Oscar Wilde and Modern Day Satire

Major British Writers IIScott Anthony Joy

The Importance of Being Earnest, written by the infamously eccentric and deliciously flamboyant Victorian-era playwright Oscar Wilde, debuted at the St. James Theatre in 1895. This play would be the crowning jewel of Wildes list of wildly (pun intended) successful comedies in the late 1800s. People laughed hysterically at the brilliantly concocted situations Wildes characters found themselves in, and laughed even harder at the razor-sharp wit with which they interacted with each other and the world around them. But the real joke wasthese Victorian audiences were laughing at themselves! Wilde, coming from wealth, spent his entire life immersed in parlors and exclusive clubs with the cream of London. Wilde quickly learned that Victorian society was a minefield of mores, manners, and customs. Also, through a backlash from his fellow socialites early in his career, he learned that life in Victorian society is very public. In a time when not speaking, thinking, or dressing in a certain manner meant social suicide, Wilde spoke, thought, and dressed differently. And yet, he was the toast of London. Wilde used his God-given humor and lightning-quick wit to charm the pants off of the social elite and not only survive ostracization but, as his plays received monumental success, become one of the first examples of celebrity. And though a part of Wilde adored the lifestyle of a Victorian dandy, he also carried contempt for the hypocrisy and triviality of Victorian society and spent his whole body of work holding a mirror up to his audiences so they could see how they acted. By showing what Victorian socialites said and how Victorian socialites acted in a heightened version of their reality and infusing it with humor, he was able to get them to take a good look at their flaws. It is for this reason that Oscar Wilde was a true satirist and prepared the ground for many modern satirists to hold a mirror up to their respective societies.

Satire, as defined by the dictionary, is the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc. In order to make the societal folly recognizable to the audience member, a good satirist will take the folly and exaggerate it so it can be recognized by the audience member. In Earnest, Wilde notes how people will lie to others to get out of social obligation instead of just being honest by having Algernon speak of his life as a Bunburyist. While an Victorian audience member may avoid an unpleasant engagement by saying he is sick, Wilde creates a character who has invented an invalid friend who, fortunately for him, can worsen in condition whenever the time is ripe. While another audience member might go to the club and not tell his wife, Jack leads a double life as a man named Earnest so he can go to the city or the country as he pleases. When Lady Bracknell meets Jack as a suitor for Gwendolyn, she does not question his moral character and instead asks how much money he has and what his position is in society. While a Victorian woman may be trying to live an idealized relationship with her husband ignoring his opinions or feelings, Cecily has ignored the participation of the her future husband completely by detailing a thorough history of her relationship with Earnest in her diary before she even meets him. She obviously cares little about the actual man she marries, as long she can project her fantasies upon him. She is so committed to her fantasy that she cannot marry a man who isnt named Earnest. This is a completely trivial and inapplicable detail to us, but to her it is a necessary component in her fantasy. Aside from these examples, there are several little quips throughout the play pointing out the idiocy of Though these behaviors may seem like extremities to us, and seemed that way to Wildes audiences, they are completely rooted in the behaviors of the time. Whether you are looking at a lit candle or a forest fire, both were lit with a match.

Modern day satire is very much cut from the same cloth as The Importance of Being Earnest. Long-running television shows such as The Simpsons, South Park, and Family Guy have garnered huge fan-bases and truckloads of money by sticking to the same idea: taking a look at the flaws of our society by taking familiar types of people with defining traits and exaggerating their behaviors. Just as everyone in Victorian society would have known a Lady Bracknell, everyone in our society knows a Homer Simpson. Maybe that persons stupidity does not have the same severity as Homer Simpson, but it is still present in who they are. By turning up the dial on every day peoples less desirable qualities we are left with the stupidity of Homer Simpson, the mischievousness of Bart Simpson, the greed of Eric Cartman, the snobbery of Brian Griffin, etc. Satire in Wildes time and in our time also both play on the idea of archetypes as a way for audiences to draw similarities between the fictional world and their world. Just as Algernon is the essence of a Victorian dandy (a snapshot of Wilde himself) and Jack embodies the qualities of a rake, Chris Griffin is the epitome of the awkward teenage boy. By creating characters that are one-hundred percent derived from a recognizable archetype, the audience fully understands the way a character thinks and is so comfortable with the identity of the character that they will embrace whatever message of societal folly that the writer puts in front of them. If a character is rooted in that archetype down to their core, the writer can make whatever twists and turns they choose and the audience will be responsive. This lends itself more to modern day satire, as the majority of todays notable satire is received through the medium of television where the form is episodic. Wilde only wrote one play, so whatever his characters journey may be, and whatever lessons may be learned along the way, that is all we get. When the curtain goes down, the satire is over. The beauty of satirical television is that we can follow Homer Simpson over the course of a half-hour and learn from his mistakes and then tune in next week for a brand new lesson. While Wildes play is constantly produced, the text hasnt changed since 1895. The Simpsons have been kicking out social commentary for twenty-four seasons (five-hundred and fourteen episodes). The biggest difference between Wildes satire and modern day satire is the tact with which it is delivered. As time has advanced, people have derived less enjoyment from the bouncy rhetoric and intellectual wit of work such as Wildes and no longer want to work as hard in their forms of entertainment. As a result, modern day satire has a tendency to be crude and blatantly obvious in its intentions. This doesnt hinder the brilliance of the satire of today, but it certainly does not have the grace of Wildes subtle wordplay.Though the mediums and stylistic approaches are different, these television shows and Earnest follow the exact same fundamental principles of satire.