The Importance of Being Earnest

In The Importance of Being Earnest, physical movement influences the character development and relationships of the work. Through their travels between the city and country, Algernon and Jack have been able to establish and maintain functional “secret identities.” Using these identities, they form relationships with other characters; undoubtedly, those relationships would have evolved differently if the other person had known the other identities.

One of the most prominent examples is Jack’s relationship with Gwendolen. He goes by Ernest when in the city, which is where Gwendolen lives. She insists that one of the key elements in her love for him is the fact that his name is Ernest which, as the audience knows, is not the truth. This paints her character as shallow, as she puts far too much stock in aspects of a person that should not be important. Her disposition toward him would have been entirely different if she’d met him elsewhere and his name was Jack. She even goes so far as to say that she would not love him if his name were anything but Ernest, as well as that she believed Jack to be a very bland name. Therefore, Jack’s constant relocations impact his relationship with the woman he hopes to marry, even though she has a rather pathetic intelligence that does not compliment Jack’s apparent type of cleverness. This cleverness, of course, stems from his ability to keep a strong secret identity which fools everyone until Algernon interrupts his plans in Act II.

Lady Bracknell is another example of the results of Jack’s physical movements. After Jack proposes to Gwendolen, Lady Bracknell tells him that she will not permit the marriage due to his origins, which were allegedly not of a respectable nature. Physical movement plays a very large role in this component of the story: if Jack hadn’t been misplaced as an infant, he would have been perfectly eligible to marry Gwendolen, and the main conflict wouldn’t have come to fruition, let alone the character development on its own. There was a series of conflicts in this story, the primary one being Jack’s origins. The imbecility of Miss Prism was what caused this specific issue; if she hadn’t left him in the cloakroom, he wouldn’t have been mistakenly adopted by someone else, and everyone would know who his parents were. This conflict ties directly into the establishment of the other characters in the story, not only Jack. Lady Bracknell is rather obsessed with Jack’s origins, displaying her character as superficial and distracted by societal norms, precisely what Wilde was mocking in the creation of the story.

Yet another impacted character is Cecily Cardew. It is more a combination of Algernon’s and Jack’s movements than one of them in particular that affect her; Jack’s movements cause him to be proclaimed her legal guardian, and Algernon’s result in a romance forming between himself and the girl. Her story is similar to Gwendolen’s in that she wouldn’t have met either man if they hadn’t been toying with fake identities in different areas. One of the primary occurrences involving her character and Gwendolen’s was their exchange about their love lives. Both of them claimed to be marrying Ernest, and a bit of an argument ensued. What they didn’t realize was that Gwendolen was marrying Jack, who went by the name of Ernest in the city, and Cecily was marrying Algernon, who had assumed the identity of Ernest as Jack’s wastrel brother. If it hadn’t been for Jack’s determination to keep up his false identity for such a long time, the encounter would not have happened nor would it have unfolded the way it did.

Physical movement assists in forming the meaning of the work as a whole of The Importance of Being Earnest. Oscar Wilde wrote it as a parody of the society in which he lived, and by utilizing locations and the travels of characters between those locations, specifically those of Jack Worthing. Through these movements, aspects of the characters are developed to mimic and insult the society of which Wilde was a part of.

Poem Analysis: Spinster

Author: Sylvia Plath
Pages 388-389

In the poem "Spinster," Sylvia Plath uses many symbols and images to convey the meaning of the poem. To begin, the title itself refers to an old woman who has never been married or had a child. Standing alone, it is already known that the poem is going to be about someone who is alone and most likely has been for their entire life. Accompanied by the symbolism found in the mentioning of winter and spring, it can be gathered that the subject of the poem rather loathes romance and the youthful springtime, and prefers to be alone in the winter, "each sentiment within border."

