Name: Charikleia Kotsoni

Reg. number: 14004

E-mail: kotsonic@enl.auth.gr

Workshop in Critical Writing: Introduction to Drama

Lit5-126C

Professor: Elizabeth Sakellaridou

Spring Semester 2012

Topic II: O. Wilde’s character portrayal displays a high sense of theatricality. What is its purpose? Is there a similar role playing in H. Ibsen? Discuss your view and justify your answer.

Characters in Oscar Wilde’s plays are considered to possess a high sense of theatricality. They can be referred as unrealistic, dramatic, stylish, even extravagant and successful in preserving Wilde’s original comic wit.

Before anyone jumps into conclusions, a clarification of ‘theatricality’ should be given. Theatricality is the ability to transform; Wilde’s characters are versatile, performing different roles. The characters of “The Importance of Being Earnest” are comical, unpredictable and they tend to exaggerate their feelings, suggested from the way Jack declares the death of his fake brother, dressed up in mourning clothes, pretending to be in great sadness, producing a made up story (second act p.280-282). These characters are skilled fabulators who choose the life they want to live by pretending to be others, constantly lying and giving performances, such as Jack who had a double life as Jack and Earnest and also lying about having a brother and Algernon who made up a non-existing friend named Bunbury that constantly needed his help. Surprisingly, after many coincidences, most of these stories come true.

This leads to the speculation that Wilde’s Characters are fictional; they do not exist in the real world. Style is prominent for Wilde and is presented through the way these sophisticated characters dress up, move and speak, as every detail matters. That is also accurate for the characters, when every single one of them is of major importance and has something to add to the play, perfect example for this is Algernon’s servant, Lane who is not an irrelevant part, but a funny character who defends or sometimes mocks his master (first act p.273).

Wilde invents such dramatic and exaggerated characters to preserve his, dominated by witty humor, style of writing. Furthermore, Wilde is a satirist of the corrupted and hypocritical society of his time. His criticism is within his play and especially through the characters that represent the stereotypes of that era by being hypocritical and corrupted themselves. For Wilde, theatre is artificial, that is why he changes the realistic conventions and thus his writing is fictional and extravagant. Within the theatre, he takes the chance to make a difference and reflect another life, away from reality and that life, as well as characters, exists only in the theatre.

In Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House”, role-playing is much more realistic and lacks Wilde’s comical tone. Ibsen also criticizes the society but in a different way; his characters do not imitate the stereotypes but directly criticize them and the criticism is not aphoristic like Wilde’s, what is stated is the generally accepted truth. In general, Ibsen and Wilde create characters that lie and pretend, sometimes act like puppets; in Wilde’s play the two main couples, (third act p.301), act similarly to Nora’s character (she is treated like a doll by her husband and treats her children like dolls as well). However, differences in the two authors’ characters portrayal stand out. Firstly, not every character is prominent in “A Doll’s House”, the maid is just a maid here, she adds nothing and she does not even have a name (act one p.38). Ibsen mirrors the everyday life of a couple which is not quite happy or exciting. These characters have no dogmatic opinions or interesting personalities, as Ibsen is not particularly concerned about style or a happily ever after.

Lastly, Ibsen’s characters do not play roles pretending to be others; they just suppress their feelings.

Overall, Wilde possessed an undeniable ability to create remarkable characters that serve a sense of absolute theatricality, acting in absurd, fictional situations, marking his unique, unconventional style of writing.