Just as the characters manipulate the themes of Aestheticism to justify their social decisions, their skewed morality is also evident in their tendency to extrapolate or even make up an opposing truth. No longer is it necessary to judge them upon their earnestness, but rather to the degree in which they thrive upon deception. In every case of private, or even public deception, it seems that they are always able to connect their lie to a standard of artistic principle. For instance, when Jack and Algeron are revealed to be only negligent dandies, and not to encompass the earnestness that Cecily and Gwendolyn so desire in a prospective mate, Gwendolyn guides Jack to the excuse that their dishonesty was only, “…in order that you might have the opportunity if coming up to town to see me as often as possible…”(74). Although she knows this is not the truth, Gwendolyn is more willing to accept a poorly concealed pretense than a reality that would challenge her aesthetic scruples. She uses these guidelines to justify the lies of her counterpart, as well as solidify the imaginary and far more desirable world where appearance is everything, and men are handsome objects that are not prone to moral indiscretion. Similarly, and in correspondence with the idea of aesthetic appearance, Lady Bracknell presents a strange perspective when she says that, "Thirty-five is a very attractive age. London society is full of women who have, of their own free choice, remained thirty-five for years." (82) It is illuminated through this quote the intense power that appearance holds over the characters of the play. The aristocratic women are so involved with their youth as an extension of their fashionable selves that when their bodies begin to turn upon them, they are more likely to live a charade than forfeit the unrealistic work of art that is their life. This same distortion of truth can not only be seen within the relationships of the characters, but within their treatment of themselves and society in general. For example, towards the beginning of Act 1, as Lady Bracknell interviews Jack as a suitor for Gwendolyn, she says, "I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone." This quote exhibits the blindness that accompanied the irrational extremes of aestheticism during the Victorian Era. Once again, the characters are comfortable with distorting the truth to preposterous extremes in order to protect the artistic, and therefore chic, components of their lives.
I didn't change much, although it should be said that my group all needs to avoid redundancy. Our topics (especially Ragan's) are extremely similar and tend to overlap. We need to keep an eye on this!
I didn't change much, although it should be said that my group all needs to avoid redundancy. Our topics (especially Ragan's) are extremely similar and tend to overlap. We need to keep an eye on this!