Winter and spring and their associated emotions are depicted through imagery and symbolism throughout the poem, representing death and solitude, and new life and romance respectively. What strikes me is the atypical nature of the description of the seasons beyond that as well. Plath ties the seasons together with human emotion, describing winter and solitude as being controlled and refined, seen through the description of the ice, rocks, and snowflakes, all perfectly constructed with defined edges and no intrusion of emotion to muddle them. This image is also enhanced by the line "such a barricade of barb and check," giving it further sharpness and intention of infinite isolation.

Previously, spring is described as sloven, particularly through the images of the "leaves' litter," the "birds' irregular babel," the "petals in disarray," and "her lover's gestures unbalance in the air, his gait stray uneven." These all contribute to the idea of carelessness, therefore judging romance and youthfulness as disorderly as well. The line "let idiots reel giddy in bedlam spring" continues to suggest that only imbeciles would have anything to do with romance and its rather messy consequences (e.g. sex, childbirth, childcare, etc.). The subsequent line concludes spring simply with "she withdrew neatly" showing that, in the end, it isn't difficult to take leave of romance and live on in seclusion. The use of the word "neatly" in particular also contributes to the aforementioned description of winter and loneliness as clean-cut and very far from messy, as spring is described.

My interpretation of this poem is that the speaker, as well as the poem's subject, have no care for immature romance and lust. They would rather be on their own, and logically I wouldn't argue. Isolation is cleaner, excluding the mess of a broken heart and other undesirable results that always accompany springtime, the mating season. It's more sensible, basically, although I personally am not for becoming a spinster. Despite the logic, it does not seem appealing in the slightest. While it may be nice to be alone, an argument against its depressing nature would be difficult to make. "As no mere insurgent man could hope to break with curse, fist, threat or love, either." At that point, all emotion has been shut down, whether good or bad, which is certainly a depressing concept indeed.

Poem Analysis: Snow White and the Seven Deadly Sins

Author: R.S. Gwynn
Pages 365-366

In the poem "Snow White and the Seven Deadly Sins," R.S. Gwynn uses irony and rhyme to assist in telling the story portrayed in the poem. An example of irony in the poem is "She knelt... as if a petitioner before the Pope." This line can be classified as irony because of the action she is performing to be kneeling in such a manner: she is picking up Sloth's dirty clothes. Typically when a person kneels before the Pope, she is seeking forgiveness for her transgressions and is offering herself to any necessary task for redemption. While the girl is performing a task, it is not a task for redemption. Rather, she is allowing herself to be enslaved to sin, rather than to righteousness, by cleaning up for the sin of laziness.

It also becomes noticeably more difficult for her to escape as the years go by. As she ages, the sins become greater, so she is no longer the "good Catholic girl." Snow White still confesses her sins to God or the Pope, but her wrongdoings pile up nonetheless. The ironic aspect of this detail is that theoretically, it should be more difficult to resist sin when a person is younger because she has a limited concept of consequences and rarely thinks out an event all the way to the end. As an adult, it should be easier to resist sin because this concept of sin has had a chance to develop, yet Snow White found it to be a greater struggle rather than a lesser one.

Gwynn also uses rhyme to enhance the meaning of the poem. The type of rhyme that he uses is masculine, the rhyme of a single syllable at the end of the poem. The rhyme contributes to the reading style of the poem, of course, but more importantly, it emphasizes the conclusion of the work. Snow White is rescued by a Handsome Prince, who was overall a very desirable fellow. "So debonair! So charming! And so Male." The rhyme scheme throughout the poem is masculine, and the rescuer at the end of the poem is also incredibly masculine. It gives the idea that there really was no other way for Snow White to be freed; only a man could save her from the sins that kept her hostage.

My interpretation of this poem is that sin becomes harder to get rid of as time goes by, and realistically everyone needs someone stronger to come save them. I would say that the poem is implying God for that stronger role, but for the description of the man as debonair and charming. So the poem could very well be saying that women are prone to sin and that they need a strong, handsome, and pure man to marry them to redeem their errors. It could be saying that women are utterly lost without a man, because of course they need a man to save them from their "distressed condition" and take them "to St. Anne's where [they] took the veil." The poem could be saying this, but I won't state is as my interpretation because I don't want to be the next Matt Peters or Chris Loos, especially since I myself am a girl and I do not agree precisely with this viewpoint.

