This blog is in response to the blog task given by Dr. Dilip Barad sir in which we are supposed to do a practical criticism of an allotted poem. In this task we are not allowed to read about poet, about poem backgrounds, and not read to what is time of poem published. We can just have to read the poem and do it's textual analysis.
I.A. Richard was a great critic who developed a new way of reading poetry. He was experiment on practical criticism. He gave poems to students without any information about who wrote them or when they were written. Students can comment on the poem.
This blog based on Virginia Woolf's life, an incident that turns out to be a novel of hers " Orlando: ABiography." This blog also written in response to a post-viewing task of a movie vita and Virginia in connection to Novel Orlando by Virginia Woolf, given by Vaidehi Ma'am.
"VITA AND VIRGINIA"
This Movie based on Virginia Woolf and a female lover. Starring Elizabeth Debicki as woolf and Gemma Arterton as Sackville- west, the film from director chanya Button is set against the backdrop of bohemian high society in 1920s London with a host of characters based on real life people. It includes lines lifted straight from the Literary duo's love letters.
Virginia Woolf meets fellow author vita Sackville-west in London in the 1920s. Despite both women being married, they embark on a love affair that later inspires one of Virginia's most famous novels, Orlando.
During the interwar period, Woolf was a significant figure in London literary society and a central figure in the influential Bloomsbury Group of intellectuals. Her most famous works include the novels Mrs Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927) and Orlando (1928), and the book-length essay A Room of One's Own (1929), with its famous dictum, "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction."
Woolf suffered from severe bouts of mental illness throughout her life, thought to have been what is now termed bipolar disorder, and committed suicide by drowning in 1941 at the age of 59.
Orlando
Orlando: A Biography is a novel by Virginia Woolf, first published on 11 October 1928. A high-spirited romp inspired by the tumultuous family history of Woolf's partner, the aristocratic poet and novelist Vita Sackville-West, it is arguably one of Woolf's most popular and accessible novels: a history of English literature in satiric form. The book describes the adventures of a poet who changes sex from man to woman and lives for centuries, meeting the key figures of English literary history. Considered a feminist classic, the book has been written about extensively by scholars of women's writing and gender and transgender studies.
·How far do you feel that Orlando is influenced by Vita and Virginia’s love affair? Does it talk only about that or do you find anything else too?
The relationship of Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West has gone down in literary history, and even today it holds a fascination, epitomizing the allure of the unconventional, the bohemian, the slightly eccentric and exotic.
On December 15, 1922, Virginia Woolf recorded in her diary that she had met “the lovely aristocratic Sackville-West last night at Clive’s. Not much to my severer taste. all the supple ease of the aristocracy, but not the wit of the artist.”
She was, of course, writing of Vita, the woman who would go on to become her lover, friend, and confidante.
Their affair has inspired biographies, a West End play, and most recently, a 2019 film (the reception of the latter having been tepid). But none have come close to capturing the vibrant nuances and dynamics of their personalities, or the subtleties of a relationship that was more emotional than physical and that lasted until Virginia’s death in 1941.
·What is society’s thought about women and identity? Do you agree with them? If Yes then why? If no then why?
Women's position in indigenous societies has not always been ideal; there is no reason to attempt to paint is so. Contact by and integration into larger economic and political system, could actually improve some women's status, but this is not usually the case. When indigenous societies join larger systems, this leads to a further masculinizations of politics, and integrating these groups into other legal traditions often erodes women's traditional rights to land and resources. Furthermore, women in partially assimilated societies rarely control funds - even those generated by their own efforts.
·What are your views on Gender Identity? Will you like to give any message to society?
Gender roles in society means how we’re expected to act, speak, dress, groom, and conduct ourselves based upon our assigned sex. For example, girls and women are generally expected to dress in typically feminine ways and be polite, accommodating, and nurturing. Men are generally expected to be strong, aggressive, and bold.
Every society, ethnic group, and culture has gender role expectations, but they can be very different from group to group. They can also change in the same society over time. For example, pink used to be considered a masculine color in the U.S. while blue was considered feminine.
