The Importance of Being Earnest - 800 Words

Oscar Wilde, the writer of The Importance of Being Earnest, celebrated the Victorian Era society while criticizing it in his play. Through his play, he utilized the humorous literary techniques of pun, irony, and satire to comment on the impact of Victorian Era society left on the characters themselves. These comedic literary devices also help to show how the members of this society in the Victorian Era live by a set of unspoken rules that determine politeness, as well as proper etiquette to live by. Wilde uses a pun in the title of the work, as well as in the character personalities. Different types of irony appear in many scenes in the play, to flout the rules of society, as well as mock the intelligence of the upper-class characters,†¦show more content†¦The play on the wording suggests that through the name, the man will also exhibit that trait, and show a sincere conviction to their family as well as their work. The men they fall in love with are earnest; however, they stick to their deceit with a more since conviction than their honesty. Jack and Algernon both persist with their story, that they are both named Earnest, in order to win the love of their respective sweethearts, even though their real names are very different. Additionally, each male is ready to undergo a christening to make their name Earnest. In Act II, the girls discuss their future plans, as socialites and the gentry girls who called on other elite families would in Victorian society. However, they find that they are both engaged to a man named Earnest Worthington. This is situational irony as everyone else knows that these men are not named Earnest, but these girls do not. When the girls find out that Jack and Algernon are prepared to get christened, thus making their names Earnest officially, they employ verbal irony. Where questions of self-sacrifice are concerned, men are infinitely beyond us. (pg. 75) Gwendolen comments on the irony of this sentence as women are supposed to be the self-sacrificing gender during this time period, but the men are willing to sacrifice their given name to make the girls happy. Both forms of irony show the facade of politeness that people who loved in theShow MoreRelatedThe Importance Of Being Earnest759 Words   |  4 PagesThe Importance doesn’t Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde i s a satire, comedy play of the Victorian Age. The Importance of Being Earnest follows two main characters, Earnest and Algernon, who live double lives. During his play Wilde makes fun of some of the standards and the way of life during that time. One of the common traits of the time was deception. Wilde’s play has a common occurrence of deception through the play’s plot line, trivial lies, and a character’s point of view on deception. Wilde’sRead MoreThe Importance Of Being Earnest1041 Words   |  5 PagesFeminist Perspective As seen in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, men and women live in a society of inequality between the two sexes as conveyed through double standards. For instance, there is a double standard regarding men and women flirting as seen when Algernon says â€Å"She will place me next to Mary Farquhar, who always flirts with her own husband across the dinner-table. That is not very pleasant.† While women are shamed for talking to men whom they are married to, men such asRead MoreThe Importance of Being Earnest 526 Words   |  2 Pages In the Importance of Being Earnest, dramatic irony is throughout the play which leads to many humorous events. Dramatic irony is a type of irony where the audience fully understands the situation while the character is unaware of it. The lack of knowledge the character has about their situation is amusing in the play. First example of dramatic irony that turns into humor is when Jack confesses his love to Gwendolen and she also feels the same way but for a different reason than his. She saysRead MoreThe Importance of Being Earnest1284 Words   |  6 PagesIn this Lady bracknell shows no sympathy for Mr.Bunbury and does not exhibit pity for him as he is less privileged then status. It is befitting that how cursory is Victorian values. BUNBARING AS A CENTRAL THEME :- Marriage:- It is of principle importance in the story both as a chief plot and also a topic of debate. The issue of marriage came for the first time when Algernon asks Lane† Is marriage so demoralizing as that ? â€Å"(Pg 7). They discuss the attributes of marriage and discuss whether marriageRead More Not Being Earnest in The Importance of Being Earnest Essay examples858 Words   |  4 PagesNot Being Earnestnbsp;innbsp;The Importance of Being Earnest nbsp;While some critics contend that The Importance of Being Earnest is completely fanciful and has no relation to the real world, others maintain that Oscar Wildes trivial comedy for serious people does make significant comments about social class and the institution of marriage.nbsp; These observations include the prevalent utilization of deceit in everyday affairs.nbsp; Indeed the characters and plot of the play appear to beRead MoreEssay On The Importance Of Being Earnest1087 Words   |  5 PagesThe Importance of Being Earnest The title of the book I read for my summer reading is called The Importance of Being Earnest which is a drama book written by Oscar Wilde. It was set in London in the year of 1895. A constant theme throughout this book was marriage beginning with Lane and Algernon discussion. Everyone has different ideas of what marriage is, Lane believes it is a pleasant state, Algernon and Jack discuss if its for business or pleasure. Lady Bracknell believes that it should be aRead MoreCharacterization in the Importance of Being Earnest987 Words   |  4 Pagesgroup B Characterization in The Importance of Being Earnest Among Oscar Wilde’s varied works, a prominent place has been assumed by a notoriously humorous play The Importance of Being Earnest. Such