Character Analysis Of John Worthing In The Importance Of Being Earnest

By stating that he did not know anyone by the name of Cecily, Jack initiates his own debacle. He has to clarify that Cecily is actual his ward. Nonetheless, Jack bears no anguish to dissembling to his closest companion. Jack’s morality has been impaired by his lies and it implies that his animalistic qualities control him. Yet, he falls in love and he must tell Gwendolen, his sweetheart, of his morally wrong character. In order to do so Jack has to disclose that Ernest was not in fact his real name but a mere alias created to cover up his dastardly ways. He can think of no other way than to “kill” his brother. Wilde shows how Jack’s urbane nature begins to be marred by his animalism since he was willing to kill a man, fictional or not. Ensuing in the play Jack is speaking with Algernon and he begins to ponder on how to commit the murder. He states “My poor brother Ernest is carried off suddenly in Paris, by a severe chill. That gets rid of him” (Wilde 16). Though fictional, Jack’s murder of Ernest still seems to carry the same implications further into the book. This murder eventually skews his reputation once his lies become known. Wilde proves how Jack’s lies soon catch up to him and flaw his esteemed moral persona. Later in the play Algernon sets off on a trip to Jack’s country estate and claims he is Ernest Worthing. Later when Jack arrives Cecily informs her caretaker that his brother Ernest is in his room. Jack replies

Gwendolyn and Cecily act as friends until they learn that they are supposedly engaged to the same person. Then they learn neither of them are engaged to anybody named Ernest, and are friends again. In act three, we discover Jacks history, including that he is Algernon's elder brother. In the end, despite several lies, arguments, and much turmoil, everybody gets married.

Jack illustrates the purpose of deception by using Earnest to escape his role of warden to Cecily. When Algernon finds Jack’s cigarette case, he is shocked to find the name Jack graven inside. Jack attempts to explain by saying, “[M]y name is Ernest

insinuates the importance of being honest and truthful, while playing on the male name, Ernest. The pun in the title is a case in point. The earnest/Ernest joke strikes at the very heart of Victorian notions of respectability and duty. Gwendolen wants to marry a man called Ernest, and she doesn’t care whether the man actually possesses the qualities that comprise earnestness. She is, after all, quick to forgive Jack’s deception. In embodying a man who is initially neither

Jack Worthing lived a double life where his alter ego was Ernest Worthing. This alter identity lived in the city and acted as a gentleman to impress a young lady named Gwendolen. Jack’s true identity resided in the country caring for Cecily. Cecily believed that Ernest was Jack’s troubled brother, therefore it was comprehensible that Jack would leave the country suddenly to go to the city to visit his brother. Jack’s double life had remained secret until Algernon discovered a cigarette case with Jack’s name on it, forcing Jack to reveal that his name is “Ernest in town and Jack in the country, and the cigarette case was given to [him] in the country” (Wilde 12). The alter identity developed by Jack was merely a dream. The dreamer archetype allows dreamers to

However, through John Ames’ letter to his son, Jack’s life serves as a lesson to show that one does not have to conform to society in order to live a fulfilling existence as long as one is confident in his or her beliefs and holds to them despite the hardships one might face in a

Jack: “If I marry a charming girl like Gwendolen, and she is the only girl I ever saw in my life that I would marry, I certainly won’t want to know Bunbury” – This shows that Jack does want to settle down and is very much in love with Gwendolen. He feels that if he has her in his life, he will no longer need to escape out of where he lives to have fun and be wilder, as he won’t want that anymore.

