Puns in the Importance of Being Ernest

Wilde uses puns throughout this play, but the major pun is found within the title. In The Importance of Being Earnest, the pun, widely considered to be the lowest form of verbal wit, is rarely just a play on words. The title, -The Importance of Being Earnest,- insinuates the importance of being honest and truthful, while playing on the male name, Ernest. The pun in the title is a case in point. The earnest/Ernest joke strikes at the very heart of Victorian notions of respectability and duty. Gwendolen wants to marry a man called Ernest, and she doesn’t care whether the man actually possesses the qualities that comprise earnestness. She is, after all, quick to forgive Jack’s deception. In embodying a man who is initially neither â€Å"earnest† nor â€Å"Ernest,† and who, through forces beyond his control, subsequently becomes both â€Å"earnest† and â€Å"Ernest,† Jack is a walking, breathing paradox and a complex symbol of Victorian hypocrisy. -Earnest – means serious or non-frivolous. Many of the characters in the play spend their time trying to convince each other, and themselves, that they are high-minded people with strong morals and are admired in society. But Oscar Wilde presents them all in such a way that their interests and ethical ideas will seem ridiculous and trivial to most of the audience. -Ernest – is a man's name. Much of the action of the play turns on whether Jack Worthington's first name is Jack, or Ernest. Normally a man's first name is of no great importance in his life, but in the extremely silly world of this play – it is the most serious element of the plot. (Many people who know the play well never realise that we don't get a satisfactory answer to this crucial question). So the pun is that the title of the play appears to mean: The Importance of being a Serious Person; but when we watch the play we realise that the real title is: The Importance of having Ernest for a First name. ex: Algernon- You have always told me it was Ernest. I have introduced you to every one as Ernest. You answer to the name of Ernest. You look as if your name was Ernest. You are the most earnest-looking person I ever saw in my life. We can find puns on the names of the other characters in the play like in: -‘Miss Prism' – The name is a pun on ‘misprision', which has two definitions. The older is very dark, involving the concealment of official neglect, crime or possibly treason. The more modern meaning closely resembles the character's multiple misunderstandings. – Chasuble – The word chasuble is a vestment worn during services. This is, of course, appropriate given the nature of Chasuble’s profession. Chasuble’s name is also a pun because when said aloud can sound like chaseable. Regarding Miss Prism, he is in fact chase-able, which he had previously claimed he was not. Act I, scene 1, Algernon â€Å"Anyone can play (piano) accurately but I play with wonderful expression† – This is a good thumbnail of Wilde’s philosophy of art. Wilde was heavily influenced by Walter Pater and the other aesthetes of the Victorian age. They believed art should concern itself only with its aesthetic qualities that art should exist for art's sake alone. Therefore, art should not be a straightforward representation of reality–it should not be â€Å"accurate,† as Algernon would say–but rather it should be an extension of its creator's artistic styles. Hence, it should have â€Å"wonderful expression. Act I, scene 1, Algernon – â€Å"If the lower orders don't set us a good example, what on earth is the use of them? † – We have a humorous depiction of class tensions here, where Lane, the butler, is given his fair share of droll sayings, and even Algernon seems to recognize that the lower clas has more power than they seem to. Act I, scene 1 (Algernon to Jack) Algernon: â€Å"You don’t seem to realize that in married life; three is company and two is none. † And also in Act II, scene 1 (Lady Bracknell when she finds out about the proposal of Jack) L. Bracknell: â€Å"†¦An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant, as the case may be. † Oscar is again poking fun here at the institution of marriage, a practice surrounded by hypocrisy and absurdity. Aristocracy does not see marriage as an organ of love but rather as a tool for achieving a sustaining social stature. Act I, scene 1, Puns are also used during the conversation between Algernon and Jack in town. To accuse Algernon a liar just like dentists who lies about cavities, Jack has said, -â€Å"My dear Algy, you talk exactly as if you were a dentist. It is very vulgar to talk like a dentist when one isn’t a dentist. It produces a false impression†. This is very funny because we can see that Jack is also lying about his brother, but he is judging Algernon as if he is a very honest person. Later, when Jack reveals all his truth about the name Ernest, Algernon responds by saying: Algernon: â€Å"What you really are is a Bunburyist. You are one of the most advanced Bunburyist I know. †¦ â€Å"Besides now that I know you to be a confirmed Bunburyist, I naturally want to talk to you about Bunburying. I want to tell you the rules. This is very funny, because Algernon is trying to be honest to Jack about advising him of an action that in fact is itself dishonest and false. The pun is when Algernon thinks that Jack deserves to be advised and learn the rules, since he turned out to be a real Bunburyist, even the most advanced one. This is very ridiculous! As if Jack was discovered to be a man with high principles or qualities. Act I, scene 1 Algernon: â€Å"You must be serious about it. I hate people who are not serious about meals. It is do shallow of them. † This is also very ridiculous. What we expect is Algernon asking Jack to be serious with Gwendolen, about their first 10-minute meeting at Algernon’s. Actually, what surprises and makes us laugh is that Algernon immediately asks Jack to be serious about the food. They care about trivial things. But every instance food is mentioned – from the Algernon’ opening discussion of wine with his servant, Lane, to the girls’ insult over tea and the guys’ climatic fight over muffins-is fraught with conflict. The fight over something as basic as food-something that every human being has a carnal need for (like Algernon’s wolfing down of the cucumber sandwiches to Lady Bracknell distress, Jack’s settling for bread and butter, Algernon’s consumption of Jack’s wine and muffins)- we suspect that the food fights are all puns for mocking their repressed sexual life expression and frustration in the face of unusually domineering women. Algernon. [Picking up empty plate in horror. ] Good heavens! Lane! Why are there no cucumber sandwiches? I ordered them specially. Lane. [Gravely. ] There were no cucumbers in the market this morning, sir. I went down twice. Algernon. No cucumbers! †¦Algernon. I am greatly distressed, Aunt Augusta, about there being no cucumbers, not even for ready money. Act I, scene 1 (Lady Bracknell to Algernon) Lady Bracknell: â€Å"Well, I must say Algernon that I think it is high time that Mr. Bunbury made up his mind whether he was going to live or to die. This shilly-shallying with the questions is absurd. Nor do I in any way approve of the modern sympathy with invalids. I consider it morbid†¦I should be much obliged if you would ask Mr. Bunbury from me to be kind enough not to have a relapse on Saturday for I rely on you to arrange my music frame†¦Ã¢â‚¬  It is difficult for Victorian people to understand an interest in something that is so far removed from their daily pleasure, nor to sympathy. Also at the end when they both kill off their imaginary alter egos or friends without much to-do, shows Victorian society’s real values. The Victorian era did not value honesty, responsibility, or compassion for the under-privileged (neither Lady Bracknell nor Algernon exhibit much pity for â€Å"Bunbury† when he â€Å"dies†), but only style, money and aristocracy. It is appropriate that the pun in the sentence when L. B is talking about â€Å"Bunury† death as an appointment to be simply fixed or arranged, and the nonexistent character of â€Å"Bunbury† itself show how shallow are the Victorians’ real concerns. Act I, scene 2 Lady Bracknell starts her conversation by showing to be a very concerned and affectionate mother who wants his expectations meet her requires. The first question she asks is about smoking. Smoking is a harmful, money-consuming habit that needs to be killed, while we find a pun when L. Bracknell turns to be in favor of this habit of Jack. Besides, she considers it as an important occupation or a man. Lady Bracknell: †¦Do you smoke? Jack: Well,yes,I must admit I smoke. Lady Bracknell: I am glad to hear it. A man should always have an occupation of some kind. We face up with many ironic situations during L. Bracknell’s discuss with Jack in act 1, scene 2, making fun to the false, empty ideals of Victorian society, mocking the so-called virtue qualities of the upper class that pretends to be high-educated. The puns are when L. B gives an appreciation of Jack’s being ignorant. She is pleased with Jack’s ignorance, and the most absurd is that she pays high tributes to ignorance by comparing it to a delicate exotic fruit. †¦ Lady Bracknell. A very good age to be married at. I have always been of opinion that a man who desires to get married should know either everything or nothing. Which do you know? Jack. [After some hesitation. ] I know nothing, Lady Bracknell. Lady Bracknell. I am pleased to hear it. I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square.

