It is clear that Wilde recognized the gender qualities of his day, and often tried to show these through the characters in his plays.
In "The Importance of Being Earnest" the interactions between the characters are often about power plays. Men in Wilde's day had greater influence than women. They made the important decisions for their families, while women worked at home, taking care of the children.
The respectable Miss Prism, a governess, clearly did not represent the norm in a society where men were admired for their intelligence and women for their beauty. As an unmarried woman in a society that centered on marriage, Miss Prism's role gave her identity and status where normally she would have had neither. But she was totally non-maternal, and horrified at the end when Jack called her "Mother." She harbored secret feelings for the parson, Dr Chasuble, but was too straight-laced to show them. The single male characters, on the other hand, had no qualms about flirting with the women they were attracted to.
Miss Prism is in some ways a comic character, but she does make a point for Wilde about the unfairness of the society of which they were a part.
*
<em>short and simple. </em>
Too many short simple sentences can make your writing appear unsophisticated and your ideas seem disconnected.
They make ??????????????????
“One step at a time, one day at a time, just today, just this day to get through.”
― Linda Sue Park, <span>A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story </span>
31 likes Like “Reading for writers is like training for athletes.”
― Linda Sue Park, <span>A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story </span>
6 likes Like “He was floating with his head down, blood streaming from a bullet hole in the back of his neck.”
― Linda Sue Park, <span>A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story </span>
6 likes Like “If he were older and stronger, would he have given water to those men? Or would he, like most of the group, have kept his water for himself?”
― Linda Sue Park, <span>A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story </span>
6 likes Like “Her sickness came from the water,” the nurse explained. “She should drink only good clean water. If the water is dirty, you should boil it for a count of two hundred before she drinks”
― Linda Sue Park, <span>A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story </span>
4 likes Like “One step at a time . . . one day at a time. Just today—just this day to get through . . .”
― Linda Sue Park, <span>A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story </span>
4 likes Like “Salva shouldered his way through the crowd until he was standing in front of the list. He raised his head slowly and began reading through the names. There it was. Salva Dut—Rochester, New York. Salva was going to New York. He was going to America!”
― Linda Sue Park, <span>A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story </span>
3 likes Like “The bag sprang a leak. The leak had to be patched. The patch sprang a leak. The crew patched the patch. Then the bag sprang another leak. The drilling could not go on.”
― Linda Sue Park, <span>A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story </span>
1 likes Like “They patched the bag again. The drilling went on.”
― Linda Sue Park, <span>A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story </span>