Jack illustrates the purpose of deception by using Earnest to escape his role of Cecily’s warden. When Algernon finds Jack’s cigarette case, he is shocked to find the name Jack graven inside. Jack attempts to explain by saying, “[M]y name is Ernest in town and Jack in the country” (Wilde Act I). As Jack, he has to be a responsible adult and take care of his niece Cecily but as Ernest he is able to live the wild life of a young bachelor. By pretending to be Ernest in town, Jack is freed from the restrictions of being a caretaker, yet he still fulfills the duties of one as he resides in the country. While explaining why he has two identities to Algernon, Jack states that being a guardian does not “conduce very much to either one’s health or one’s happiness” (Wilde Act I). Jack has to take care of Cecily, be responsible for her, and set rules and guidelines for her to follow. In his role of guardian, he finds himself unable to have fun, so he creates an irresponsible, carefree

Gwendolen and Cecily are both fixated on the name Ernest because the superficial society surrounding them unconsciously causes them to gravitate towards men that they believe have earnest dispositions. Gwendolen asserts her fondness of the name Ernest declaring, “my ideal has always been to love some one of the name of Ernest. There is something in that name that inspires absolute confidence” (Wilde 980). Cecily also admires the name Ernest and makes a statement almost identical to Gwendolen’s when she admits, “it had always been a girlish dream of mine to love someone whose name was Ernest. There is something in that

The obligations hang upon the men protagonists that it could either be an excitement or a bore. This is what caused Algernon and Jack to be indulged in bunburying, an act created by Algy upon creating an individual named Bunbury. “When one is placed in the position of guardian, one has to adopt a very high moral tone on all subjects. It’s one’s duty to do so.” (P.35) Jack, having an eighteen year old ward named Cecily, could not leave his obligations for silly reasons such as enjoyment. Therefore, he invented a brother named Ernest in order to go up to the city. On the other hand, Algernon mentions, “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.” (P.35) In the city, he has to dine in restaurants with Lady Bracknell who makes him sit next to Mary Farquhar, a woman who flirts openly with her

One thing that Jack and Algernon have in common is that they both have these false faces. Algernon’s alter ego Bunbury is a version of himself used in the country but he uses Ernest to marry Cecily. The story deals with Ernest, this immorally imaginary man that both Cecily and Gwendolyn become engaged to, it exemplifies the irony within the name. Most of the irony comes from this character. One of Wilde's satiric targets is romantic and sentimental love, which he ridicules by having the women fall in love with a man because of his name rather than more personal attributes. Gwendolyn said “No, there is very little music in the name Jack, if any at all, indeed. It does not thrill. It produces

The relationship between Jack and Gwendolen undergoes a parody. Gwendolen laughs when Jack asks how she might feel if his name is not Earnest. "Ah, that is clearly a metaphysical speculation", she says, "and like all metaphysical speculation, has very little reference at all to the actual facts of real life, as we know them."(18) This remark of Gwendolen exactly fits the general theme of the play, but in fact the joke is directed to her. Yet at the end of the play, Gwendolen's conviction that she will marry an Earnest and her faith in the name are justified- we understand that Jack's true name is Earnest. The effect

Jack and Algernon start their friendship with deception and lies. In the beginning of the play, they are alone in the morning-room and the lies, between the two friends, is are brought to the table. They have both been great friends for some time now. Jack visits with Algernon in the city where he goes by the name “Ernest”. He feels that going by a different name will let him live and experience a different lifestyle. When visiting with Algernon, Jack has become very interested in Gwendolen. Jack is expressing his love for Algernon’s cousin, Gwendolen, and tells how he wishes to marry her. Before Algernon gives his consent, he wants to know who Cecily is. Cecily is the name engraved on the cigarette

Jack’s creation of a fictional brother Ernest gives audience an impression that he is a hypocritical person who ignores the consequences of being dishonest. Only when his desire to marry Gwendolen is threatened does he learn that he cannot escape from responsibility or “come up to town as often as [he] like[s]” (Act 1, p.8). Suffering from the dilemma, his hidden sincerity and kindness are discovered. This makes him become a rounder character. As a consequence, the rest of the plot will be affected and advanced by his unique traits and

For most of the play, Jack is Jack, not Ernest, and when the lies and deceit finally catch up to