Comparison of Christopher Marlowe's and Oscar Wilde's Plays - Essay Example

Jennifer Frade LIA4 09/28/2007 The Darker Side of Laughter Deception is often the primary means of bringing about comedic moments, but can also have a much more serious side. This is darker side of laughter is a central theme of both Christopher Marlowe’s play “Dr. Faustus” as well as Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest.” In Marlowe’s play, the main character pulls off a series of mean tricks on others that only serve to bring about his own ruin. The characters in Wilde’s play also pull off a series of tricks, but are able to redeem themselves by being earnest in the end. While deception can be seen to be the primary theme in both plays, then, the outcomes are difference based upon the characters’ different choices regarding whether to continue the deception or to ‘come clean.’ “Dr. Faustus” is a morality play about a man who seeks the ultimate knowledge, ostensibly for the good of all mankind. Unfortunately, he gets so wrapped up in his own greatness that he forgets to take care of his fellow man, instead using his great power to play tricks on others. Although he is warned repeatedly not to follow the course he’s following at the risk of his soul, Dr. Faustus refuses to heed the warnings and realizes too late that he has deluded himself into eternal torment. This does not seem to be an appropriate comparison piece to Wilde’s play “The Importance of Being Earnest.” In Wilde’s comedic play of manners, two men are involved in long-term deceptions of their peers as a means of escaping the strict social customs of their time. The play opens as each discovers the other’s secret and their webs of lies begin to come untangled. Surprisingly, however, their lies turn out to be truths, which is not at all important to the people around them. Thus, deception is indicated on multiple levels and proves itself a perfect compliment to “Dr. Faustus.” Both plays focus on the idea of deception as the primary means of driving the action. For example, Dr. Faustus trades his soul for the magical knowledge of the universe and then uses this knowledge to play tricks on important people like the Pope. This occurs in Act III, Scene 1 as Faustus uses invisibility and inflicted blows to force the Pope to stop praying: “Well, there’s the second time. Aware the third; / I give you fair warning. / [The POPE crosses himself again, and FAUSTUS hits him a box / of the ear; and they all run away.]” (Marlowe, 1616). Not only is Faustus working to deceive others regarding what is occurring in the room, but the others are relieved of their deception that God will protect them in their holiest of places and thus is causing irreparable harm to their psyches. In contrast, Jack Worthing and Algy Moncrieff do not use deception to hurt others but instead to give themselves a little more breathing room within the strict confines of Victorian manners. As Algy says, “You have invented a very useful younger brother called Ernest, in order that you may be able to come up to town as often as you like. I have invented an invaluable permanent invalid called Bunbury, in order that I may be able to go down into the country whenever I choose” (Wilde, 1895, Act 1, Scene 1). Despite the perception that these characters are the only instigators of deception, a closer look at both indicates there is yet a greater deception occurring. Faustus becomes easily deceived by Cornelius, who tells him, ““[t]he miracles that magic will perform / will make thee vow to study nothing else” (Marlowe, 1616, Act 1, Scene 1), which Faustus believes despite the warnings of Mephastophilis who has uttered nothing but the truth. When he is finally tempted to change his ways, he again falls for the counsels of evil when he chooses to heed the advice of the evil angel who tells him to “think of honour and of wealth” (Marlowe, 1616, Act 1, Scene 5) if he wishes to be a great man. Faustus continuously allows himself to be deceived by others who are each shown to have their own agendas. Cornelius wants someone else to be worse than him, the evil angel is working for his boss and Mephastophilis is concerned with not having anyone else suffer his own fate. In “Earnest”, the nurse maid turned bumbling tutor for Jack’s young ward has been hiding a secret of her own for many years that would reveal the true identity of Jack and remove the deception under which he’s envisioned himself since childhood. Her ability to deceive others has enabled her to remain hidden from Mrs. Bracknell in the interim until finally confronted by that lady in Act III, Scene II when the truth about Jack is revealed: “Twenty-eight years ago, Prism, you left Lord Bracknell’s house, Number 104, Upper Grosvenor Street, in charge of a perambulator that contained a baby of the male sex. You never returned … Prism! Where is that baby?” (Wilde, 1895). Unlike Dr. Faustus, the characters in “The Importance of Being Earnest” are all forced to come out with the truth before the end of the play and none seem overly reticent to do so. Deception has clouded their understandings, but it has not been a malignant deception and no harm is caused in the end because of it. Self-deception is not neglected in either play as an important aspect of the deception theme. Despite a guilty conscious and the warnings of others, Faustus continues to deceive himself that he’s doing the right thing for his own well-being and refuses to change his ways. He envisions himself early in the play as a more benevolent ruler than any the world has yet seen, “I’ll have them fill the public schools with silk, / Wherewith the students shall be bravely clad; I’ll levy soldiers with the coin they bring, / And chase the Prince of Parma from our land” (Marlowe, 1616, Act I, Scene I), but by the end of the play all he’s done is run around playing jokes. Although he perceives himself to be the wisest man on earth, his actions reveal that he is among the most foolish. While Jack believes himself to be out deceiving the world, he learns in the end that he has never lied at all about who he is as he was christened both Earnest and John after his father before him and that he really does have a disreputable younger brother in the figure of Algy: “Algy’s elder brother! Then I have a brother after all. I knew I had a brother! I always said I had a brother!” (Wilde, 1895, Act III, Scene II). Through this happy coincidence, Wilde illustrates the “importance of being Earnest” by having his main character remain innocent of actually lying despite his intent. He has not been allowed to deceive. Although both plays center on the concept of deception, they have widely disparate outcomes thanks to the final choices of the individuals involved. Faustus continues to deceive himself and others as a means of gaining yet more material wealth and reputation. Jack and Algy, on the other hand, are fully willing to tell the truth once they’ve been caught and become willing to do just about anything to win the approbation of their respective ladies. Because of this difference, one character is followed to his doom while the others are permitted to presumably live happily ever after with the lady of his choice. References Marlowe, C. (1616). “Dr. Faustus”. Masterplots. Ed. S. Flecher. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, Inc., 1996. Wilde, O. (1895). “The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People”. Masterplots. Ed. S. Bromige. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, Inc.,1996. Read More