that accurately reflects the role of the people during certain time period eloquently. This is best perpetuated in the short novel Kitchen written by Banana Yoshimoto and the play The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde. While the main characters Mikage in the novella and Gwendolyn in the play reflect the shifting role of women in the Japanese society and Victorian era respectively, Yuichi and Algernon, on the other hand, however reflects the role of men through unconventional means. Through subtle use of symbolism, Banana Yoshimoto and Oscar Wilde highlights to what extent these two characters accurately reflect the role of men and women in Japan during the 1980s. Mikage in the novella and Gwendolyn in the plays both follow the philosophy of women in the Japanese society in 1980s and British upper class in Victorian era respectively. The main character in Kitchen, Mikage, a young student living in Tokyo, is trapped between the traditional role of women in the Japanese culture and her desire for independence. To comprehend the context of the literature and the character portrayed, one should possess a thorough knowledge of the author, Banana Yoshimoto. The novel is written in 1988, in which Japan was in the midst of the longest economic boom it experienced since the World War II. Yoshimoto, who was in her early twenties...
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...thinking – the eastern and the western. Though each line is concerned with finding the right path to follow, the methodology and teachings of the philosophers from either line of thinking has been distinct and different. This paper aims to examine the ideas of one eastern and one western philosopher – Confucius and Socrates respectively and compare the two for similarities and differences. One of the greatest philosophers from the eastern school of philosophy, Confucius was a just and righteous man, who adhered to ancient Chinese customs, ideals and conformed to the principles pre-laid by ancient sages. Because of his fame as a man of ideals, his counsel was often sought upon by kings. In his advice to emperors, Confucius stressed on the importance of examples. He believed if the emperor lead his subjects by leading an exemplary life, his subjects would follow and the state would be harmonious and prosper. His virtue of ethics was based on a simple rule – do not what you do not wish to be done to yourself. This is a powerful statement that underlines the aim of following virtuous acts – bad is something which you do not want for yourself, good actions are the ones which you wish to be returned to you. Through this statement, people could contemplate the impact of their actions on others and for themselves, decide upon what was right and what was wrong. In his advice to emperors, he preached for a rule of non-violence. Vadim Kotelnikov quotes Confucius on a website with regard to...
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...States was a gradual event that had definitions of federal government being given in federalist 46 and 28 which gave definitions of a federalist government to the United States. As stated by James Madison one of the architects of the federal kind of government, “the state and national governments are in fact but different agents and trustees of the people, constituted with different powers." The purpose of such a kind of government was to protect the rights of the people in all its earnestness. The evolution of the United States can be seen over a specific time period. Between 1970 and 1930 the form of government was known as layer cake federalism or dual federalism. There were clear powers divided between the states and the centre and there was sovereignty given in equal measure to both. Between the years 1930 and 1960 the structure was known as Cooperative federalism or marble cake federalism where the state and the central government shared functions and collaborated on issues of national importance and priorities. The 1960s to 1980s were known as picket fence federalism and was characterized by high and overloaded cooperation and regulations which were not only interfering between the powers of the centre and state but also cross cutting. From 1981 to the present time is known as the new federalism which is marked by devolution of power between the centre to the state governments but...
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...Twelve Angry Men – Text Response “Somebody saw the kid stab his father. What more do we need?” Twelve Angry Men explores the value of facts and the fallibility of human memory.” Discuss. Set in the summer of 1957, Reginald Rose’s play, “Twelve Angry Men,” centers around twelve men summoned with the task of deciding a young man’s fate. During the course of the play, Rose expounds the notion that human memory is errable and the malleable nature of facts. He emphasis, through the jurors, the need to question what constitutes as a ‘fact’ when examining the evidence presented and that it is only human to “make mistakes.” In a case where most of the evidence is comprised of witness’ testimonies, a key factor in the jury’s decision will be the perceived reliability of the witness. 8th juror repeatedly questions the reliability of the case witnesses. With no signs of malevolence or judgment, he urged others to consider the premise that “witnesses can make mistakes,” and to remember that in this case, such mistakes could cost the accused, his life. Rose utilized the 8th juror to point out that witnesses are “the entire case for the prosecution,” so every perspective must be considered before the jury unanimously decides to “send a boy off t die.” The fact that absolute accuracy of human memory is difficult, if not, impossible to establish, forms the basis for 8th juror’s argument for reasonable doubt. The 9th juror suggests its is possible that in order to “be recognized, to...
