Concetti Chiave
- In "The Importance of Being Earnest," Lady Bracknell disapproves of Jack's engagement to her daughter due to his origins as a foundling.
- "Lady Windermere’s Fan" mocks high society, highlighting hypocrisy through the Duchess's blunt revelations about infidelity.
- "Salomé" is a tragedy based on a Biblical story, written in French due to British stage restrictions on depicting Biblical figures.
- "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" reflects Wilde's prison experience, critiquing societal norms and exploring the harsh realities of incarceration.
- Wilde uses his works to critique societal norms, often through irony and the exploration of controversial topics.
The importance of being Earnest
In the first part Lady Bracknell, Gwendoline’s mother, finds Jack kneeling in front of her daughter who announces their engagement to her. So Lady Bracknell asks some question to the boy to understand if he is a rich and a respectable man. But when she discovered that he is a foundling she gets angry and walks away.In this second part Cecily tells Algernon that they were engaged but Algernon says that he doesn’t know anything. Then Cecily explains him how they became engaged but she says that she loves him only for his name is Earnest, that isn’t his true name.
LADY WIDERMIER’S FAN
In this play Wilde critics and mokes the stereotypes of high society. A Duchess goes to Lady Windermere’s home to say that Mister Windermere goes to the house of a prostitute. The Duchess isn’t delicate, she advices her to take her husband away in Humburg or in Aix and when lady Windermere says that her husband and her were married for love the duchess confess that also his husband had been with a prostitute during the first times of their marriage.
SALOME'
It’s a tragedy based on the Biblical episode of Salomè, who dances for King Herod and asks for the head of John Baptist in exchange. Salomè wants to kiss Jokahaan but he doesn’t want. So she killed him to have his head and kiss his lips. At that time British law forbade the depiction of Biblical characters on stage, so Wilde wrote the play originally in French, and then produced an English translation.
THE BALLAD OF READING GAOL
Published on 1898 with the pseudonym C3-C (Wilde’s prison reference number). It is dedicated to a men sentenced to death and hanged in Reading Goal for killing the woman he loved. This ballad is autobiographic, in fact Wilde had been incarcerated in Reading, after being convicted of homosexual offences and sentenced to two years' hard labor in prison. He is an external observer, he can’t give any judgment or opinion about the justice of the laws. He knows only that the life in prison is hard and long. Moreover, there is a critics to the society, particularly in the last stanza, because he says that all men killed the thing they love and there are many types of people who do it differently.
Domande da interrogazione
- Qual è la reazione di Lady Bracknell quando scopre che Jack è un trovatello?
- Come viene rappresentata la società alta in "Lady Windermere's Fan"?
- Qual è il tema principale de "The Ballad of Reading Gaol"?
Lady Bracknell si arrabbia e se ne va quando scopre che Jack è un trovatello, poiché sta cercando di capire se è un uomo ricco e rispettabile.
In "Lady Windermere's Fan", Wilde critica e deride gli stereotipi dell'alta società, mostrando come la Duchessa non sia delicata e riveli a Lady Windermere che suo marito frequenta una prostituta.
"The Ballad of Reading Gaol" si concentra sulla dura vita in prigione e critica la società, sottolineando che tutti gli uomini uccidono ciò che amano, in modi diversi.
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