“The Importance of Being Earnest” and How Style Contributes to Theme

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Essay #: 051626
Total text length is 8,380 characters (approximately 5.8 pages).

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The beginning:
"The Importance of Being Earnest" and how Style contributes to Theme: An Analysis.
According to Peter Raby in his The Cambridge Companion to Oscar Wilde, “Style in this (as in all serious matters) is of the utmost importance (170).” Though Raby is poking fun at Wilde’s marked playwriting and satirical style, he is correct. The literary style and the elements surrounding this are what define The Importance of Being Earnest as one of the great satirical plays ever written, and certainly a groundbreaker in the world of Victorian Theatre. The themes of decadence, morality and honesty are all amusing hypocrisies mocked for their uselessness within the world of Victorian England; Oscar Wilde makes this point loud and clear through his use of...
The end:
.....ctorian England, but also within the values of modern western culture at large. The themes of decadence, morality and honesty commented on by Wilde in his play The Importance of Being Earnest with the use of plot, tone and irony.
References
Clark, Barrett Harper. The British and American Drama of
To-Day. California: Stewart & Kidd Company, 1921.
Diyanni, Robert. Literature: Approaches to Fiction,
Poetry and Drama, 2nd Edition. New York University:
2008.
Markham, Samantha. “The Importance of Being Earnest.”
British Playwrights, vol. 12 (2009). 30 April 2009
http://british-playwrights.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_importance_of
_being_earnest.
Raby, Peter. The Cambridge Companion To Oscar Wilde.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.