Class Notes- Lesson 2

Neil Bartlett states that Wilde's play was 'the finest flower of English campness'

• 'ever since I have met you I have admired you' (17)
• 'I play with wonderful expression... sentiment is my forte' (7) eccentric behaviour
• 'Gwendolene! Darling!' (48)
• play revolves around marriage and love- feminine/ 'camp' topics
• setting= aesthetically pleasing, luxurious 

Genre

• Comedy of manners/modernist play- arguments as to which depending from what angle you look at it
• idea of double/secret life was a recurrent theme in late Victorian England writing
• Treads a series of tightropes- between experimental drama and commercial success, convention and subversion propriety and outrageousness (dictonomy)

A02- Structure

• all comedies consist of same basic structure
• Tripartite (3 parts)
• Exposition - complication - resolution 

TIOBE:

1. features a set of characters overcoming adversity to achieve a happy ending (classical comedy)
2. hidden identities are revealed, class differences are resolved, families are reunited at the end
3. Earnest is also a satire- makes fun of its characters, most of whom are members of the aristocratic class
4. Wilde exaggerates the upper classes shallowness and frivolity to show the corrupt morals they provide as examples 
5. Wilde is witty and funny, his humour relies on absurd characters and situations, whose lack of insight causes them to respond to these situations in inappropriate ways

A01- Language

Motif- recurring element of significant symbolism

Protagonist- first major character with a major particular view

Antagonist- opposes the protagonist 

Bathos- taking an elevated form of tragedy and descending it into the ridiculous

Status quo- established/current state of affairs

Beaus- relaxed, attractive, self-confident men

Fops- dandy men, pay attention to the way they dress and their appearance

Affection- a form of pretense in behaviour   

Trigram- short and witty saying at the start of a text

Repartee- witty banter