What is epigram? Discuss the epigrams used in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
Epigram is a brief and witty statement which is apparently self-contradictory. For example, ‘Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought’ – (Shelley: “To a Skylark” ). Also, ‘I can resist everything except temptation’ – (Oscar Wilde). S.T. Coleridge defined epigram as he wrote one: “What is an Epigram? a dwarfish whole, Its body brevity, and wit its soul” The Importance of Being Earnest is Oscar Wilde’s most enduringly popular play which is full of epigrams and through these epigrams, Wilde satirizes upper Victorian society. In this play, Wilde touches on many things like women’s education, inheritance of property, marriage, illegitimacy, class distinctions in society, the role of the aristocracy, baptism, food, money etc. and makes fun of almost everything that the society of his time regarded as sacrosanct. It should, however, be conceded that the success of this play is not because of its pl...