Wilde created in the opening scene
‘The Importance of Being Earnest’. Use comedic devices and refer to the text By merchantable In the opening scene of The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wiled creates a farcical and unrealistic world. Wiled creates a theoretical world during the conversation between Algerian and Lane; the audience would expect Lane to obey Leghorn’s every command with yes sir. However, Wiled insinuates that Lane is comfortable around Algerian, the audience can also observe that the two men share n informal relationship.
Although we can witness the informal side to their relationship, the audience can also notice the class hierarchy between Algerian and Lane, “l didn’t think it polite to listen, sir. Despite Wiled creating an informal relationship between the two characters; he still wants the audience to understand that there’s still an employer-employee boundary between Algerian and Lane. Wiled also creates an unrepeatable world within Leghorn’s views on marriage and divorce, “Good heavens! Is marriage as demoralizing as that? Algerian expresses his oblivious views that are considered as unrealistic compared to Lane’s views of marriage for example. Wiled uses epigrams to suggest Leghorn’s views In the opening scene, Wiled also humorously explores the use of epigrams in his play to give a comedic vibe during the scene, Wiled takes everyday sayings and plays with the arrangement of Its words, “divorces are made in heaven”, despite the fact that It shows the audience how the character feels, the epigram also suggests the farcical world that Wiled has created.
Wiled continues to create a farcical world as Lane and Leghorn’s conversation carries on, the permitted of social class bewilders and confuses the audience-“If the lower orders don’t set us a good example, what on earth Is the use of them? “. The audience are extremely foreign to Leghorn’s attitudes towards the lowest group in the social hierarchy as traditionally the rich are seen as more superior than the lower class and the rich look down at the poor. In reality the rich should be setting an example for the lower class; however the reversal of fortune creates a grotesque world.
The subject of ‘Bundy alongside the use of magnolia’s creates an unrepeatable world for the audience; both Jack and the audience discover this peculiar word that Wiled has created. Furthermore, the misdiagnosis of ‘Bundy creates comedy for the audience. The absurdity of this newly discovered word creates an entertaining aspect for the audience. Also Jack learned that he was In fact a ‘Bunters’; again this creates a comedic element within the opening scene, not only does Jack have no concept of what a ‘Bundy is; Jack has discovered that he is one.
To conclude, Wiled creates a farcical and unrepeatable world with the use of comedic devices, such as: magnolia’s, perpetual and epigrams. Wiled uses these comedic devices to emphasis on the absurd views of Algerian, the small conflict between Jack and Algerian and the peculiar relationship between Lane and 1 OFF a typical Victorian society. The two characters interact with each other the way we wouldn’t expect in the Victorian era; they also don’t have typical upper class Victorian views. Therefore, this shows the farcical world that Wiled created in the opening scene.
