THE BURDENS OF SOCIAL OBLIGATIONS OSCAR WILDES Essays

"THE BURDENS OF SOCIAL OBLIGATIONS: OSCAR WILDE'S "THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST"" The Burdens of Social Obligations Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest is one of his most famous works, as it is a satirical play that's purpose is to ridicule and expose the ridiculousness of Victorian society. While many accepted and followed the Victorian society's rules and moral codes, Wilde was one of the first to question and rebel against them. Using the main characters of the play, Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, Wilde exposes some of the Victorian society's social obligations, and how he feels about them through satirical strategy. Throughout The Importance of Being Earnest , various kinds of social obligations are slyly ridiculed such as the social views on marriage, obligation to attend family gatherings, and especially maintaining a "high moral tone" for one's family and society. The absurdity of these social morals is clearly apparent to modern readers, because of the contrast in societies, but in the Victorian era they are accepted and followed without question, making the importance of Wilde's meaning behind this play all the more important for the time period. For instance, while marriage was highly valued as something a man and woman must do, the monetary value of the marriage far outweighed its capacity for love and partnership. As Algernon says, "I really don't see anything romantic about proposing. It is very romantic to be in love. The very essence of romance is uncertainty. If ever I get married, I'll certainly try to forget the fact." (Algernon, pg. 1745) Algernon is saying that the re is a complete difference in being in love and being married. He even mentions that "The amount of women in London who flirt with their own husbands is perfectly scandalous." (Algernon, pg. 1739) He is expressing the Victorian view on marriage, which is the obligation to do so, and not the willingness. To Algernon, the moment you agree to marry someone and commit to them forever, you have ruined the entire romance, which is completely backwards and that is exactly what Wilde is trying to emphasize. The idea of arranged marriage goes hand in hand with this, similar to what we saw in Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice", and as Lady Bracknell displays in her dissatisfaction with "Ernest" proposing to Gwendolyn. "When you do become engaged to someone, I, or your father, will inform you of the fact. An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasantIt is hardly a matter that she could be allowed to arrange for herself." ( Bracknell , pg. 174 3) Through Lady Bracknell's dialogue, Wilde is exposing the absurdity of arranged marriage, and the unfairness of the matter. On top of this, as Gwendolyn expresses her adoration for the name "Ernest" and exclaims she could not possibly every marry someone whose name wasn't Ernest, Jack uses his alter-identity to make himself favorable to a woman he loves. This is one of the many aspects of Victorian society that Wilde seeks to expose in its unfairness and absurdity. Other obligations of Jack's such as attending his Aunt's dinner's each week and maintaining a "high moral tone" for his ward Cecily are burdensome, and he eventually finds a clever way to escape all of his problems. As Algernon puts it, he is a " bunburyist ", named after his own alter-identity, meaning he has multiple identities that he uses to his advantage to escape these social obligations without seeming impolite. Jack's " bunbury " is his made-up brother, Ernest, who lives in the city and is a trouble maker. Anytime he does not wish to go to his Aunt's dinner, or he wants to escape to the city to have some inappropriate fun, he blames it on Ernest, and becomes Ernest himself. As Jack puts it, "My name is Ernest in town and Jack in the country" (Jack, pg. 1737) He excuses his behavior by explaining, "As a high moral tone can hardly be said to conduce very much to either one's health or one's happiness, in order to get up to town I have always pretended to have a younger brother of the name of Ernest" (Jack, pg.