·Write a note on the direction of the movie. Which symbols and space caught your attention while watching the moive
'''vita and Virginian" its two subjects and the two women that play them. It is a deeply frustrating movie, a film that not only can’t find the right tone from scene to scene but feels disjointed in individual moments too. It is a bit of a chamber piece, a bit of a romance, a bit of a commentary on creativity, a bit of social commentary, even a bit of magical realism. At a certain point, I started to wonder if the disjointed nature of “Vita & Virginia” was designed purposefully to replicate the structure and themes of Woolf’sOrlando, but decided I was giving a messy movie too much credit. Sometimes a mess is just a mess.
Dystopian is a world in which everything is imperfect and everything goes Terribly wrong. Dystopian literature shows as a nightmarish image about what might happen to the world in the near future.
What is Dystopian fiction
Dystopian literature is a from of speculative fiction that began as a response to utopian literature. A Dystopian is an imagined community or society that is dehumanizing and frightening. A Dystopian is an antonym of a utopia, which is a perfect society.
Difference Between Utopia is Dystopian
The term " utopia" was coined by sir Thomas more in his 1516 book utopia, which was about an ideal society on a fictional island. Unlike utopian literature, Dystopian literature explores the dangerous effects of political and social structures on humanity's future.
Characteristics of Dystopian fiction.
Government control
Government plays a big role in dystopian literature.
In George Orwell's 1984, the world is under complete Government control. The fictional dictator Big Brother enforces omnipresent surveillance over the people living in the three inter continental superstates remaining after a world War.
Technological control
Advanced science and technology in dystopian works go beyond tools for improving everyday life technology is often depicted as a controlling, omnipresent force and is often used as a fear mongering tactic.
Environment control
Dystopian novels are often set in
That are inhabitable, have been destroyed, or are preparing for destruction.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy, written In 2006, is a post apocalyptic story about a father and son venturing across the ruins of America after an extinction event.
Dystopian novels
The dystopian novels has a long, dark and intriguing history. Kicking off in 1726 with Jonathan swift rip roaring satire Gulliver's Travels, it's gone through numerous transformation in the last three centuries.
This blog related to the blog task based on T.S. Eliot: Tradition and Individual Talent given by Dr. Dilip Barad sir.
Introduction:
T.S Eliot's "Tradition and Individual Talent " was published in 1919 in The Egoist - the Times literary supplement. Later, the essay was published in The sacred Wood: Essays on poetry and criticism in 1920. This essay is described by David Lodge as the most celebrated critical essay in the English of the 20th century. The essay is divided into three main sections:
The first sections gives us Eliot's Concept of Tradition;
The second exemplifies his theory of depersonalization and poetry. And in
The third part he concludes the debate by saying that the poets sense of Tradition and the impersonality of poetry are complementary things.
T.S. Eliot
Thomas Stearms Eliot OM was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor. Considered one of the 20th century's major poets, he is a central figure in English-language poetry. As a critic T.S Eliot was very practical. He called himself "A classicist in literature." According to Eliot, a critic must obey the objective standards to analyze any work. He thought criticism as a science. Eliot's criticism became revolutionary at that time. 20th century got 'metaphysical revival ' because of Eliot.
Main Concepts of the Essay
The essay "Tradition and Individual Talent" was first published in "The Egoist ". The Egoist was a literary magazine, which is considered today as "England's Most Important Modernist Periodical". This essay was later published in "The Sacred Wood", which is Eliot's first book of criticism.
The concept of Tradition
In first pat Eliot speaks about tradition, He says : "Seldom, perhaps, does the word appear except in a phrase of censure". It means in English writings they don't see the word 'tradition' in positive way.
He says about Englishman's attitude towards French literature. Englishmen have a habit to feel proud on themselves. That is the proud for their creativity and more for their 'less' criticality. In French there is a mass of critical writing. Eliot compares English with French that they have habit of critical method and English have habit of 'conclusion'.
The Theory of Impersonal poetry:
In this second part Eliot tries to define the process of 'depersonalization' and its relation with the sense of Tradition. The main aspect of this theory is the relation of poetry with the poet.
The conclusion:
At the end, in this third part Eliot says that essay stops at the stating of mysticism. And it can be applied by the responsible person, who really interested in poetry. It is very hard thing to take interest in poetry and to keep a poet aside. We usually read poem with the name and fame of the poet. We cannot separate them from each other.
This blog related to the blog task based on Wordsworth Preface to lyrical Ballads given by Dr. Dilip Barad sir.