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...“Wilde empowers his female characters but also undermines them”. To what extent do you agree with this view? Wilde’s comedy of manners play, The Importance of Being Earnest, holds a satirical outlook on Victorian life. Wilde uses both satire and farce in his play written and set in 1895 to depict a slightly exaggerated version of society as it was, with all its forms of hypocrisy, double standards and repression of women. Wilde chose to invert the usual gender roles in Victorian literature by portraying the women with a position of power and influence in their relationships and the men as fairly passive. However, as Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff “Bunbury” about the women they love, they appear to dominate not only their facades but the women’s own lives and relationships. In addition, Wilde uses comedic effects throughout the play when presenting Lady Bracknell, Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew, allowing them to be seen collectively as foolish and incredibly naïve. Lady Bracknell is first and foremost a symbol of Victorian earnestness. Initially, we see that she is powerful, arrogant, conservative, and proper. In many ways, she represents Wilde's negative opinion of the Victorian upper-class, their power and conservative and repressive values. Lady Bracknell's authority and power are extended over each and every character in the play. Her decision about the suitability of both marriages in the play provides the conflict of the story. She tells her daughter quite...
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...The Lottery Topic of Society and Class On a basic level, "The Lottery" asks us to think about the rituals and traditions we unthinkingly follow as members of our society. Beyond critiquing the ways in which custom obscures right and wrong, the lottery also becomes a way of analyzing "traditional" social and gender divisions: the random distribution of paper means some families are fortunate and others aren't. We think it's significant that it's paper that has come to replace wood chips – much as paper money has taken the place of gold or goods for barter. The paper, either in the lottery or in your wallet, is symbolic of exchange value; as we get more "civilized," we lose track of what this paper really means. In the case of both the lottery and cash, paper can mean fortune, either good or bad – and it's disturbing how much life (and wealth) can be left up to the gambles of chance. Questions About Society and Class – Please answer the following questions and be prepared to present your ideas to the class. 1. How would you characterize the village's society? Happy? Affluent? Patriarchal? How does it compare to your own village/town/city? 2. What kinds of values do the townspeople seem to hold about the social roles of men and women? Do these roles have any connection to the lottery? 3. What's up with the children of the village – specifically the boys – being the first to stockpile stones? What, if anything, is Jackson trying to suggest about children? 4....
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...English 202 8 June 2014 Final Paper In “The Importance of Being Earnest,” Oscar Wilde unmasks the societal contradictions of modern Victorian society. In a way this story is a Comedy of Manners because it makes fun of the idea of the upper class and how the people in it went about getting married. I think Wilde was trying to accomplish something when writing this story and that was to show how ridiculous the process of marriage was in the upper class in particular. His main point of this story is to show how shallow and hypocritical Victorian society is. The main two characters in the story are Jack and Algernon. They both have alter ego’s in order to escape the restraints that Victorian society impresses upon them. Jack is expected to take care of the young Cecily but he cannot resist the urge to party and have fun. As a result, he comes up with an alter ego named Ernest. He tells Cecily that Ernest is his younger brother and that he gets in trouble all the time. Being that he is the older brother he expresses that he has to get his Ernest out of trouble all the time when really he is just partying and escaping the life he really doesn’t want to live. Algernon also has an alter ego named Bunbury whose grave health conditions provide him with the excuse to escape to the country as and when he pleases. The fact that the two main characters have created alter egos to escape the life they are currently living shows that Wilde wanted to portray how people would do certain...