Animal Farm 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Animal Farm 2 - Essay Example Animalism is used to represent other characters such as Old Major to represent Vladimir Lenin, while Napoleon represents Stalin and dogs act as his police force. The horse named Boxer represents the working class of the Russian society. The plot represents the tragedy of the revolution that ended up in failure. The animalistic utopia revolves around this violent revolution that the animals carry out. What sets this novel apart is intelligence in telling the story of revolution from inception to conclusion through respecting the limitations that humans and animals face. The term animalism is reminiscent of communism. The formation of a complete system/pattern and the following revolution closely represents the real pattern. Squealer, Napoleon and Snowball transform old Major’s ideas into reality. Later squealer and Napoleon start acting like humans as they drink alcohol, sleep in beds and start trading. All of these activities were originally prohibited in the seven Commandments. Squealer modifies the seven Commandments so that such activities can find their ‘legitimate’ place, similar to what happened during the Russian Revolution. A direct reference exists to the Soviet government’s plan of revising history so they can plant those seeds of thoughts that they deem fit. The formation and reference of seven Commandments directly enacts the communist approach. For instance the seven commandments hold that anything that walks on two legs is a foe. On the contrary a creature that walks on four legs or flaps its wings is part of the community. The seven Commandments also prohibit certain traits that separate them from humans. No animal is allowed to wear clothes, sleep in a bed or consume alcohol. Any indulgence in such activities would compromise the distinctive boundaries. The sixth and seventh commandments are there to support the social structure

