Allie Rippel

Dr. Kalaidjian

ENG 305-01

22 March 2018

Gender Roles

At the height of Oscar Wilde’s fame he wrote his final play, “The Importance of being

Ernest”. In this comedic work he focuses on switched identities on a multitude of levels as the

men create alternate identities to escape their responsibilities and the women are portrayed as

powerful and intelligent, both of which do not match the strict Victorian mores and gender roles

of the time. The context of the play and approach to gender roles was vastly different than

tradition plays and challenged traditional social themes of the time that focused on heroic men,

submissive women and action packed plots. The performance of these roles challenged popular

ideals and exposed Wilde’s ideas of tender roles and social obligations.

Wilde first shows this paradigm shift by exploiting the men and their un-masculine

characteristics. As the play opens we meet Algernon and Jack exchanging conversation that is

all too concerned with their dress and the alternate ‘bunburying’ personas that they both use to

escape everyday responsibility. Algernon explains “You have invented a very useful younger

brother called Ernest in order that you may be able to come up to town as often as you like. I

have invented an invaluable permanent invalid, in order that I may be able to go into the country

whenever I choose”(11). The bunburying escapades of both men show that they are not the hard

working, serious and intellectual gentlemen that the victorian ideal expects them to be. Instead

they are consumed by silly games of identity deception that they use to fulfill their own selfish
needs. Wilde is intentionally, and effectively, opposing the androcentric views that were often

the core of most victorian life and literature by showing weak men with flawed natures.

Wilde continues to steer clear of the common patriarchal ideas as we are introduced to

Lady Bracknell and her daughter Gwendolen. Lady Bracknell is a strong female character who

breaks the norms of femininity in literature as she holds power over her male counterparts and

commands respect when she walks into any room. It is clear from the start that Lady Bracknell

is the powerhouse of her family with Gwendolen falling close behind in her footsteps. We get

our first glimpse at Lord Bracknell’s inferiority to his wife in Act 1 when Lady Bracknell

describes how he is “accustomed” to dinning upstairs and away from company when she has

dinner parties. Gwendolen revisits this idea of the hidden male figure in Act 2 when she says

“Outside the family circle, Papa, I am glad to say, is entirely unknown. I think that is quite as it

should be. The home seems to me to be the proper sphere for the man”(60). Lady Bracknell and

Gwendolen show their power as these quotes reveal Lord Bracknell’s reclusive and unfulfilling

life. These women both exemplify and embody Oscar Wilde’s role reversal approach as he turns

the norms upside-down and seeks to expose the flaws of victorian ideals.

Oscar Wilde’s play, “The Importance of Being Ernest” has earned it’s title as his most

famous work as it draws in viewers and readers alike with its unfamiliar approach to gender

stereotypes and forces us to reexamine the triviality of the norms we often fall subservient to.

This play pushes the boundaries of accepted victorian code and critiques the societal standards

set for the roles of men and women. Even today, the irony and satire present throughout the play

still ring true and poke at the heart of our ever-patriarchal society.