has been the play’s popularity to this day that countless efforts have been retaken so as to adapting it for modern age due to its scintillating language and the author’s surpassing skill at creating immortal characters. In the attempt to spell out the importance of characterization we shall lookRead More Importance Of Being Earnest Essay1037 Words   |  5 Pages Theatre Studies: Cat One Draft The Importance of Being Earnest is set in late Victorian England, a time of social reform. Society was rediscovering art in its many forms yet as a consequence, The Upper class continued their program of suppressed inferiority. The lower classes were treated with disdain and disgust and the animosity between the groups was easily visible. Essentially, the late Victorian era was the beginning of a mini cultural renaissance, yet Upper Class society, which forms theRead More The Importance of Being Earnest Essay1376 Words   |  6 PagesOscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest is a timeless comedy of manners in which two young, light-hearted men, pretend their names are ‘Ernest’ in a bid to impress their love interests, who both believe the name Ernest bestows magical qualities on the possessor. Throughout the play, Wilde uses a mix of social drama, melodrama and farce to appeal to the audience. Through his gentle use of parody Wilde is able to ridicule his con temporaries and attack the values and attitudes of Victorian societyRead MoreThe Importance of Being Earnest Essay1439 Words   |  6 PagesA Trivial Comedy for Serious People Oscar Wilde mocked his audience while he entertained them. Perhaps his most loved and well-known work, The Importance of Being Earnest, satirises the manners and affections of the upper-class Victorian society. Satire is a literary tone used to ridicule or make fun of human vice or weakness, usually with the intent of changing or correcting the subject of the satirical attack. The play focuses on the elite, while making fun of the ludicrousness and extremity

What Are the Strengths and Challenges of Teams at Work Free Essays

What are the strengths and challenges of teams at work? Team work has been the biggest development In management of human resources for organizations In the past few decades (Norman, Cohen and Norman, 1995). It has been implemented in a wide variety of spheres and the growth of the popularity is still ongoing. It is obvious that these changes have not happened without a reason, there is something to team work that is attracting every manager like kids to an ice- cream car. We will write a custom essay sample on What Are the Strengths and Challenges of Teams at Work or any similar topic only for you Order Now Before I continue, I want to state some things so there would not be any misunderstanding further on the essay. First, I do not want any confusion when it comes to defining a team and a group, because I understand that there is not much of a difference (Ouzo, 1996) between these terms. The only thing that I want to state is that team always has an interdependent nature; they perceive themselves as a whole unit. Second, as the topic is about teams In general, the evaluation Is quite superficial and It will not be valid for every team. The way team performs depends on the size of the team, the management of It and of course the working environment It Is In. So every team has to be evaluated Independently to give an objective report. I will describe aspects that stand out amongst the others and are present for most of the teams. My goal in this essay is to evaluate teams at work environment drawing on theory and research. I am going to point out the strengths of a team-based work from member’s point of view and challenges that team members have to face. Eventually, what I am trying to state is that people (managers, leaders etc. Who are leaning towards team work as the best way of getting things done have made this assumption based on feelings they have towards team-work rather than researching hurry and experiments made on the approach to get the bagger picture of what team-work consists from and what are the actual drawbacks. I am basing my work on the paper about ‘romance of teams’ (Allen and Yecch, AAA) taking some Ideas from the paper, but putting them Into my own perspective. I am going to start with the most ob vious strengths that teams has, because those are the ones that people are most aware of. Followed by additional strengths, that according to researches lies in our sub consciousness. After that I will describe the biggest challenges teams have to face. Strengths A team consists of several people and each one of them has their own skills, characteristics, gender, age and perception of things in general (Britton et al. , 2010). There are several definitions of a team, but this one serves the best for my purposes – ‘A group of people with a full set of complementary skills required to complete a task, Job, or project’ (Chicken, 2009). Indeed each one of us Is unique and by coming together and supplementing each other we form a living organism called ‘team’. Knowledge, opinion, experience and personal views can be shared in this living mind’, in this way implying additional strengths. Maybe these are not the strengths that people will mention the most when speaking about pros of teams, but they exist and they do form our feelings towards teams. I would like to continue by focusing on strengths of teams that people are unaware of or they are aware of them subconsciously. Every team is a social formation; accordingly it includes interaction with others, whether it is Just a chat that started with â€Å"how are you doing? † or a discussion about the subjective they are trying to achieve or a social evening to bring he team closer together, it does not matter. The thing that matters is that team gives you a wide range of opportunities to satisfy your social needs; it gives you a feeling of belonging (Godard, 2001 