LinkedIn says the 2011 most overused professional buzzwords in the United States are “creative,” “organizational” and “effective”

LinkedIn says the 2011 most overused professional buzzwords in the United States are â€Å"creative,† â€Å"organizational† and â€Å"effective† On December 13, 2011, LinkedIn released its â€Å"most overused† buzzwords list for 2011.   Here is the list of the top 10, with â€Å"creative† reigning at the top.   When a particular country or countries stood out for overuse of a term, the country name(s) are listed in parentheses: Creative (Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States) Organizational Effective (India) Extensive experience Track record (Singapore) Motivated (Ireland) Innovative Problem solving (Italy) Communication skills Dynamic (France) The good news?   Some people heeded last year’s list and stopped overusing at least some of the following 2010 Overused Buzzwords: Extensive experience Innovative Motivated Results-oriented Dynamic Proven track record Team player Fast-paced Problem solver Entrepreneurial The four exact matches between 2010 and 2011 years are â€Å"motivated,† dynamic, innovative and extensive experience. There are also some near matches with â€Å"problem solving† vs. â€Å"problem solver† and proven track record vs. track record (I personally have tired of all of these terms). I believe job seekers and career professionals have done some good work changing the landscape four of the terms on the list have changed, and all of them have changed rank.    Lets face it:   There will be overused words every year.   I’m just glad to see we’re learning lessons along the way. How Creative are You? This year’s primary lesson:   Don’t say you are â€Å"creative† – demonstrate your creativity!   Design and upload a PowerPoint presentation to SlideShare and post it to your LinkedIn profile.   Give examples of marketing strategies you devised.   Include your artistic portfolio in your profile.   And don’t use the same words everyone else is using!   We now know that asserting you are â€Å"creative† is a sure way to prove that you are not. Met or Exceeded Organizational Goals? â€Å"Organizational† is a bit tougher.   How do you say you met organizational goals without saying you met organizational goals?   One thing to keep in mind is that of course you are going to strive for and meet organizational goals!   What other goals would you possibly want to report?   I admit I will be a little sad to let this term go, but I see the point of finding alternatives.   â€Å"Meet targeted goals† would be just as effective (oh did I say â€Å"effective†?   Send me to India where I’ll be in good company!)   Or perhaps a chart of goals vs. accomplishments would obviate the need for the term organizational.   I predict that next year â€Å"goal(s)† and â€Å"target(s)† will top this list. Devise an Effective Strategy Lately? Thankfully there are a multitude of ways to convey the concept of â€Å"effective.†   Ã¢â‚¬Å"Successful† is the clearest alternative, followed by â€Å"winning,† â€Å"profitable,† â€Å"lucrative,† â€Å"productive,† â€Å"fruitful,† â€Å"targeted† and even â€Å"efficacious† (I don’t love that last one as a resume/profile adjective).   Take your pick or find another way to say what you mean!   (Sometimes you can just leave out the adjective completely, as I did by avoiding â€Å"find another effective way† in that last sentence.) As for extensive experience and track record, these terms are like nails on a blackboard to me.   I see them a lot and make short work of them on my resumes. How many of these top 10 overused words show up in your profile?   Please share below. And   if you want expert assistance to craft a LinkedIn profile that stands out in a sea of 135 million LinkedIn users, contact The Essay Expert through our Web Form or at 608-467-0067. Like this article?   You might also enjoy Ten Buzzwords to Take Off Your LinkedIn Profile Now published by Time Newsfeed. Category:Archived ArticlesBy Brenda BernsteinDecember 19, 2011 2 Comments Kent V says: December 20, 2011 at 12:02 pm How did they miss sustainable? A particularly awful one since it has so many connotations: 1) environmentally friendly 2) doing something positive that sticks 3) keeping the business alive 4) not hogging or wasting resources (or not getting caught doing it) 5) from the old green revolution, when green meant crop based, not clean: using local, renewable stuff, rather than paying a big company for a remedy 6) an admirable word to put in the annual report or PR release to mean you operate responsibly, whatever that is. and on and on Some years back I would have added leverage as a verb. Too late, it stuck. Log in to Reply The Essay Expert says: December 20, 2011 at 12:31 pm Thanks for the suggested addition! Im sure this one is overused in certain sectors, though not universally enough to make it onto the list. Maybe this world would be a better place if sustainable were on the top of the list! Log in to Reply