RAJIV GANDHI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF LAW

ENGLISH PROJECT

THE TRIAL BY FRANZ KAFKA

SUBMITTED BY- SUBMITTED TO-

Bhava Sharma Mrs.Tanya Mander

1st year B.A LLB (hons) science Assistant Professor of English

Section-B

Roll no-17108
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my respected teacher Mrs.Tanya

Mander ma’am who helped and guided me in completing this project.

She helped me a lot in gathering different information and guided me from time to time in
completing the project. This project helped me a lot in knowing the nuances of doing
research and also taught me a number of different things which might help me in my
future assignments as well.

I would also like to thank the library staff who assisted in finding the appropriate books
for my project and also in collecting the relevant data that came in handy in the
construction of my project. Special thanks to my friends who kept me motivated whenever
I lost my enthusiasm and gave me new ideas that made my project unique.

Bhava Sharma

(17108)

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction

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 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project entitled: The Importance of being Earnest has been
prepared and well researched upon by the bona fide student Bhava Sharma, 1st year B.A
LLB (Hons) of Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law under the supervision of
Mrs.Tanya Mander, Assistant Professor of English.

___________________

Mrs.Tanya Mander

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 The Importance Of Being Earnest

-Oscar Wilde

1. INTRODUCTION

A) Dramatist

Author Oscar Wilde was known for his acclaimed works including The Picture of Dorian
Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest, as well as his brilliant wit, flamboyant style
and infamous imprisonment for homosexuality.

After graduating from Oxford University, he lectured as a poet, art critic and a leading
proponent of the principles of aestheticism. In 1891, he published The Picture of Dorian
Gray, his only novel which was panned as immoral by Victorian critics, but is now
considered one of his most notable works. As a dramatist, many of Wilde’s plays were
well received including his satirical comedies Lady Windermere's Fan (1892), A Woman
of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being
Earnest (1895), his most famous play. Unconventional in his writing and life, Wilde’s
affair with a young man led to his arrest on charges of "gross indecency" in 1895. He was
imprisoned for two years and died in poverty three years after his release at the age of 461. 

B) Text

The Importance of Being Earnest opened in the West End of London in February 1894
during an era when many of the religious, social, political, and economic structures were
experiencing change — The Victorian Age (the last 25-30 years of the 1800s). The British
Empire was at its height and occupied much of the globe, including Ireland, Wilde's
homeland. The English aristocracy was dominant, snobbish and rich — far removed from
the British middle class and poor.2
1
Available at,” https://www.biography.com/people/oscar-wilde-9531078, accessed on (12th March 2018).

2
Available at, “https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/i/the-importance-of-being-earnest/about-the-
importance-of-being-earnest, accessed on (13th March 2018).

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Many novelists, essayists, poets, philosophers and playwrights of the Victorian Age wrote
about social problems, particularly concerning the effects of the Industrial Revolution and
political and social reform. Dickens concentrated on the poor, Darwin wrote his theory of
evolution describing the survival of the fittest, and Thomas Hardy wrote about the
Naturalist Theory of man stuck in the throes of fate. Other notable writers such as
Thackeray, the Brontes, Swinburne, Butler, Pinero, and Kipling were also contemporaries
of Oscar Wilde. In an age of change, their work, as well as Wilde's plays, encouraged
people to think about the artificial barriers that defined society and enabled a privileged
life for the rich at the expense of the working class.

Although the themes in The Importance of Being Earnest address Victorian social issues,
the structure of the play was largely influenced by French theatre, melodrama, social
drama, and farce. Wilde was quite familiar with these genres, and borrowed from them
freely.

A play by W. Lestocq and E.M. Robson, The Foundling, is thought to be a source

of Earnest, and it was playing in London at the time Wilde was writing Earnest. The
Foundling has an orphan-hero, like Jack Worthing in Wilde's play.

A farce is a humorous play using exaggerated physical action, such as slapstick, absurdity,
and improbability. It often contains surprises where the unexpected is disclosed. The
ending of  Earnest, in which Jack misidentifies Prism as his unmarried mother, is typical
of the endings of farces. Farces were usually done in three acts and often included changes
of identity, stock characters, and lovers misunderstanding each other. Wearing mourning
clothes or gobbling food down at times of stress are conventions that can be traced to early
farces.

C) Age or Historical Context

The Importance of Being Earnest is first and foremost a farce, a comedy of manners
whose main goal is to amuse the audience, rather than to make them think. As a comedy, it
is rooted much less in a specific history or place than many plays.

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Nevertheless, the play does contain a few references to contemporary historical events,
which suggest a troubled society underneath the glossiness of the characters that Wilde
portrays.

One of the primary critiques of Wilde's play is that it is form without content, and does
not deal seriously with any social issues (this, of course, is consistent with Wilde's
doctrine of Aestheticism).

In a contemporary review, the socialist playwright George Bernard Shaw reacted to The
Importance of Being Earnest's seeming heartlessness--he would prefer to think that people
are capable of speaking something other than nonsense.

However, some of the topics mentioned briefly in the play indicate larger political issues
that were the subject of heated debate at the time that it was produced. One such subject
was the issue of Home Rule for Ireland. William Gladstone created a controversy in 1886
when he committed the British Liberal party to support Home Rule--self-governance for
Ireland within the framework of the British Empire.

As Lady Bracknell examines Jack's suitability as a partner for Gwendolen, she inquires

about his politics. Jack is a Liberal Unionist, meaning that he is a Liberal who does not
support Home Rule. Lady Bracknell appears relieved, saying: "Oh, they count as Tories.
They dine with us."

The political distinction matters only insomuch as it affects Lady Bracknell's social
engagements, rather than having to do with the right or wrong of Home Rule for Ireland.

The only reason for Wilde's characters to get incensed about politics is if politics threaten
to disturb their hedonistic lifestyle or the social hierarchy that they have grown
comfortable with. The threat of a revolution like the French revolution continuously hangs
over British society.

Lady Bracknell is exceedingly alarmed to hear that the imaginary Bunbury died by
explosion.

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 "Exploded! Was he the victim of a revolutionary outrage? I was not aware that Mr.
Bunbury was interested in social legislation. If so, he is well punished for his morbidity."

Her unease reflects a general feeling of fear regarding social unrest in the 1890s,
particularly after a working-class riot in Trafalgar Square in 1885. The word morbidity
does well to describe Wilde's characters' attitudes toward politics. It is difficult for them to
understand an interest in something that is so far removed from their daily pleasures.

In last analysis, it is unfair to suggest that The Importance of Being Earnest is a shallow,
universal farce which has no ties to the historical context in which it was created.

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