Post-modern Business Discourse Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Post-modern Business Discourse - Essay Example Over the past two decades there has been a significant increase in the amount of environmental legislation passed in both the UK and the USA. However, it has been noted that the requirement to disclose environmental information in annual reports of organisations does not align with the pace of legislative reform with regard to environmental performances (Holland & Foo, 2003). Between the UK and the USA, voluntary disclosure of environmental information has led to differences in reporting practices. The exploratory study by Holland and Foo in 2003 investigated the corporate environmental reporting practices in the UK and the USA. They concluded that legislative and regulatory framework factors that make recommendations for legal and regulatory frameworks are influenced by environmental performances, and in turn determine the types of disclosures made in annual reports. Within the UK, it appears that disclosure is able to be clearly identified in annual reports, and the content focuses mostly on the management of environmental activities through management systems. In contrast, in the USA, there is clearly more focus on legislation, which produces a response in the annual report. Hence, it seems that the UK method of disclosure of environmental information is clearly separated and places the user needs first. However, this may be a process of legitimation, whereby disclosure justifies the environmental activities.

Letter on the desire to become a college coach Essay

Letter on the desire to become a college coach - Essay Example I have for this reason been following their games and training sessions and I am informed of their potentials, to be exploited, and their weaknesses that should be managed for success in competitions. Besides my personal interest in the college team and my passion for its success, I have extensive and outstanding skills and qualities that meet the college’s expectation of a football coach. I am a trained coach who meets the national coaching standards for a national league team. My experience as a coach also establishes confidence in my performance potentials. Based on my training, I have the capacity to ensure the student’s physical fitness through offering safe training. This guarantees mitigation of the college’s liabilities that would arise from student’s injuries while on sporting duties, either in trainings or in competitions. I have successfully achieved this as a high school coach, a position in which I served for six years. My experience also includes coaching special team’s ‘runningbacks’, wide receivers, tight ends, and offensive coordination. My personal attributes include a firm belief in positive coaching, and respect and discipline among team members. I am also a hard worker who ensures motivation of my team for effective preparations before each game. Further, I am a self-motivated individual, self reliant, positive, a self-starter, energetic, trustworthy, and a team player. My skills and experience, therefore, identify my qualification as the best candidate for this job. This is because my intrinsic motivational features and my long-term passion for the team have already established a commitment towards a high-leveled leadership and management that will not depend on external environmental factors. My successful coaching experience also guarantees success with the college team. Similarly, my leadership potentials will ensure a good relationship between the team and the school

Cultural Studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Cultural Studies - Essay Example The basic understanding has been brought forward by the rationale as provided by Geert Hofstede as well as a number of other thinkers, researchers of current times as well as of the past. The fact that cultural studies and its attainment is significant lies in the rationale that comes from the discussion of value, authority, power and its linked associations. This is because cultural studies are inter-twined with such elements which require understanding of pertinent issues within the related domains of culture and not only that but also the whole paradigm under which a society operates in entirety. Issues of structuralism, where an attempt at studying the human sciences is of utmost significance, are raised ever more so often. What this does is to establish a need for connecting the very basis of mythological and other fields with the complex systems comprised within the inter-related parts of the structural domains. (Hawkes, 2003) The inter-disciplinary tangents within the cultural studies make it all the more interesting, more so due to the fact that there is a cultural harmony amongst the different regimes which bring about the association of the varied disciplines in the first place. The inter-disciplinary issues could focus a little towards the anthropological, literary theory and/or psychoanalysis aspects so that the relation within the cultural studies is one of a significant one all this while. Similarly, post-structuralism is also an important ingredient of this debate as it brings to light the quintessential domains of intellectual developments related with different philosophers and critical theorists who have written meticulous tendencies with respect to different eras. Cultural understandings become even more essential when one comprehends the fact that the same phenomenon is in close alliance with postmodernism and its sub-forms. (Waterbury, 1993) Thus theory and practice play alongside each other towards the betterment of the