The Handmaid's Tale

I strongly enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale. It's now one of my favorite novels, actually. I found it to be very intriguing, thought-provoking, and at times unsettling. I was rather attached to Offred as a character; she was very unique and intelligent but not annoying as lead female characters often tend to be. One thing that makes these characters irritating is that they often feel that it is necessary to rebel against their society, such as in We, Fahrenheit 451, and The Hunger Games. They don't always succeed, but almost every one of them tries. I like that Margaret Atwood refrained from having Offred spark a revolution. This is the first time I've read a literary work in which the main character tries to live with the dystopian society. Granted, Offred did have her occasional moments of personal rebellion, such as when she discovered the phrase "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum," committed it to memory, and said it to herself whenever she was feeling particularly discouraged. However, this wasn't a routine course of action for her. Most of the time she simply adhered to the demands of the society, at least outwardly, and went about her life peacefully. I appreciate that Margaret Atwood took this unique approach. I was also fond of the situation in which Offred was placed: she wasn't born into the society. Rather, she had what we would call a "normal" life before it, and that she was forced into the new society of Gilead. Most often the characters in a work such as this are born into the malfunctioning world and know nothing else, but Offred had a life of her own beforehand. She was married and had a child and was even working for payment, all prohibited in the new society of Gilead.

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One of the most general themes of the story was conflict, both internal and external, but I particularly liked the conflict of Offred vs society, because it means more than what it is on the surface. It shows Offred's personal take on what she has to go through, but it also expands to apply to everyone in that society, most obviously women. Offred's thoughts were undoubtedly similar if not identical to those of the other women in that society. This ties into another aspect of the novel that I liked. Atwood made the society blatantly against women, but she also subtly incorporated that Gilead was also against men through the restriction of women. Obviously Offred represents the women more, being that she is a woman herself, but she recognizes the issues that Gilead presses upon the men as well. The Commander was routinely breaking the rules Gilead had organized, specifically by playing Scrabble with Offred and taking her to Jezebel's. He did these things in secret because they were prohibited; they all went against the biblical base that the society was founded on. Men were terribly restricted. Perhaps not as brutally as women, but they were still unable to do much of anything. It was specified oppression, yet everyone had to deal with it.

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I couldn't pick a favorite quote or passage, but I picked one of the ones that caught my attention the most.

“I pray where I am, sitting by the window, looking out through the curtain at the empty garden. I don’t even close my eyes. Out there or inside my head, it’s an equal darkness. Or light… Don’t worry about forgiving me right now. There are more important things. For instance: keep the others safe, if they are safe. Don’t let them suffer too much. If they have to die, let it be fast. You might even provide a Heaven for them. We need You for that. Hell we can make for ourselves… Oh God. It’s no joke. Oh God oh God. How can I keep on living?” (Atwood p 194-195)

In this passage, Offred does something rather out of the ordinary in her society: she prays. Usually people go to the Soul Scrolls and submit their prayers there, but she prayed right to God, even though she took it in previously laid out steps. She personalized her prayer as well, adding questions of her own such as a request that God tell her His real name, which one could never find in the Soul Scrolls. Questioning God would go against the entire structure of Gilead because it meant that the person was questioning the government as well.

This brings about another point. The prayer is personal, not worshipful. She is not praising God; she is having a regular conversation with Him. She asks him questions and asks him to do things in a very informal manner. The line that represents this the most is “You might even provide a Heaven for them. We need you for that.” It’s very casual and is more of a suggestion than something she is begging and pouring her soul out for.

Despite her selflessness in this prayer, seen through the way that it is dedicated mostly to other people, she still wonders how she is going to get through the life she is a part of. “Hell we can make for ourselves.” She is already living in hell, so she’s hoping for a Heaven to look forward to. This also proves that she has faith in God, even though previous sources would suggest otherwise.