Satire on the Victorian Emphasis on “Proper” and “Moral” Values

Satire on the Victorian Emphasis on “Proper” and “Moral” Values

The Victorians are famous for their emphasis on social and moral values. These factors made its members assume that they were the rightful societal leaders. The impact of public learning institutions on Victorian culture was pervasive and deceptively powerful. In this case, Victorians hoped to create a compelling character through the conditioning of the schools. Queen Victoria had a significant impact on the moral tone and communal pride of her society. Most literary works focus on criticizing the emphasis on the “proper” and “moral” by the Victorians. The primary objective was to shows the insignificant of the leadership strategies in transforming humanity to behave in a specific way. Although the Victorians emphasized on “proper” way of living and superior “morals,” Wilde uses satire to shows that the impact was insignificant.

Wilde uses satire to show the Victorian emphasis on the “proper” way of life as not significant in influencing people to change their way of living. The statement “I never saw a woman so altered; she looks quite twenty years or younger” to criticize the need for people to adopt specific social morals (Wilde, 2019). In this case, the first part of the statement alludes to the unique social values that Victorian leadership wanted to instill on women. However, the second part contains words that make the declaration insignificant. For instance, the terms “…she looks quite twenty years or younger” are ironic (Wilde, 2019). One would not expect a teenage girl to behave like a mature woman. Besides, the phrase reveals that the Victorians focused on values that were insignificant to the target audience. Thus, Wilde uses satire to show the insignificance of the Victorian emphasis on specific behaviors and values in their area of jurisdiction.

Wilde uses abusive language to reveal the insignificant of the moral values echoed by the Victorians. The case of the sophisticated male and female teenagers shows that society had expectations that varied from those advocated by the Victorians(Wilde, 2019). One would rely on then Victorian morals to suppose that the two girls would be gentle, romantic, and dependent. Besides, other expectations include experienced young men in issues that relate to real-life. Jack’s seriouscharacter and Algy’s cynical and confident worldliness appear satirical since the two characters fail to meet the expectations(Wilde, 2019). The female youths turn out to be hard-headed, courageous, efficient, and determined. Ironically, males prove to be inexperienced in social matters. Jack attempts to make a marriage proposal to Gwendolen without success(Wilde, 2019). In this case, Gwendolen takes control of the process and instructs Jack on what to do. The failure by the male character to behave according to the Victorian values and norms appears satirical. Therefore, Wilde presents a case on inverted gender roles to show the failure of Victorian leadership goals in the English community.

Wilde uses satire to show the dominant position of women in society, which was a failure of the Victorian social norms. The lines “MAMMA is a judge of divorces, Sister ANNE is a learned Q.C., ELIZA is great upon horses…” shows the position that a female may take in the society (Wilde, 2019). The poet implies that females in the English community had the potential to earn an influential position when compared to men. Besides, the statements appear to criticize the social values that were dominant during the period in context.The words “And I warrant the boys will be beauties” indicates the social position taken by the emerging woman character (Wilde, 2019). A male uses the words noted above to express the dominant position that his wife must take. Besides, the case shows that men in the play had already accepted that women were superior to them. Thus, Wilde uses examples of female-men relationships to challenge the norms promoted by the Victorian sarcastically.

In summary, the Victorian leadership emphasized on “proper” ways of living and superior “moral” values in the English community.Males had to take the dominant social position where they would show a better understanding of the ways of life. They had to guide females in various issues. However,Wilde uses satire to shows that the impact was insignificant. Wilde describes a young girl who behaves like a mature woman to show the failure of the Victorian system. Other significant examples presented by Wilde include females who took a supreme position and guided the males in various social activities. The presentations mock the dominant culture during the Victorian era to show that the female gender had equal potential as their male counterparts.