The two following play’s address a specific moral or social theme:
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Sure Thing by David Ives. Write paper in which you compare and contrast the ways each of the two plays acts as a commentary on the specific social or moral theme you chose. Focus on what the authors are trying to say about the issue, not on your own beliefs. Make at least 3 point of comparison or contrast in your paper.
Introduction to Social or Moral Theme Research Paper:
- Introduce moral or social theme in a general way that provides a frame of reference for your paper.
- Specifically mention the 2 plays including the titles and authors.
- Include supporting statement(s) that establish grounds for comparison.
- Include thesis which, explicitly defines the two plays’ commentary on the moral or social theme you have chosen.
Body to Social or Moral Theme Research Paper:
- Provide a summary of the way the first and second plays address the moral or social theme.
- Comparative Points: Use this format for all 3 comparative points.
a. Connect comparative point to first play.
b. Connect comparative point to second play.
c. Support your argument with insightful comments; do not summarize. - Cite evidence from the plays.
- Use direct quotes from the plays.
Conclusion to Social or Moral Theme Research Paper:
- Revisit introduction and thesis without repeating it.
- Provide brief and specific summary of how you proved your point.
Overview of The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde:
In The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde offers the audience a farcical comedy involving multiple identities, unexpected intersections, and the always welcome happy ending. Wilde himself seems to have characterized the play as merely a vehicle of entertainment. “I think an amusing thing with lots of fun and wit might be made,” he said while the work was in progress (. However, as always with this particular genius, one suspects that there is considerable social and political commentary beneath the comedic surface of the play. This paper will consider The Importance of Being Earnest from a postcolonial perspective, with particular emphasis on the sex role reversal Wilde employed.
Application of postcolonial criticism to Irish literature is somewhat problematic. Because the approach is typically conceptualized as relevant primarily to third world cultures, many critics exclude Ireland from consideration. Others assert that the length of the British occupation –- approximately eight centuries -– and the geographical proximity of the lands of oppressor and oppressed render the Irish experience distinctive from that of British colonies in, for example, Africa. The opposite view, of course, would be that such lengthy occupation might have engendered more insidious cultural infiltration than shorter episodes elsewhere, with exacerbated rather than ameliorated consequences. And the close proximity of the two islands rendered the British ever present, in more potent concentrations than in India, for example.
