The Effects Of Victorian Society s Unrealistic...

This source is an essay examining how Wilde shows â€Å"the impact of Victorian society’s unrealistic expectations of the individual† in both The Importance of Being Earnest and The Picture of Dorian Gray. In the article, she talks about gender roles and societal expectations along with the ways characters in the play conform to or reject them. Although the essay is written by a student at McKendree University, the writing is not difficult to understand. This essay is well-documented and seems unbiased. I can use this information when analyzing the ways Wilde challenges Victorian conventions in my essay. In this article, the author discusses gender roles in The Importance of Being Earnest by examining the â€Å"social implications and power†¦show more content†¦The source seems credible since the website is published by Yale University. Also, the research does not seem biased. The author documents Professor Ellis Hanson’s interpretations of The Importance of Being Earnest. Hanson notes that Wilde mocks marriage and satirizes the decay of lying. He also suggests that Wilde’s use of â€Å"Ernest,† which has multiple meanings, can be viewed as a â€Å"homosexual double entendre.† Hanson’s views are novel and interesting. And since he is an English professor at Cornell University, he is also credible. I hope to use this source to provide more examples of how Wilde uses his cynicism to â€Å"criticize elements of Victorian society.† According to its description, this article discusses the way the play depicts â€Å"power in interpersonal relations.† Unfortunately, the article consists of thirty-two pages of scholarly ramblings that have little to do with the actual play. The contents of the pages cover topics ranging from Oscar Wilde’s sexual partners to the â€Å"psychic origins† of the play. Although this source seems credible since it came from a magazine published by Rutgers University, I do not think it is relevant to my topic. I doubt I will be using this source when writing my paper. The source seems credible since it was published by the Cambridge University Press, a respected university in England. The author also cites research to back up her claims. However, his article does not relate to the play The Importance of Being