Hello, I am Emisha Ravani. Writing this blog for text ' Importance of being Ernest' . For that I'm answering, Which of the female character is the most attractive to you among Lady Augusta Bracknell, Gwendolen Fairfax, Cecily Cardew and Miss Prism? Give your reasons for she being the most attractive among all.
Jack Worthing
A young gentleman from the country, in love with Gwendolen Fairfax.
Algernon Moncrieff
A young gentleman from London, the nephew of Lady Bracknell, in love with Cecily Cardew.
Gwendolen Fairfax
A young lady, loved by Jack Worthing.
Lady Bracknell
A society lady, Gwendolen’s mother.
Cecily Cardew
A young lady, the ward of Jack Worthing.
Miss Prism
Cecily’s governess
The Reverend Canon Chasuble
The priest of Jack’s parish
Lane
Algernon’s butler
Merriman
Jack and Algernon are wealthy gentlemen. Jack (known to Algernon as Ernest) lives a respectable life in the country providing an example to his young ward Cecily. Algernon lives in luxury in London and has invented an imaginary invalid friend (Bunbury) whom he visits in the country whenever an unappealing social engagement presents itself. Jack has also invented a character - a wayward younger brother called Ernest whom he uses as pretext for going up to London and enjoying himself.
Jack wants to marry Algernon’s cousin Gwendolen, but must first convince her mother, Lady Bracknell, of the respectability of his parents. For Jack, having been abandoned in a handbag at Victoria station, this is quite a difficult task.
Algernon visits Jack’s house in the country and introduces himself to Cecily as Ernest, knowing that Cecily is already fascinated by tales of Ernest's wickedness. He further wins her over and they become engaged. Shortly after, Jack arrives home announcing Ernest’s death. This sets off a series of farcical events. Cecily and Gwendolen have a genteel stand-off over which of them has a prior claim on ‘Ernest’. Jack and Algernon vie to be christened Ernest. Eventually, Jack discovers that his parents were Lady Bracknell’s sister and brother-in-law and that he is, in fact, Algernon’s older brother, called Ernest. The two sets of lovers are thus free to marry.
During these events the characters of Canon Chasuble and Cecily’s governess Miss Prism have also fallen in love, and in the best tradition of the well-made play the story ends with all the loose ends tied up and everyone set to live happily ever after.
Talking about Miss Prism we have to start with the information where she works – she is the governess of Cecily. She is educating Cecily to have no imagination or sensationalism in her life. She was working on her family since very early ages, and that is why she is very honorable there.
Also, as you see, nothing is going on without love line. So, Miss Prism being unmarried, falls in love with Chasuble, though the fact that he is a priest prohibits her from telling him about her feelings directly.
As a governess and a person, Miss Prism is an endless source of pedantic talking, stereotypes, and clichés. She approves Jack because of his rightness and always says what a bad person is his “brother.” Her puritan points of view cause nothing more than laughter sometimes.
If not paying attention to her bad sides, her rigidity, she seems to have soft sides too. Once she even wrote a manuscript, but it was not approved. So, maybe exactly where she wanted to write something very personal and to open herself from another side? Because what can be another reason to abandon manuscripts of such a right person?
This woman is a symbol of Victorian moral righteousness. She plays a role of the ideal woman. Unfortunately, not a great amount of people need ideal stuff. She becomes the source of Jack's revelation about his parents.
This woman is kind of an example of the person you’d better not to be. Think for yourself, but do you want to be forever alone just because you have some prejudices which only you understand? Miss Prism was that kind of people we can now call “oh I will not do that because what people will think about me?” Yes, don’t do that, act the way only you want.
Miss Prism is also intellectual, but in a literary way. She is a creative writer and a parody of "a woman with a past." She clearly had dreams of becoming a sensational romantic novelist, but, alas, she must make a living, so she is instead the jailer of Cecily and the guardian of her education and virtue. She, like the minister, makes constant moral judgments. Her favorite line, even to dead Ernest, is "As a man sows, so shall he reap." Repeating this often allows Wilde to show how meaningless and clichéd religion and values have become. As an instrument of the aristocracy, Miss Prism educates Cecily to conform to the dry, meaningless intellectual pursuits designed to keep the status quo. But, like Chasuble, beneath her surface she has a hedonistic streak; often her language slips when she ventures outside her Victorian appearance. She persists in inviting Chasuble to discuss marriage, pursues him diligently, and falls into his arms at the end.
Miss Prism is an appropriate character to uncover Jack's true history because she also is not what she seems. Wilde uses her to show what happens when dreams cannot be pursued in a society of strict social structure and stringent moral guidelines. Both she and Chasuble — with their lack of social opportunities — become servants to the system, promoting its continuation.
The Love-Sick Girl
For all of her bluster and stern judgment on Ernest Worthing's character, Miss Prism turns out to be just as sentimental and romantic as the rest of the cast. Her interactions with Dr. Chasuble reveal a different, slightly softer side of her personality.
In Act II, Miss Prism tries to uphold her strict educational standards when Dr. Chasuble enters but is soon swayed into neglecting her duties for a stroll with the man she's in love with. She does leave her pupil with instructions to study political economy in her absence. In her instructions, we see that even this softer side of Miss Prism still has some iron in it. She says, in a somewhat allegorical way, ''The chapter on the fall of the Rupee you can omit… Even these metallic problems have their melodramatic side.''
And indeed, the metallic Miss Prism does have a melodramatic side that continues to surface just below her stern exterior. It's especially evident in her relationship with Dr. Chasuble, but when her involvement in Jack's original story is revealed in Act IV, we realize she's just as hopeless as the rest of the cast.
The Governess
We first meet Miss Prism in Act II of The Importance of Being Earnest. She is employed by Jack Worthing as a governess, a type of private teacher, to his ward Cecily Cardew.
You've probably heard of a governess before and have a pretty clear picture in your head of what they are like. Stern might be the adjective that comes to mind, or straight-laced. It would be wrong to say that all governesses are strict disciplinarians and morally incorruptible, but most fictional representations of them seem to want us to believe they are.
Miss Prism is no different. When she first appears, she is nagging Cecily to return to her studies. The fact that she is pushing Cecily to work on her German might be a coincidence, but Oscar Wilde wasn't one for coincidences. German, a language and culture with a reputation for sternness, implies a similar hardness in Miss Prism's character.
As the scene continues and the conversation turns to the unfortunate Mr. Ernest Worthing, Miss Prism's morality and stiffness become more apparent. ''I am not in favor of this modern mania for turning bad people into good people at a moment's notice. As a man sows so let him reap,'' she says. It's a phrase and judgment she will repeat several times throughout the play.
When Algernon, pretending to be Ernest, is presented with a large bill and turns to Jack for financial help, Miss Prism opposes Jack paying the debt. ''There can be little good in any young man who eats so much, and so often,'' she proclaims. She even goes as far as saying, ''this proposed incarceration might be most salutary. It is to be regretted that it is only for twenty days.'' Pretty harsh, don't you think?
This harsh personality is important. Miss Prism is the only major character with it. Unlike Jack, Algernon, Cecily, and Gwendolen, who are all quite whimsical in their approach to life, Miss Prism seems to have her head on straight. The audience can identify with her more easily because of this, and she creates a contrast to amplify the sentimentality and absurdity of the other characters.
From this introduction, it is easy to assume that Miss Prism is indeed one of those strict, morally incorruptible governesses. However, that façade cracks somewhat when Dr. Chasuble appears.
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