Opus 30: Oscar Wilde as a Satirist: Part III
Continue on with "Satire as Mirror"
Chasuble: "I am a celibate, madam."
The character of Dr. Chasuble can be seen as Wilde's subtle critique of contemporary Anglican Church. We can see this from both his actions and others' reactions to him. Again, going back to the Victorian's obsession with appearances, Chasuble is a character who appears to be doing his job. But upon a closer inspection, we find that he has lots of poor qualities. He is not exactly knowledgeable. In Act III he claims to have "completely refuted" the "heretical views of the Anabaptists", but we are told that he has not yet published a single work. He is not humble, as he flowers his common speech with classical allusions ("Egeria") to show off his education. He is not chaste; he pretends to be a chaste celibate, but obviously (as we can see by his actions to Prism, her reactions, and the ending of the play) he has been flirting with Miss Prism for a long time. He is neither charitable nor caring. When he learns from Jack the death of "Ernest", he did not offer a single word of pity for Ernest, and instead takes the occasion to compliment Jack as "the most generous and forgiving of brothers"; afterwards Algernon arrives on the scene, which reveals the falsity of the death of "Ernest", Chasuble takes no notice of this gross "revival" of Ernest. He is not serious. In Act II, after he has learn that "Ernest" died of a chill, he tells Prism to be charitable to the dead, yet he blows the seriousness of his speech with "I myself am peculiarly susceptible to drafts." At the end of the play, it is reasonable that the two pairs of lovers embrace each other, but why on earth did he and Miss Prism embrace each other? This shows the unserious nature of Dr. Chasuble. With all these poor qualities Chasuable is hardly a good clergy. But other people's reaction to him is even more revealing to the general character of the Church for the Victorian high society. Let us consider Jack and Algernon's christenings: they did it entirely out of convienence. Not only did Chasuble oppose them; they did not even expect an opposition from Chasuble. This shows that the general attitude towards religion is hardly a religious one. Again, Lady Bracknell's casual question for Chasuble: "May I ask what position she holds in your household?" shows just how common it is for church servants to step out of their bounds. From The Importance of Being Earnest we can see that the Church of England has some serious problems.
Prism: "Mr. Worthing! I am unmarried."
Miss Prism represents the girl who is stuck between the upper and the lower class. Being educated and sensible to high society's values, she cannot accept a "fall" out of society. She has two paths: either marry into the upper class, or remain as a second-class servant, barely surviving. Since Miss Prism is not married, then as a servant she must serve the upper class ideology; very clearly, Prism's role is to transmit upper class capitalist patriarchal values to Cecily. She trains Cecily in a absurd and repetitive manner; she protects her patron, Jack, from negative comments: her defense "You must reemmber [Jack's] constant anxiety about that unfortunate young man his brother" is hardly true; she serves to perpetuate masculine values by becoming an object of desire to Dr. Chasuble. Curiously enough, it seems that within the superficial character of mere servant there lies a crack of light that makes characters like Prism a victim of high Victorian society in another sense: she might be a woman of real power who is ruthlessly suppressed by her society. She could be a Dorathea from Middlemarch. Prism, afterall, does know her German and geology (or else it would not have been possible to be a tutor); she also wrote a novel, which, according to Lady Bracknell, is absolute vulgar and revolting - but we should know better than to trust the opinion of Lady Bracknell. Whether Prism is a victim in the sense of surpressed social movement or surpressed genius is up for idle speculation. The point is that in Victorian high society there is a class of people like Miss Prism to help perpetutate the high class ideology.
Lane and Merrimen: "I do my best to give satisfaction, sir."
The two male servants are differed from a character like Miss Prism in the sense that they properly belong to the lower class, wage earners who do not really care about the affairs of upper class society. In the opening dialogue of the play, Algernon asks Lane "Did you hear what I was playing, Lane?" Lane replies, "I didn't think it polite to listen, sir." Piano playing is a symbol of class, and Lane does not have the class to listen to Algernon's supposedly sentimental playing. Servants like Lane and Merrimen are waged slaves who serve as a "lane" for everyone to caprices except for themselves; around them are full of "merry men", but they themselves are not merry. They lack the economic power to even achieve the status of "human" in the upper society; throughout the entire play Lane and Merrimen either say "yes" or they are transmitting other people's messages. For Algernon and Jack, Lane and Merrimen are convienent but replacable tools; for Lady Bracknell they do not exist.