Explain the negative and positive issues that are now affecting the Essay

Explain the negative and positive issues that are now affecting the health of the UK economy and so, justify whether you believe that the UK economy is likely t - Essay Example The sub prime crisis meant the fall in the value of US dollar against most currencies of the world. The tentacles of subprime crises choked the progress of the UK economy to some extent and forced an interest rate cut. However with the expectation of the global economy to increase by 5% the UK markets expanded rapidly. Let us now compare the growth of UK economy with the other major economies of the world and discuss the various issues that affected the UK economy in 2007. We will also see the positive and negative issues that are now affecting the UK economy in 2008 and see whether the UK economy will continue its good run or struggle in 2008. In 2007, the growth in the emerging markets was stronger than expected and the growth in the developed countries was below the expected level. However, among the developed economies, UK was an exception recording a growth higher than the expected level. Growth in the UK economy was 3.1 % which is about 0.7 percentage point better than the expected growth. Growth in US economy was 2.2% against 2.3% predicted at the start of the year 2007. Growth is Japan was 1.8% while the expected growth was 2%. It is important to note that US and Japan are the largest economies of the world. ... UK economy has performed strongly in 60 consecutive quarters. Issues that affected UK economy in 2007 In the middle of the year 2007, negative sentiments were running high in England and the UK economy showed signs of recession. Some analysts felt rumours about a possible recession were highly speculative as the growth in the UK economy was well above the target. Negative issues Although the UK economy's growth was well above target there were certain issues that raised concern. 1. Global credit market crisis: The break out of global credit market crisis in the second half of 2007 forced the US to slash its short term interest rates by 100 basic points. UK joined US in slashing the interest rate and made minor changes to its monetary policy. The credit market crisis also resulted in lower bond returns in spite of the strong economic growth and higher interest rates. During this crisis the banks suffered from lack of credit to fund the growing economy. 2. Fall of UK housing market: Worries about a possible downfall of UK housing market made recession a high possibility. The UK housing market experienced severe downfall of prices. The housing market also saw very few mortgage approvals and lending in the 2007. Very few mortgages were approved in UK because of the high rate of defaulters in US. The high default rate of borrower lend to the sub prime crisis in US. UK did not want a similar situation in its economy. 3. Recession in manufacturing industry: The manufacturing industry was already into its second year of recession. The manufacturing sector performed dismally bad in 2006. Experts believed that the manufacturing industry because of its poor show in 2006 would suffer from lack

Business plan for starting Mountview Park in Broomfield Term Paper

Business plan for starting Mountview Park in Broomfield - Term Paper Example The Mountview Park is proposed to be a unique dinner and entertainment experience for the local people from around Broomfield, tourists from around America and other countries who visit Colorado’s rocky mountain. The business mission of Mountview Park is â€Å"to establish a multicultural restaurant for the customers to entertain in views of rocky-mountains†. In today’s changing business environment, developing business strategies and structuring business mission with a view to acquire and retain customers and to ensure customer satisfaction have become the core to the heart of preparing an effective business plan (Crego, Schiffrin and Kauss, 1995). The Mountview Park considers measuring and evaluating customer satisfaction as the primary tool to be used for gaining insight in to values and needs of prospective customer base.   With a vision to discover emerging business opportunity, transform the opportunity to business reality and design and develop newer foo d and various multicultural organic food for meeting the needs of those who come to rocky mountains to entertain, the company thrives to function as a dynamic and sophisticated resort. The major business objectives of Mountview Park includes:†¢Ã‚  Serving the customers an excellent combination of organic food and drinks, †¢Ã‚  Establish a unique natural park where customers are free to entertain in areas of rocky mountains of Colorado, and†¢Ã‚  Build stronger customer loyalty... The business mission of Mountview Park is â€Å"to establish a multicultural restaurant for the customers to entertain in views of rocky-mountains†. In today’s changing business environment, developing business strategies and structuring business mission with a view to acquire and retain customers and to ensure customer satisfaction have become the core to the heart of preparing an effective business plan (Crego, Schiffrin and Kauss, 1995). The Mountview Park considers measuring and evaluating customer satisfaction as the primary tool to be used for gaining insight in to values and needs of prospective customer base. With a vision to discover emerging business opportunity, transform the opportunity to business reality and design and develop newer food and various multicultural organic food for meeting the needs of those who come to rocky mountains to entertain, the company thrives to function as a dynamic and sophisticated resort. The major business objectives of Mountv iew Park includes: Serving the customers an excellent combination of organic food and drinks, Establish a unique natural park where customers are free to entertain in areas of rocky mountains of Colorado, and Build stronger customer loyalty by converting each customer who once visits to the park to be an asset of long term profitability. The Park will provide 24/7 services and online booking and other facilities for customers from other countries. As its Financial management planned, it would achieve a gross revenues of more than $ 25, 00,000 by the sixth month and to reach total sales of more than $80,00,000 by the end of first business year. It also plans to increase