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...‘The tone says life is fun. The undertone suggests life is a catastrophe’. To what extent do you think Eric Bentley’s comment about the dramatic genre of comedy is relevant to Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest? The philosopher and literary critic Sigmund Freud agreed with Bentley’s statement on the dramatic genre of comedy, agreeing that ‘every joke contains an element of seriousness; a joke is never just a joke’. Wilde uses many aspects of comedy to back this opinion. The character of Lady Bracknell was created as a comic tool by Wilde to generate fun for the audience; her dialogue is essentially a way of creating humour, despite her domineering nature which is made absurd and ridiculous to mock the upper classes. This creates a light hearted tone. However, Wilde also uses the character of Lady Bracknell to express the undertone of catastrophe through her unwittingly funny comments on serious subjects. As soon as Lady Bracknell enters in Act one Wilde uses her as a tool to mock marriage. She talks about Lady Harbury who has recently lost her husband and, Lady Bracknell comments, ‘she looks quite twenty years younger’. Lady Harbury looking well is certainly due to the restraints of her strict Victorian marriage being broken, so she can now live ‘for pleasure’. In the 21st century if your husband died you would mourn his death, because modern marriages are mainly for love, not to gain status and money. This is part of the tone which Wilde has set of frivolity...
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...A) Analyse and interpret Colm Tóibín’s short story “A Journey” When reaching a blind alley it takes two steps in order to move on. Firstly, one will have to recognize the impermeable obstacle. Secondly one is forced to turn around and light up the path that was previously travelled. In so doing one becomes aware of the mistakes which were made; more importantly, one can navigate around the dead-end and discover a new road. Correspondingly to the above, Colm Tóibín introduces a mom who recalls her past with the intention to mend the broken bonds within her family. The short story starts in medias res and is told by a 1st person narrator, in form of a mother. The reader is thrown directly into a conversation and it is hard to determine time and place. However, we quickly learn that we are in a car with the mother. It is a dark night in March and she is driving home having just summoned her son, David, after his long hospitalization due to his depression. As the title suggests the mother is on a journey. Nonetheless it is not an ordinary journey. The mother travels physically when driving on the road, but the road evokes thoughts about her past, which makes her travel on a metaphysical level as well. She is clearly in a miserable situation – her husband is sick and her son is depressed. The mother avoids referring to her son as a patient suffering from a depression; instead she refers to his illness as suffering from silence, which surfaces in the lines 32-33. This indicates...
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...Body Language Body Language: Body language is the movement or position of your body that shows other people how you are feeling, even though you do not tell them in words. It includes both gestures and postures. Gesture: Gesture is a movement of the hands, arms or head, etc. to express an idea or feeling. Posture: Posture is the way in which someone usually holds their shoulders, neck and back, or a particular position in which someone stands, sits, etc. Important gestures: Gestures are components of speech, not accompaniments or ‘add-ons’ (Adam Kendon’s 2008 term), but actually integral parts of it. If you look around and watch someone talking face to face or through mobile in informal terms, you are likely to see the hands and arms in motion. Gestures are considered as the most evocative form of nonverbal communication the speakers can employ. No other kind of physical action can enhance your speeches in as many ways as gestures. They clarify and support your words, dramatize your ideas, lend emphasis and vitality, help dissipate nervous tension, function as visual aids and stimulate audience participation. So gestures should be purposeful, meaningful and visible. "I am the most spontaneous speaker in the world because every word, every gesture, and every retort has been carefully rehearsed." George Bernard Shaw Types of gestures: There are four major types of gestures: 1) Descriptive gestures 2) Emphatic gestures 3) Suggestive gestures and 4) Prompting gestures ...
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...However, several of the things that made Spurgeon successful I am unable to emulate. The first, and most obvious, is his preaching style and comfort in the pulpit. Being a woman I am not able Biblically to be in the same position as he was. Additionally, I have not been gifted with the oratory talents that Spurgeon was blessed with. However, I can be a teacher and show the love and earnestness that he did to those I am teaching. I can also show the humility that he showed in being given the opportunity to teach. Secondly, this isn’t something I am incapable at doing, but just do really poorly and I think it takes a special kind of person to do, it listening to people. Spurgeon would spend hours and hours listening to people and helping them with their problems. I can listen to people, but I am more of the action doer than the listener. I have a tendency to zone out or get distracted. I truly want to listen and care for them, but I have difficulty in doing so. I also have trouble showing true caring and love to those that I am listening to. Spurgeon was known to be loving and caring and empathic to the point he would cry alongside...
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