What is Wordsworth Preface
Preface to Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth begins with a discussion of the collection of poems, written mostly by Wordsworth with contribution by S.T. Coleridge. Originally published in 1798 - 1800, Wordsworth added an earlier version of the Preface, which extended two years later. Some scholar say that Coleridge wanted to write the Preface but never got around to it so the work felt of Wordsworth instead. In the Preface, Wordsworth writes that the purpose of the collection was to write poems that dealt with things that happen in everyday life. Most importantly, Wordsworth considered each poem in the collection to be an experiment in language usage or diction. In the Preface to Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth outlines his definition of the nature and function of poetry- as well as identifying the qualities that make someone a true poet. Wordsworth breaks down the poets process into four stages observation, tranquility, filtering and imagination. In Preface to Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth wants the poets to show the themes from common life which can be poetic and worthy of the contemplations. Therefore, his poems describe those who live a rustic lifestyle and are closer to the nature and therefore farther away from vanity bred by artifice. Finally, Wordsworth discusses in greater depth the diction of poetry. Diction is important in all of literature, Wordsworth places particular importance on its role in poetry because it is the poet's medium. Wordsworth argues that the diction of poetry and prose is the same and criticizes the Neoclassicists for their "artificial" and "unnatural language". He wants poetry to center on rustic; humble situation using rustic, humble language.
Wordsworth Lyrical Ballads
Poems about common people
Supernatural events in Coleridge
Simple language
Nature worship
Purity of the human soul
Exploration of human memory
And death
Is Preface to Lyrical Ballads a pronouncements on romantic literature
" Preface to lyrical Ballads " is considered as the dividing line between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Even though France philosopher Jean Jacques Rosseau and others had a distinctive idea about this, this Masterpieces gave the Preface shape of this notion.
William wordsworth introduced a new series of writing method which be written in the "language of men." In this respect, John Dryden supported him with his statement,
"It is always a writer's duty to make the world a better place."
Definition of William Wordsworth poetry
Wordsworth also given his famous definition of poetry as " the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility ", and calls his own poems in the book " experimental". A fourth and final edition of Lyrical Ballads was published in 1805.
Important of the "Lyrical Ballads "
Lyrical Ballads is the collection of beautiful verses brought out in 1798 by the poet due of William Wordsworth and S.T. Coleridge, that lent a fresh air of natural feelings to the previously routine, static and urban elite concepts of the English poetry. The book thus heralded the dawn of refreshing romanticism throughout the Literary world. It also redefined the quality, the structure, the benchmark, and the use of colloquialism in the hitherto better loved but less experimented branch of literature that we call poetry.
This blog is in response to the understanding of Bridge course: Dryden's Essay on Dramatic poesy allotted by Dr. Dilip Barad sir.
John Dryden
John Dryden (1631-1700) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who was appointed England's first poet laureate in 1668.
Dryden was the dominant literary figure and influence of his age. Dryden's heroic couplets became the dominant poetic from of the 18th century.
Dryden's Essay on Dramatic poesy
An Essay on Dramatic poesy deals with the views of major critics and the tastes of men and women of the time of Dryden. The narrative of An Essay on Dramatic poesy has four debaters among whom, Neander is the one who holds the views of Dryden.
John Dryden's An Essay on Dramatic poesy presents a brief discussion on Neoclassical theory of literature. He defends the Classical drama saying that it is an imitation of life and reflects human nature clearly. An Essay on Dramatic poesy is written in the form of a dialogue among four gentlemen: Eugenius, crities, lisideius and Neander.
Views of Crites:
Crites favours classical drama. The drama of Aristotle who believed that drama is " imitation of life." He say that both classical and Neoclassical favour rules and unifies- time, place and action. The classical is more skilful in languages than their successors.
Views of Eugenius :
Eugenius favours modern Dramatisis. According to him, the classical drama is not divided into acts and also lacks originality. Their tragedies are based on worn -out myths that are already known to the audience.
Views of Lisideius:
Lisideius favours French drama of earlier 17th century. The French Dramatists never mix tragedy and comedy. Lisideius defends the French playwright and attacks the English tendency to mix genres.
Views of Neander
Neander speaks in favour of the Moderns and respects the Ancients; he is however critical of the rigid rules of drams and that 'tragic - comedy ' is the best form for a play; because it is closer to life in which emotion are heightened by mirth and sadness. He finds single action in French drama to be rather inadequate since it so often has a narrowing and cramping effect.