a). Alongside, comes the feeling that overtakes you, that gives you the idea that you want to be a part of a team, which is natural, because people are creatures that has been living in groups since the beginning of time and social desires has developed naturally and is a part of our lives. The thing is that, not everyone is aware of this phenomenon, so this is where unconscious strengths appear. To continue, I would like to introduce a research made by Diddle and Strobe, 1991. This research states that individuals perceive working in group activities to be more fun and enjoyable than working alone and that time is perceived as passing more quickly when working in a group (Allen and Yecch, Bibb). Moreover, some researches shows that working in a team can increase your mental well-being and state of mind in general (Carter, 2000). Teams provide a benefit like reduction of stress (Godard, 2001 b) which mostly comes from the fact that teams reduces uncertainty about particular situations and verifies member’s beliefs and ideas (Hog and Mulling, 1999). As all the facts that are mentioned before comes together, it is only obvious that teams do paint a really nice picture about themselves in our minds. Additionally, the way how people actually perceive themselves in a group is different from the way they do outside of one. Researches have shown that people tend to take less responsibility for failures of the team and in the same time more responsibility for success of the team (Schlesinger, 1975), which is kind of illogical, but in the nature f any human being. It is much easier to assign blame to others in that way preserving your own feeling of competence, rather than admitting that you are the one to blame, and when being in a team you have the opportunity to do that, because who will possibly forbid you, except yourself. The perception of team as a unit working together plays a big role here, because in your mind you do understand that you are not the only one who is in the team, so if the team fails or succeeds then the whole team does that. To add to this idea, people tend to evaluate their own reference higher when working in a team rather than working alone, both, their actual expectations and conclusions, of their performance in the team has been recorded to be of a higher value (Phallus et al. , 1993). This all can be very misleading, but as long as we – human beings – will not change our nature and start seeing things as they actually are, these will be some of the most mind impacting benefits towards teamwork. Challenges The point about the diversity of a team and different people coming together that When people with different ideas and different views on life come together and has o work as one and unbreakable unit, arguments between them are inevitable. That is why certain roles have to be assigned and a specific structure formed, so the team would manage to work productively. Size and composition of a team has an influence on individual behavior, on decision making (Kooks-De Bode et al. 2008), if these aspects are not sorted out in a timely manner then one of the biggest strengths of a team can turn into a drawback and then it is Just matter of time when the team will collapse. Another challenge for a team is goal setting, which is a really important aspect when it comes to whether the work is going to be smooth and whether it is going to be without misunderstandings. Goals has to be set at the very beginning and they have to be defined very clearly to everyone in the team, so everyone would really understand what the team is trying to achieve. If this is not done, then there is a possibility that team members start to head in different directions. An equally significant set of challenges comes from too much of dependence on your teams decisions. Researches made by Stanley Amalgam, 1973 shows that when decision has o be made, team members tend to follow the point of view that is presented by others or by most members of the team, that way actually not expressing their own thoughts. Besides that, these researches shows that people tend to follow the leader of a team even if the things that are being done are against their principles and are morally wrong. Justification to these kinds of decisions comes from the fact that any decision made in a group actually is a group decision and therefore made by several people, accordingly the responsibility is being shared amongst all of the group embers. This results in poor decision-making process, which can further result in serious damage made to the work-group itself or to the possibility of achieving the goal that has been set out. Hence, the challenge for a team is to set certain norms. Norms about how the work has to be led, to what extent members should follow their leader and what are the social, moral, ethical and physical norms that should not be crossed. To sum up the challenges, team work has to be well balanced and well organized; it has to be like a machine that does not work if one of the parts is broken. To do that you have to take in consideration a lot of aspects, starting with leaders role and importance, ending with team members moral and physical needs. Everything has to be balanced and managed smartly and efficiently (Allen, 1996). That is the hardest challenge to deal with in team-work and it becomes even harder if the person who is in charge of the team does not know about these elements. Before I draw the conclusion I would like to remind the fact that the Judgments being made in this essay is superficial and regards the general population of people included in teams. Therefore, I am not stating that it is true for every person. To summarize, I have stated the strengths that in my mind form the feeling towards team-work inside a person’s mind. I hope that others reading these points will be able to relate to them as well. How to cite What Are the Strengths and Challenges of Teams at Work, Papers