Jack: "...the name Ernest...I don't think the name suits me at all."
By the end of the play, Jack has become the ideal man in an unideal society: he is rich, with several thousand pounds in investment; he is young, just twenty-nine years old, occupying his time with smoking and possessing the "delicate exotic fruit" of ignorance; he is class, as he is the elder brother of Algernon and nephew of the socially powerful Lady Bracknell; he has even got the perfect name, Ernest, a name that kills so many young ladies in society. Jack understands the high society perfectly, knowing that morality is a "duty", as well being perfectly capable of appearing very attractive, as his clever answers for Lady Bracknell testifies. He seems to be a genuine person; from the dialogues we can tell that he is sincerely in love with Gwendolen, honestly happy about knowing his true identity, and candidly sorry for his previous Bunburying experience (with his "brother" "Ernest"). This seems to shed some favourable light onto Victorian high society: if there are more people like Jack, perhaps the immoral spirit of capitalism will find its compromise and balance with some genuine ethics. Lady Bracknells, our Algernons, our Chasubles will continue to exist, but they will be checked by the few but acknowleged-ideals like Jack. All these propositions, however, contain the important word "seem". Jack seems genuine; but how can anyone not be disturbed by his action in Act III, when he blackmails Lady Bracknell, withholding consent to Algernon and Cecily's marriage unless she grants his own? This is exactly the capitalist calculative way of thinking that we are trying to keep in check. However, in the play, Jack hardly cares about the happiness of Cecily; the goal is to obtain his own satisfaction at whatever price necessary. In deed Jack treats marriage as business; indeed marriage is a business game. The play ends optimistically as Jack realizes the importance of being earnest. But it is hardly safe to say if Jack has indeed learn his lesson. I am skeptical as to whether Jack or the entire Victorian high society can be earnest at all.
Chasuble: "I am a celibate, madam."
The character of Dr. Chasuble can be seen as Wilde's subtle critique of contemporary Anglican Church. We can see this from both his actions and others' reactions to him. Again, going back to the Victorian's obsession with appearances, Chasuble is a character who appears to be doing his job. But upon a closer inspection, we find that he has lots of poor qualities. He is not exactly knowledgeable. In Act III he claims to have "completely refuted" the "heretical views of the Anabaptists", but we are told that he has not yet published a single work. He is not humble, as he flowers his common speech with classical allusions ("Egeria") to show off his education. He is not chaste; he pretends to be a chaste celibate, but obviously (as we can see by his actions to Prism, her reactions, and the ending of the play) he has been flirting with Miss Prism for a long time. He is neither charitable nor caring. When he learns from Jack the death of "Ernest", he did not offer a single word of pity for Ernest, and instead takes the occasion to compliment Jack as "the most generous and forgiving of brothers"; afterwards Algernon arrives on the scene, which reveals the falsity of the death of "Ernest", Chasuble takes no notice of this gross "revival" of Ernest. He is not serious. In Act II, after he has learn that "Ernest" died of a chill, he tells Prism to be charitable to the dead, yet he blows the seriousness of his speech with "I myself am peculiarly susceptible to drafts." At the end of the play, it is reasonable that the two pairs of lovers embrace each other, but why on earth did he and Miss Prism embrace each other? This shows the unserious nature of Dr. Chasuble. With all these poor qualities Chasuable is hardly a good clergy. But other people's reaction to him is even more revealing to the general character of the Church for the Victorian high society. Let us consider Jack and Algernon's christenings: they did it entirely out of convienence. Not only did Chasuble oppose them; they did not even expect an opposition from Chasuble. This shows that the general attitude towards religion is hardly a religious one. Again, Lady Bracknell's casual question for Chasuble: "May I ask what position she holds in your household?" shows just how common it is for church servants to step out of their bounds. From The Importance of Being Earnest we can see that the Church of England has some serious problems.
