Desire and Poor Choices

Paper Summary:

The paper examines "The Importance of Being Earnest", by Oscar Wilde and "The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus", by Christopher Marlowe and shows how both of the main characters in the works, Jack and Dr. Faustus, are men that are driven by needs and desires. The paper illustrates how each author brings out the danger of seeking something that does not belong to us, the poor choices desire causes us to make, and the influence society has on the human psyche's desire.

From the Paper:

"Both plays explore the dangers of seeking something that does not belong to you and should not belong to you. In The Importance of Being Earnest, Jack desperately wants a life that is different from his own. He goes to great extremes to make this double life as real as possible. He secretly detests the Victorian values that he outwardly respects and honors. Jack is clearly a hypocrite but he likes it that way. As Earnest, he can live the life he desires without tarnishing the reputation of good Jack. His explanation for his double life is, that a "high moral tone can hardly be said to conduce very much to either one's health or one's happiness" (Wilde 670)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Marlowe, Christopher. The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York: W. W. Norton and Company. 1986. pp. 814-65.
• Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest. An Introduction to Literature. Barnet, Sylvan, ed. 8th. ed. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. 1985. pp. 665-719.

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