The Importance of Being Earnest-文学赏析.doc

Dramatic irony in many plays arises from conflicting goals between characters. Choose one such example of dramatic irony in The Importance of Being Earnest and explain it.A dramatic irony is the contrast between the characters awareness to the situation and the readers. A common use of a dramatic irony in The Importance of Being Earnest is to build a comic atmosphere. One example of this would be the scene in which Lady Bracknell asks Algernon for cucumber sandwiches. Algernon then blamed Lane for not offering the cucumber sandwiches, who claims that there were no cucumbers in the market this morning; however, Algernon as well as the audience know that Algernon himself has eaten the sandwiches for Lady Bracknell. The audience may be amused by the fact that Lady Bracknell lacks the knowledge to see through the deception.An essential dramatic irony in The Important of Being Earnest is the double life that Algernon and Jack live in. From the conversation between Algernon and Jack, the audience learns that Algernon has created a fictional character, Bunbury, to help him visit the country, and Jack has done Earnest to help him visit the town. When Lady Bracknell invites Algernon for dinner, Algernon rejects the offer by telling her that he has to visit Bunbury, who is severely ill. Lady Bracknell is surprised by the extreme bad health Bunbury is in, but the audience knows that Bunbury does not exist. At this point, when Algernon or Jack needs a reason to leave the town or the country, they will use the names Bunbury and Earnest. An example of a dramatic irony that is caused by the different goals between characters is the misunderstanding of Gwendolen. When Jack proposes to Gwendolen , Gwendolen accepts the proposal because she likes the name Earnest. Pursuing only the name of Jacks fictional character, Gwendolen, unlike the audience, does not knows that Jacks name is not Earnest. Jack, on the other hand, constantly tries to convince Gwendolen that Jack is as good a name as Earnest so that the truth would not affect Gwendolens decision. Gwendolens goal is to marry a person named Earnest, whereas Jacks is to have Gwendolen marry himself. Although Gwendolen believes that they have the same goal but the audience knows otherwise. Thus, a dramatic irony is created.Stage directions are sometimes just as important as the lines in a dramatic work. Choose a scene in The Importance of Being Earnest and explain how stage directions are used to develop the plot, characterization, conflict, or theme of the work.Because a play only contains the conversations among characters, stage directions sometimes state essential information of how the characters interact with one another. In the scene that involves Jack, Algernon, Gwendolen and Lady Bracknell, the important of stage directions are emphasized due to the number of people involved. In a conversation with Lady Bracknell, Algernon exchanges glances with Jack when he mentions Bunbury, the fictional character he has created, and the exchanges of glances immediately gives the audience a clue that Algernon is lying. It also suggests that Algernon acts frivolously even before his elder. After the conversation, a stage direction states that Lady Bracknell and Algernon go into the music room, Gwendolen remains behind. This direction defines the new setting and gives the audience a clue of what to expect. The audience already knows that Jack is looking for a chance to propose to Gwendolen and the new setting of the scene offer him the chance. Without the stage direction, the audience may wonder why Gwendolen and Jack engage in such a private conversation in front of Lady Bracknell. This shows the importance of stage directions in developing the plot.In the interview with Jack, Lady Bracknell is directed to make a note in her book. This direction indicates Lady Bracknells attitude towards the interview and thus marriage. From the fact that she takes notes of Jacks answers, the audience learns that she views marriage as a serious business and whoever intends to marry her daughter is in need up thorough examinations. Without this stage direction, Lady Bracknells tone of language can vary with d