The Importance of Being Earnest/Victorian Research

During my research of the Victorian age I discovered much valuable information that has given me more insight on the play, The Importance of Being Ernest. I learned that the Victorian age for most, was not a great time to be living in. Many people were poor and the people that weren't didn't care for anyone but themselves. This really shows in the play we are reading. One thing I notice as a reader is that Algernon has an extremely cynical attitude to almost everything. One example of this is on Pg. 38 he says, "I love hearing my relations abused...relations are simply a tedious pack of people who haven't got the remotest knowledge of how to live". As these comments keep going on, never seeming to end, the reader develops the gloomy, distressed attitude the writer is trying to portray.
Another example of a theme from the Victorian age that relates directly to the play is marriage. Marriage in the Victorian age is treated simply as the husband inheriting all of the possessions of the wife,and the possibility of the wife advancing in status if the husband is rich. No compassion or love is involved what so ever. This is displayed very clearly when Lady Bracknell is questioning Jack to determine whether he was eligible to marry Gwendolen on Pg. 25. Jack says, "I have lost both of my parents." Lady Bracknell replies, "Both? That seems like carelessness." In this short excerpt from the book it is clear Lady Bracknell doesn't care that Jack has never known his parents, all she cares about is that because he has no parents he has no status. This fits with the Victorian theme of marriage very well.

New Year's Resolution

Usually I'm sort of against the whole idea of a New Year's Resolution because if you really do plan on dramatically changing some part of your life (which I usually don't) then why wait till the New Year when everyone does this, you should be able to do this of your own accord. But, for the sake of this assignment I will think of some way I can make myself a better person in the year 2010. I think for the year 2010 I will make a committed effort to work out more often.

I am making this my New Years Resolution after a long shortage of exercise after winter break leaving me feeling very out of shape. With this feeling in mind I went to my athletic club today to exercise for a little bit and it gave me a huge amount of relief. I spend a lot of time exercising with my soccer club Blackhills, which keeps me in fairly good shape throughout the year. With this in mind I would like to step it up a little bit so to speak and get used to exercise more. As long as I keep exercising on my own I will still be able to stay in shape during extended periods of break. During these periods of break such as summer I still continue soccer, but my eating is not nearly as healthy. So now if i exercise even more I won't have to worry about this as much and after I finish exercising everyday I can just enjoy myself.