Gwendolen Fairfax Essay

In Oscar Wildes play The Importance of Being yearning reflected the changing role of straightlaced women. The character Gwendolen Fairfax was most like the women of the condemnation. She is much like her mother, noblewoman Bracknell, who seemed actually strong and independent. The women of the Victorian age were arouse in educating and improving themselves. Both intellectually and cosmetically, women wanted to be bust and have more rights. Gwendolen was a pretentious women who was obsessed with the name of grave. She state that she wouldnt want to marry anyone without that name.Her superficial stead concerning this is reflective of Victorian times, when middle to upper-class women were most relate with appearance and reputation. These women felt that it was very important to appear honorable and virtuous, and their husbands had to reflect that anatomy. It was a pretentious attitude of the time. Gwendolen also attended lectures, which was a way of improving herself intellec tually. She was a view woman, who had her own thoughts. When she gives an opinion she gives it with authority.She is flirtatious with Jack/Earnest and comes off as a woman who expects her own way. She is much like her mother, Lady Bracknell. Lady Bracknell attempts to influence her daughters marital decisions, and it is clear that she is most concerned with image as well. Sources say that the ideas of marriage in the Victorian epoch were less romantic. Marriage served the purpose of a woman being interpreted care of and having an honorable reputation. Having a husband was very much a status symbol. We can see that even though Jack was untruth about his name, he is supposed to be Earnest. The importance of being Earnest as the play title suggests, is actually the importance of maintaining the right image of honor and respectability. The fact that Lady Bracknell was independently in charge of her daughter, shows that women were comme il faut a bit more free. She was not a single mo ther, yet due to the sickness of the father she was able to do as she smiling and have a say in who her daughter marries. Before this time it was the father who had that right. Women slowly became more and more influential, and her character reflects that.Works CitedLandale, Nacy S.. foul Ideology and Sexuality among Victorian Women. Social Science History, 36. 2 (1986) 147-170. JSTOR. 6 Apr. 2007 . Murray, Isobel, ed. Oscar Wilde The Major Works. Oxford Oxford University Press, 2000. Questia. 6 Apr. 2007 . Nicoll, Allardyce. A History of Late Nineteenth degree Celsius Drama, 1850-1900. Vol. 1. Cambridge, England University Press, 1946. Questia. 6 Apr. 2007 .