¡Descarga The importance of being Earnest y más Apuntes en PDF de Teatro solo en Docsity! THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST Aitor Bori Ibáñez Grupo B By: Oscar Wilde Author's Bibliography: Oscar Wilde was a writer of short stories and poetry as well as playwright. His parents were the surgeon William Wills-Wilde and the female writer Joana Elgee. They both were quite successful intellectuals in Dublin. He had a peaceful childhood without alarums and excursions. His brilliant intelligence came out at an early age when he acquired fluency in both French and German. He studied at Portora Royal School in Euniskillen, then at Trinity College Dublin and finally at Magdalen College in Oxford, where he received the one of the most important prizes in poetry: the Newdigate Prize. As one of the most important figures of the estheticism, he realized several literary activities. He published a book of poems, he gave lectures to the United States and Canada about the English Renaissance and then he came back to London, where he worked as a journalist. He was famous because of his scathing wit, the outlandish way he dressed and his brilliant speech. In 1884, he married Constance Lloyd with who he had two sons: Cyril (June, 1885) and Vyvyan (November 1886). Between 1887 and 1889 he edited the women's magazine Woman’s World and in 1888 he published a book of short stories, The Happy Prince and Other Tales the success of which motivated the publication of Lord Arthur Savile's Crime in 1891. Oscar Wilde's success was based on a breathtaking cleverness in all of his works, which were mainly focused on whipping the hypocrisy. However, his success was suddently blurred. He was a friend of lord Alfred Douglas whose father suspected that they maintained an affair and he confronted Oscar Wilde by sending him a letter. He decided, supported by lord Alfred, to denounce him for slander. Finally, when the father,who was the ninth Marquess of Queensberry, was free and Oscar Wilde faced a second judgement in May, 1895 in which he was charged with sodomy and severe incidence, and for which he was sentenced to two years of forced labor. The clemency petitions and pressures of the most important literary circles and of progressive sectors were not heard and Oscar Wilde had to fulfill the entire sentence. He was sent first to Wandsworth prison and then to Reading where he wrote his famous ballad The Ballad of Reading Gaol. The sentence suposed the loss of everything he had got, all his glory. His marriage with Constance Lloyd ended because of the shame of Wild's process. She changed both her and her sons surname to Holland in order to disassociate themselves from the scandal, even though she did not divorce Wilde. As if that was not enough, he had to give up the authority of father of his children. When Oscar Wilde recovered his freedom, he changed both his name and surname to Sebastian Melmoth and he moved to Paris, where he remained until his death. His last years were characterized by economic scarcity, delicate health, alcohol problems and his conversion to Catholicism. Only his works were kept alive after his death. Oscar Wilde belonged to the Victorian Era which belongs to the long reign of Queen Victoria of England (1837-1901). This was a period of the greatest growth of certain political, economic and social order in whose center stood the bourgeoisie, which was a social group that emerged victorious of the confrontation with the aristocracy and the Church, which took place in controversial past times. It also set the top of the British industrial revolution. Queen Victoria had the longest reign in the history of British monarchs (64 years) in which took place a large amount of changes not only political but also social nd cultural ones. When she ascende to the throne, England was an agrarian and cultural area. However, when she died, the area had turned into a totally industrialized country, with wide rail networks. Her reign involved the rebirth of the evangelical doctrine as well as the legal changes in women's rights. In turn, women algo get the right to divorce and the right to the children custody. The best known works are: In prose:The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), Lord Arthur Savile's Crime (1891), The Happy Prince and Other Tales, A House of Pomegranates, The Canterville Ghost, The Sphinx Without A Secret, The Model Millionare In theatre: Lady Windermere's Fan (1892), Salome (1894), A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895), The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) In poetry:, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), Les Ballons, Charmides, De Profundis, The Harlot's House, Helas!, Impression du Matin, Pan - Double Villanelle, The Sphinx, Symphony In Yellow. Criticism made by him: The Decay of Lying (January 1889) He belonged to the stream of aestheticism, which was a movement that valued aesthetics. It was opposed to the urban activity and it had no consideration of moral, social, political or religious standards. Besides it postulated a pleasant contemplation of reality postulates a pleasant contemplation of reality.
