This paper analyzes plays by two English satirists: William Congreve's only play "The Way of the World" (1700) and Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of being Ernest" (1895).
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Paper Summary:
This paper explains that literary critics believe that English social satire flourished because there is so much to satirize; from William Congreve to Oscar Wilde, the so-called "pillars of aristocracy" tend to be pilloried, to the enjoyment of audiences who always tended to think that the satire was about someone else. The author points out that Congreve's "The Way of the World" is a version of that eternal battle between men and women; scattered throughout the play are some witty aphorisms such as "friendship without freedom is as dull as love without enjoyment, or win without toasting." The paper relates that Wilde's "The Importance of being Ernest" is a witty and comic commentary on the fastidious earnestness of turn-of-the-century society whose snobbishness and prejudices deserve to be pricked .
From the Paper:
"Perhaps the highlight of the play is what is now called "the bartering scene" between Mirabell and his beloved, Mrs.. Millament. It may well be the first real "pre-nuptial" agreement except it is the bride doing all the demanding. "Though I am upon the very verge of matrimony," she tells her soon-to-be husband, "I expect you should solicit me as much as if I were wavering at the gate of a monastery, with one foot over the threshold....Oh, I hate a lover that can dare to think he draw's a moment's air, independent of the bounty of his mistress. There is not so impudent a thing in nature, as the saucy look of an assured man, confident of success.." Not only does this seem to make her the first "liberated woman", but also seems to turn the noble Mirabell into a henpecked husband, surely something no male-dominated society has seen before."
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