MovieChat Forums > The Importance of Being Earnest (1952) Discussion > Any Poli-Sci majors.....

Any Poli-Sci majors.....

posted 13 years ago by film-collector
7 replies | jump to latest

I am curious about the persistant inside joke about the "respectability" of the German language.
Considering the timeline of the play and the eventual outbreak of WWI.
I can't help but think Wilde wrote the play for the elite of English society and the humor is obviously directed AT them.
So, it appears to me anyway, that they RESPECTED the Germans, but they also didnt like them.
I wonder, could this be an indication of Englands regards towards the Germans in a national sense? In other words, England didnt like the Germans, but they respected the money to be made there?
I admit my ignorance on this subject, so their is no need to remind me. I ask only for opinions and any facts you may supply as I AM interested in this period.
Thank you.

[–] angelofvic 12 years ago

I don't really remember any jokes about the German language. The English language is a Germanic language, so German is its forbear.

In the 1890s, young mad Wilhelm II was just commencing on his "new course" which would indeed culminate 24 years later in WWI -- but 20 years is a long time, a long way away, and Wilhelm's actions were not very overt in the early years. Also, Wilhelm II was Queen Victoria's son-in-law, so I'm not sure how the English public, including Wilde, viewed Germany at that point. Britain had been allied by royal marriage to Germany for over 200 years -- an alliance and allegiance that probably remained in the popular mind.
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[–] laxlon 8 years ago

Actually Wilhelm II was Queen Victoria's grandson. His mother was Victoria's oldest child, Princess Victoria who married Crown Prince Frerick Wilhelm. By the way, Queen Victoria was married to her first cousin, Prince Albert.

"It costs extra to carve 'Schmuck' on a tombstone, but you would definitely be worth it."

[–] angelofvic 8 years ago

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Oops, you're right. Victoria's grandson, and Vicky's son. A disappointment to his parents -- attacking his mother's homeland.
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[–] laxlon 8 years ago

Well his father had to die for him to become king. His mother, Queen Victoria's daughter I'm sure was in an awkward position during the war if she was still living. not sure.

"It costs extra to carve 'Schmuck' on a tombstone, but you would definitely be worth it."

[–] angelofvic 8 years ago

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He was a deluded warmonger and Britain-hater (deluded by Bismark) long before either of his parents died. They were extremely distraught about him but could find no way to stop him or his delusions.
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[–] puirt-a-beul 7 years ago

The English have been ruled by French and/or German monarchs for centuries, and have maintained what is essentially a sibling rivalry with those two cultures for that whole time.

With Victoria's lineage being Germanic, and her husband being German by birth, her reign brought a "fashionable" fascination with all things Germanic. As always, Wilde just couldn't resist lampooning anything the English found fashionable.

The Great War tore a deep wound in the English psyche, because it was like going to war with a member of your family. If it had happened during Victoria's reign, world history would have been very different.

You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.

[–] film-collector 7 years ago

That's the answer I was looking for and what I suspected. Thanks puirt-a-beul.

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