Dryden thus argues against the Neoclassical critics. Since nobody speaks in rhyme in real life, he supports the use of blank verse in drama and say that the use of rhyme in serious plays is justifiable in place of the blank verse.
This blog is in response to the understanding of Bridge course: Aristotle Poetics given by Dr. Dilip Barad sir.
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Lyceum, the peripatetic school of philosophy, and the Aristotlelian tradition. Aristotle has been called "The father of logic", "the father of biology"," The father of political science "," The father of zoology ", "The father of embryology ", " The father of natural law"," The father of scientific method"," The father of realism"," The father of criticism "," The father of meteorology." Aristotle provided a complex synthesis of the various philosophies existing prior to him. It was above all from his teaching that the west inherited its intellectual lexicon, as well as problems and methods of inquiry.
Aristotle poetics
The poetics is in part Aristotle's response to his teacher, Plato, who argues in The Republic that poetry is representation of mere appearances and is thus misleading and morally suspect. Aristotle approach to the phenomenon of poetry is quite different from Plato's.
Plato's changes on poetry and objections against poets
One of the most difficult concepts introduced in the poetics is Catharsis, a word which has come into everyday language even though scholars are still debating its actual meaning in Aristotle's text.
Poetics is a critical look at poetry and the effect it has on those who consume it. According to Aristotle, poetry leads to a sort of "purification" through eliciting emotions - mainly pity and fear in a process known as Catharsis.
Aristotle's Poetics remains one of the most important pieces of writing in the world history of literature and theatre, offering a specific structure to what Aristotle believed to be a perfect tragedy.
Aristotle writes that, "Poetry is an art of Imitation." Poetics also talk about Comedy and more focuses on Tragedy. Poetics is a defense to Plato's 'Theory of Mimesis.'
Plato's changes on poetry and objections against poets
In mid 1930s, one professor of philosophy called Alfred North Whitehead who had said that,
"All subsequent philosophy is merely a footnote to Plato."
Teacher of Aristotle, Plato wrote a book 'The Republic ' in which he wrote that poets and poetry contribute nothing to the nation and they are mening less. Plato had several changes over poets: according to Plato and therefore, this frenzy is wholly outside reason and it leads to the arousal of emotions which are inappropriate which is ethically not right, morally not right and it includes certain wrongs.
Aristotle defense to Plato
According to Plato poetry is a mere slavish representation of surface reality and thus twice removed from reality. Aristotle defense poetry against this charge strongly and logically. Aristotle says poetry is not a mere mimicry or photographic representation of phenomenal world. Aristotle says that no doubt poetry is an imitation but a creative imitation. According to Aristotle poetry is not removed from reality rather the very reality, the highest truth.
Secondly, Aristotle argues that poetic truth is much higher and universal than that of history. Poetry is more conducive to understanding than even philosophy. He says that it I not the function of a poet to relate what has happened, but what may happen; what is possible according to the laws of probability and necessity.
Thirdly, Aristotle defends poetry against the charges of untruths and impossibilities. Plato fundamental objections against poetry is that poetry presents not facts but fiction, such things as never happened, such things as never lived. Aristotle answer to these changes is that poetry is not reality but a higher reality, what ought to be not what is. Poetry gives not reality but the idea of reality in the poet's mind.
Fourthly, Aristotle defines poetic imagination and its role. He say that the poet may take his material from the rich store house of tradition, myth and legend because what has happened dose not exclude what may happen.
Further in the 'poetics ' Aristotle is giving the Definition of Tragedy
" Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious and complete, and which has some greatness about it. It imitates in words with pleasant accompaniments, each type belonging separately to the different parts of the work. "
Aristotle begins to introduce the six constitutive components of a Tragedy.
Plot
Emphasizing that Tragedy is first and foremost the representation of actions, and not of characters, Aristotle makes the remark that many contemporary tragedies do not succeed in their characterization, but are still tragedies. The tragic effects comes from the plot, and especially from the peripatetic the reversal of the situation in which the character find themselves as well as from scenes of recognition.
Character
Character is second in importance after plot; tragedies depict characters as they relate to the action which is the main object of representation. Characters represent their moral qualities throught the speeches assigned to them by the dramatist.
Thought
Thought comprises both the rational processes through which characters come to decisions, as represented in the Dram, as well as the values put forward in the form of maxims and proverbs.
