Themes and Characterization

            Henrik Ibsen was born in Skien on 1828, a tiny coastal town. He wrote many novels and plays in his age. Many of which dealt with satire and drama. One such novel was a Doll's House written in 1879. It was a social drama on marriage, in which a woman refuses to obey her husband and walks out from her apparently perfect marriage. The work caused a sensation and toured Europe and America. Amongst all his novels and plays Doll's House managed to encompass an important subject, women's rights, which would not be dealt with for be until the mid 20th century. His insight upon such matters was truly visionary considering he was a man in the late 19th century. He died on 1906. .
             Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in Dublin to unconventional parents on 1854. Like Ibsen, Wilde wrote satirical pieces about society but his talent was comedy. Wilde is best known for his comedy The Importance of Being Earnest that was written in 1895. It was a comedy of manners. John Worthing (who prefers to call himself Jack) and Algernon Moncrieff (Algy) are two fashionable young gentlemen. John tells that he has a brother called Ernest, but in town John himself is known as Ernest and Algernon also pretends to be the profligate brother Ernest. This novel gives insight to class conflict during the late 19th century. He died on 1900.
             Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest and Ibsen's A Doll's House display similar characterization and themes of dual identity and mask's of manners. .
             The major target of Wilde's scathing social wit is the hypocritical mask of society. Frequently in Victorian society, its participants comported themselves in overly sincere, polite ways while they harbored conversely manipulative, cruel attitudes. Wilde exposes this divide in scenes such as when Gwendolyn and Cecily behave themselves in front of the servants or when Lady Bracknell warms to Cecily upon discovering she is rich, but the play truly pivots around the word "earnest.