Prism: "Mr. Worthing! I am unmarried."
Miss Prism represents the girl who is stuck between the upper and the lower class. Being educated and sensible to high society's values, she cannot accept a "fall" out of society. She has two paths: either marry into the upper class, or remain as a second-class servant, barely surviving. Since Miss Prism is not married, then as a servant she must serve the upper class ideology; very clearly, Prism's role is to transmit upper class capitalist patriarchal values to Cecily. She trains Cecily in a absurd and repetitive manner; she protects her patron, Jack, from negative comments: her defense "You must reemmber [Jack's] constant anxiety about that unfortunate young man his brother" is hardly true; she serves to perpetuate masculine values by becoming an object of desire to Dr. Chasuble. Curiously enough, it seems that within the superficial character of mere servant there lies a crack of light that makes characters like Prism a victim of high Victorian society in another sense: she might be a woman of real power who is ruthlessly suppressed by her society. She could be a Dorathea from Middlemarch. Prism, afterall, does know her German and geology (or else it would not have been possible to be a tutor); she also wrote a novel, which, according to Lady Bracknell, is absolute vulgar and revolting - but we should know better than to trust the opinion of Lady Bracknell. Whether Prism is a victim in the sense of surpressed social movement or surpressed genius is up for idle speculation. The point is that in Victorian high society there is a class of people like Miss Prism to help perpetutate the high class ideology.
Lane and Merrimen: "I do my best to give satisfaction, sir."
The two male servants are differed from a character like Miss Prism in the sense that they properly belong to the lower class, wage earners who do not really care about the affairs of upper class society. In the opening dialogue of the play, Algernon asks Lane "Did you hear what I was playing, Lane?" Lane replies, "I didn't think it polite to listen, sir." Piano playing is a symbol of class, and Lane does not have the class to listen to Algernon's supposedly sentimental playing. Servants like Lane and Merrimen are waged slaves who serve as a "lane" for everyone to caprices except for themselves; around them are full of "merry men", but they themselves are not merry. They lack the economic power to even achieve the status of "human" in the upper society; throughout the entire play Lane and Merrimen either say "yes" or they are transmitting other people's messages. For Algernon and Jack, Lane and Merrimen are convienent but replacable tools; for Lady Bracknell they do not exist.
Jack: "...the name Ernest...I don't think the name suits me at all."
By the end of the play, Jack has become the ideal man in an unideal society: he is rich, with several thousand pounds in investment; he is young, just twenty-nine years old, occupying his time with smoking and possessing the "delicate exotic fruit" of ignorance; he is class, as he is the elder brother of Algernon and nephew of the socially powerful Lady Bracknell; he has even got the perfect name, Ernest, a name that kills so many young ladies in society. Jack understands the high society perfectly, knowing that morality is a "duty", as well being perfectly capable of appearing very attractive, as his clever answers for Lady Bracknell testifies. He seems to be a genuine person; from the dialogues we can tell that he is sincerely in love with Gwendolen, honestly happy about knowing his true identity, and candidly sorry for his previous Bunburying experience (with his "brother" "Ernest"). This seems to shed some favourable light onto Victorian high society: if there are more people like Jack, perhaps the immoral spirit of capitalism will find its compromise and balance with some genuine ethics. Lady Bracknells, our Algernons, our Chasubles will continue to exist, but they will be checked by the few but acknowleged-ideals like Jack. All these propositions, however, contain the important word "seem". Jack seems genuine; but how can anyone not be disturbed by his action in Act III, when he blackmails Lady Bracknell, withholding consent to Algernon and Cecily's marriage unless she grants his own? This is exactly the capitalist calculative way of thinking that we are trying to keep in check. However, in the play, Jack hardly cares about the happiness of Cecily; the goal is to obtain his own satisfaction at whatever price necessary. In deed Jack treats marriage as business; indeed marriage is a business game. The play ends optimistically as Jack realizes the importance of being earnest. But it is hardly safe to say if Jack has indeed learn his lesson. I am skeptical as to whether Jack or the entire Victorian high society can be earnest at all.
posted by Tristan at 10:11 p.m.
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