Diction
Diction has already been defined as the metrical composition of the play, the way language is used to convey the representation.
Song
Music is described as an embellishments of language. The lines assigned to the chorus in a Tragedy are usually conveyed in song accompanied by rhymical movement
Spectacle
Aristotle lists spectacle last In order of importance, pointing out that the power of Tragedy is not fully dependent upon its performance, and that the art of the spectacle really belongs to the set designer and not to the poet.
I hope this information will be helpful to you. Thank you for reading.
Hello readers! This blog is written as our classroom task based on the poem THE RAPE OF THE LOCK written by Alexander Pope. Here answers are given to some questions about this particular poem.
I am giving to YouTube video about this particular poem you can understand easily the story of poem.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
ACCORDING TO YOU WHO IS THE PROTAGONIST OF THE POEM CLARISSA OR BELINDA? WHY? GIVE YOUR ANSWERS WITH LOGICAL REASONS.
"Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll; charms strike the sight , but merit wins the soul."
THE RAPE OF THE LOCK written by Alexander Pope. The first published in 1712. This is mock heroic narrative poem. The final form of the poem appeared in 1717 with the addition of clarissa speech on good humour. The poem was much translated and contributed to the growing popularity of mock -heroic in Europe.
According to me the protagonist of the poem is Belinda. She as a representative lady of the 18th century England. Pope has presented Belinda as a complex character. He has presented her in different roles and under different shades, some are satirical other ironical but all entertaining. The character of Belinda has created much controversy since the publication of the poem. Some critics consider her treatment fair while others as unfair.
There are several aspects of the personality of Belinda as portrayed by Pope in The Rape of The lock. It will be wrong to regard her purely as a goddess, or as a pretty spoiled child, or as a flirt. She is a combination of all three and yet much more than such a combination. We see her as a vamp, an injured innocent, a sweet charmer, a society Belle, a rival of the sun, and a murderer of millions. She has a cleopatra like variety. However, the reality lies in between these two extremes we can discuss her character as blow.
Belinda is the heroine of the story. It is her character around whom the story of the whole poem is woven. We see her sleeping till noon and her awakening by her lap dog Shock. Then we see her proceeding from the Thames River to the Hampton Court. Then her smiting looks upon the well dressed youths that crowds her. Pope compares Belinda to the sun and suggests that it recognized in Belinda a rival. Belinda is like the sun not only because of her bright eyes and not only because she dominates her special world. She was as beautiful as every eye was fixed on her alone. She is like the sun in another regard.
Belinda is a model arid more specifically represents the fashionable, aristocratic ladies of Pope's age. Such social butterflies in eighteenth century were regarded as petty trifles, having no serious concern with life, and engrossed in dance and gaiety. Belinda fall indicates the decadence of her class. Though her, describes the flippancy and depravity of the English society of his day.
Pope attitude to Belinda is very mixed and complicated; mocking and yet tender, admiring and yet critical. The paradoxical nature of Pope's attitude is intimately related to the paradox of Belinda situation. If Belinda is to find her role of woman, she must lose the role of a Virginia, and the more graceful her acceptance of loss the greater the victory she achieved through it. Because Pope is dealing with this paradox, his altitude must be mixed and complicated. It is necessary for Pope to stress Belinda divinity. At the same time he does not let us forget Belinda mortality. He qualifies her goddess ship by emphasizing human qualities. The scene at Belinda dressing table, where she is both mortal priestess and the goddess worshipped in the mirror, is an example of this device. The very frailty and transients of blushes and chastity emphasize this goddess humanity.
The Importance of Being Earnest, in full The Importance of Being Earnest:A Trivial comedy for Serious people, play in three acts by Oscar Wilde, performed in 1895 and published in 1899. A satire of Victorian social hypocrisy, the witty play is considered Wilde greatest dramatic achievement.
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde, in full Oscar Fingal O' Flahertie wills Wilde, Irish wit, poet, and dramatist whose reputation rests on his only novel, The picture of Dorian Gray (1891), and on his comic masterpieces Lady Windermere's Fan (1892) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895). He was a spokesman for the late 19th century Aesthetic movement in England, which advocated art for art's sake, and he was the object of celebrated civil and criminal suits involving homosexuality and ending in his imprisonment (1895-97).
