How are the characters, attitudes and prejudices of Cecily Cardew, Miss prism and Dr. Chausable are established during the opening of Act 2’

The importance of being Earnest is a script which was written by Oscar Wilde throughout Victorian Era. Wilde is keen to expose the hypocrisies of the Victorian era.In this play , he criticize the society by his  abundance use of satire language, his farcical inversions  and by the manner he portrays characters. At the beginning of Act 2 , Oscar Wilde uses various ways to distinguish to his readers the different characters and attitudes towards the society in the play and the way he shows it is by using the Victorian Melodrama ( exaggeration of the society) .

 First of all , i would like to discuss the character of Cecily.She comes across as a character who avoids her schoolbooks and most importantly her German lessons.This is predicated when she says:’But i don’t like German it isn’t at all a becoming language’. She would rather write than read and pulls out her diary, where she records her ‘wonderful secrets’A prominent thing to consider is that Jack Worthing desired himself that Cecily improves in all possible ways however she forgoes to do it , in other hand which could also mean she is refraining from the expectations of the Victorian era. Notwithstanding she also comes across as a welcoming character which confirm her status in the society To refer to the context , during Victorian period the higher class were educated and respectful especially towards other member of the higher class.The reader discover this when she says to Meriman’ I suppose you had better talk to the housekeeper about a room for him’.

The character of Ms Prism is different to Cecily.We first see Miss Prism in her role as educator, which she takes very seriously. As an unmarried woman in a society obsessed with marriage, Miss Prism takes her job as her identity. It gives her some status, when she normally would have none. She uses a lot of flashy vocabulary "utilitarian" and "vacillating" and even tries to impress Dr. Chasuble which she clearly appreciate a lot by her use of coinage such  as "womanthrope’ She is also conveyed  as an affable , virtuous and respectful character.She states: ‘I am surprised at you.  Mr. Worthing has many troubles in his life.  Idle merriment and triviality would be out of place in his conversation .You must remember his constant anxiety about that unfortunate young man his brother’. From this junction we learned that she highly approves of Jack’s presumed respectability and harshly criticizes his “unfortunate” brother.

The last character i would like to analyse is Doctor Chasuble. As the only clergyman in the play Wilde uses him really effectively to expose hypocrisy of the Victorian society. The playwright has already lampooned or publicly criticized  the Victorian ‘virtues’ of beauty, youth, fashion, social ascendancy, and education  he isn’t going to leave out religious piety. Chasuble is willing to christen the two wannabe Ernest’s which are Algernon and Jack with no real interrogation . Christening is a sacrament, usually meaning "sacred," but Chasuble just seems gay to get on with the business. Nevertheless this is ironic as during the Victorian Periods , many asserted that religion was the most prominent aspect of life hence be taken really attentively.