How did Oscar Wilde explore Hypocrisy?

How did Oscar Wilde explore Hypocrisy?

The  novel Importance of being Earnest by Oscar Wilde was written in 1835 during Victorian Periods.Throughout the play , the reader discovers many themes , such as marriage , or the hypocrisy of the society during that period.Wilde utilizes various ways to approach this, which are his use of inversions and his satirical language.

 in the opening of act2 , Wilde uses inversions when Gwendolen says’ the old fashion respect for the young is fast dying out.Whatever influence i ever had over mamma , i lost at the age of 3.’This leads to the reader being flabbergasted by the current statement which in fact meaning the whole opposite.This is however an interesting notion from Gwendolen as it clarifies her view on how the role of respect differs through.Aswell as she adds her own experience of it to back up her statement.Moreover this could also be a device used by Wilde to give his own opinion on the society which he really dislike after their numerous prejudices on his sexuality.In other words Wilde is seeking  ‘ a payback’.

Furthermore , there is another moment when Oscar Wilde uses Inversion.This is when Algernon says: ‘Divorces are made in heaven’In this part of the play , Wilde labels divorces as a gift of God which is Heaven.Notwithstanding, this could have various purposes.Perhaps Wilde is trying to give his personal views on marriage. However another possibility could be that Wilde is trying to create a character that would mock the system of marriage which was prominent during  Victorian Era’s as it would set your status and importance in the society.Therefore Wilde might be exposing the attitudes of some characters toward marriage during that particular moment which left a mark on him.

Wilde also criticizes the hypocrisy of the society by exploring many other themes , such as money , and attitude towards marriage.Lady Bracknell being a member of the aristocracy is one of Wilde’s main targets.She comes across as a character which has a list of ‘eligible bachelors’.Just by that this the audience gets an idea of her personality and her position in the hierarchy of statuses.Nevertheless she is also established by Wilde as  ‘money hungry’.This is shown throughout her interrogation, when she states’:A country house! how many bedrooms?well that point can be cleared afterwards’ The use of punctuation and the use of prosodic feature is also important to maximise the semantic of this quotation. Consequently , Oscar Wilde uses Lady Bracknell to criticize the behaviour of the upper class and expose it to his readers.