Character of play
Jack worthing /Earnest
The play protagonist. Jack worthing is a seemingly responsible and respectable young man who leads a double life. In Hertfordshire, where he has a country estate, Jack is known as Jack. In London he is known as Earnest. As a baby, Jack was discovered in a handbag in the Victoria Station by an old man who adopted him and subsequently made Jack Guardian to his granddaughter, Cecily Cardew. Jack is in love with his friend Algernon's cousin, Gwendolen Fairfax. The initials after his name indicate that he is a justice of the peace.
More than any other character in the play, Jack worthing represents conventional Victorian values; he wants others to think he adheres to such notions as duty, honor, and responsibility, but he hypocritically flouts those very notions. Indeed, what Wilde was actually satirizing through Jack was the general tolerance for hypocrisy in conventional Victorian Morality. Jack uses his alter- ego Earnest tohis honorable image intact. Ernest to enable Jack to escape the boundaries of his real life and act as he wouldn't dare to under his real identity. Earnest provides a convenient excuse and Disguise for Jack, and Jack feels no qualms about invoking Ernest whenever necessary. Jack wants to be seen as upright and moral, but he doesn't care what lies he has to tell his loved ones in order to be able to misbehave. Though Ernest has always been Jack unsavory alter ego, as the play progrsses Jack must aspire to become Earnest, in name if not behavior. Until he seeks to marry Gwendolen, Jack has used Earnest as an escape from real life, but Gwendolen Fairfax on the name Earnest obligates Jack to embrace his deception in order to pursue the real life he desires. Jack has always managed to get what he wants by using Ernest as his fallback, and his lie eventually threatens to undo him. Though Jack never really gets his comeuppance, he must scramble to reconcile his two worlds In order to get what he ultimately desires and to fully understand who he is.
Algernon Moncrieff
The play's secondary hero. Algernon is a charming, idle, decorative bachelor, nephew of Lady Bracknell, cousin of Gwendolen Fairfax, and best friends of Jack worthing, whom he has known for years as Earnest. Algernon is brilliant, witty, selfish, amoral, and given to making delightful paradoxical and epigrammatic pronouncements. He has invested a fictional friend, "Bunbury", an invalid whose frequent sudden relapses allow Algernon to wriggle out of unpleasant or dull social obligations.
Gwendolen Fairfax
Algernon cousin and lady Bracknell's daughter. Gwendolen is in love with Jack, whom she knows as Earnest. A model and arbiter of high fashion and society, Gwendolen speaks with unassailable authority on matters of taste and Morality. She is sophisticated, intellectual, cosmopolitan, and utterly pretentious. Gwendolen is fixated on the name Earnest and says she will not marry a man without that name.
Cecily Cardew
Jack's ward, the granddaughter of the old gentleman who found and adopted Jack when Jack was a baby. Cecily is probably the most realistically drawn character in the play. Like Gwendolen, she is obsessed with the name Ernest, but she is even more intrigued by the idea of wickedness. This idea, rather than the Virtuous- sounding name, has prompted her to fall in love with Jack's brother Ernest in her imagination and to invest an elaborate romance and courtship between them.
Lady Bracknell
Algernon snobbish , mercenary, and domineering aunt and Gwendolen mother. Lady Bracknell married well, and her primary goal in life is to see her daughter do the same. She has a list of "eligible young man" and a prepared interview she gives to potential suitors
Like her nephew, Lady Bracknell is given making hilarious pronouncements, but where Algernon means to be witty, the humor in Lady Bracknell's speeches is unintentional. Through the figure of Lady Bracknell, Wilde manages to satirize the hypocrisy and stupidity of the British aristocracy. Lady Bracknell values ignorance, which she sees as " a delicate exotic fruit." When she gives a dinner party, she prefers her husband to eat downstairs with the servants. She is cunning, narrow - minded, authoritarian, and possibly the most quotable character in the play.
Miss prism
Cecily's governess. Miss prism is an endless source of pedantic bromide and cliches. She highly approves of Jack presumed respectability and harshly criticizes his " unfortunate" brother. Puritan though she is Miss prisms severe pronouncements have a way of going so far over the top that they inspire laughter. Despite her rigidity, Miss prism seems to have a softer side. She speaks of having once written a novel whose manuscript was "lost" or "abandoned." Also, she entertains romantic feelings for Dr. Chasuble.
