Essay On The Importance Of Being Earnest

The importance of being Earnest is a satirical play by Oscar Wilde. Oscar Wilde uses irony throughout The Importance of Being Earnest in order to expose the ridiculousness and ‘insanity’ of Victorian society. Moulton is a gardener who has worked for Mr. Worthing ever since he was little boy and is fed up with how everyone acts around him Wilde makes statements about the oppression of the classes through withholding education and how “education produces no effect whatsoever. [But] If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes.” Frustrated with life working for Mr. Worthing Moulton reflects on how Mr. Worthing and his friends are truly insane. Hidden amongst the comedic and satirical values, Wilde charts a valid discourse on the ideologies that drove a wedge between the aristocratic upper class and the lower classes in turn of the century society.

Irony- In Act Two irony was used a numerous amount of times to forward the plot. Out of all three types of irony, dramatic irony was used the most. Towards the beginning of the act, Miss Prism and Cecily were talking about Jack’s brother, Ernest. Their conversation is ironic, because while they’re talking about the wickedness of Jack’s brother readers know that he’s not real. When Merriman, the butler, announced to Cecily that Ernest Worthing has arrived, readers knew that it was truly Algernon who had undertaken the alias. Assuming the false identity of Ernest gave Algernon a chance to meet Cecily. After Cecily and Algernon’s encounter, Jack arrived back to his country estate in mourning clothes. When Jack came back to the country he confided in Miss Prism and Dr. Chasuble about his nonexistent brother, Ernest’s, sudden death. While most of the characters in The Importance of

John Galsworthy's The Man of Property and Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest epitomize the culture of gender, marriage, and social class in the 19th century. The stereotypes include the power and expectation differences between men and women, marriage for the purpose of gaining, and a strong class separation where the higher class looks down upon the lower classes.

Although Gwendolen is occasionally rebellious towards her mother she shows the quantities of her mother, lady Bracknell; a strong-minded woman. In the first act Jack questions Algernon about the possibility

Throughout the play, Jack and Algernon lie about their identities. This all comes to a head when Gwendolen and Cecily find out they have both been proposed to by the same “Ernest”, Jack’s younger brother, but then realize that it is Jack and Algernon both assuming the name and identity of Ernest separately. The lesson being shown here comes in Cecily’s and Gwendolen’s actions after this revelation. They get up and leave. Given that this is a comedy, this is played for laughs. However, the underlying message is a very serious one. If you tell a lie and stick with it, eventually you will be found out, and you may lose something you care deeply about. This part of Act Two serves as a cautionary tale against lying, while still being light-hearted enough to make us

In Act 3 of the play, “The Importance of Being Earnest”, the author develops humor through three recurring factor throughout the act: clichés, irony, and paradox. These factors are further perpetrated throughout the dialogue between Algernon and Cecily in order to satirize love and relationship between young adults, as well as the morals of Victorian Age.

TOPIC : THE ACT OF BUNBURYING IS THE CENTRAL TO THE THEME OF THE PLAY. DISCUSS WHY WITH REFERENCE TO QUOTES WITHIN THE TEXT AND THE ERA THE PLAY WAS WRITTEN IN.

Algernon ended up meeting Cecily and falling in love. Jack attempted to kill Earnest but that did not go as planned, thanks to Algernon. When Algernon met Cecily he introduced himself as Earnest, Jack’s brother. Of course, they were surprised to hear that considering the fact that Jack was at Earnest’s funeral. Gwendolen arrived and met Cecily. The two girls started having a conversation. When Cecily mentioned she was engaged to an Earnest, Gwendolen denied that statement, and said she was engaged to Earnest. The girls started arguing and Jack and Algernon walk in, the girls go to them and to their surprise, they are both named Earnest. Both girls revealed the men’s real name. Of course, both girls are hurt and feel betrayed. The girls call off the engagements Jack and Algernon tried their hardest to express their love for the girls. Of course, Gwendolen and Cecily forgave them and made them swear to never lie to them

They contradict themselves at every turn. For instance, Jacks best friend, Algernon, had also invented another identity, Bunbury. This enabled him to escape his responsibilities and go to the country, like Jack, and appear respectable. He was also the opposite of ernest when he took on Jack's second identity, Earnest, just to meet Cecily. Therefore, the hypocrisy in that situation was that Jack was upset over Algernon’s deception in pretending to be someone else. Meanwhile, Jack was in fact doing the same exact thing. Algernon also disliked the thought of marriage yet proposed to Cecily. Cecily and Gwendolen were hypocrites for both desiring a man named Earnest, but not caring one bit for the qualities that would entitle a man to such a name. Additionally, they both loved their significant others just for the beauty of their name 'Earnest'. Moreover, Lady Bracknell, Gwendolen’s mother, was the opposite of earnest when she turned down Jack as a candidate for a son in-law, because he was adopted. She judged him by what she thought was his wealth and family background, and not as a person, or for his abilities, education,or loyalty. She became even more of a hypocrite when she found out about Cecily’s large amount of inheritance. She wanted to get Algernon to marry her and was the opposite of earnest and only cared for money. She was a hypocrite when she judged Jack for coming from what she

Everyone is a bit surprised by this, since Ernest is supposedly there. Jack, distrustful of Algernon's intentions toward Cecily, orders Algernon to leave by the next train. Algernon and Cecily say their goodbyes, and Cecily confesses she has been deeply in love with "Ernest" for a year and has made entries in her diary detailing the courtship. Algernon, wishing to stay "Ernest" for Cecily's sake, rushes off to the church to be rechristened "Ernest." Gwendolen, Algernon’s cousin, who happens to be engaged to Jack whom she believes to be Ernest, arrives from London looking for Jack/Ernest and is escorted into the garden to meet Cecily. They sit down to afternoon tea and accidentally discover they are both in love with "Ernest Worthing." Jack and Algernon return to the garden, are confronted by their lovers, and admit their true identities. Gwendolen and Cecily, each with her heart set on loving someone by the name of Ernest, retreat indoors together. Gwendolen and Cecily decide to forgive Jack and Algernon their indiscretions and promise to marry them. Lady Bracknell, Gwendolen’s mother, makes a surprise visit in order to retrieve Gwendolen. When she learns of Cecily's great fortune, she gives her consent to Algernon's marriage to Cecily. Jack refuses to give his consent, however, unless he is allowed to wed Gwendolen. Chasuble arrives to rechristen both young men when Miss

Jack and Algernon enter the house and they end up begging for forgiveness. The women forgive them and the two couples fall into each other's arm, then enters lady Bracknell. She is opposed to the idea of Gwendolen and Jack being engaged, but when she hears the Cecily and Algernon are to be engaged she inquires into Cecily's past and fortune and she approvers of her and the engagement

In one specific scene of the play Act 1 Scene 2, just after Jack has proposed to Gwendolen, Lady Bracknell enters the room and sends her daughter away; she then begins to interview Jack to see if he would qualify as a possible son-in-law. Based on this specific passage the reader is able to examine the text in its’ irony to influence social agreements of the Victorian era from a gender and

At the beginning of the first Act, Jack drops by unexpectedly to visit Algernon and informs him that he intends to propose to Gwendolyn. Algernon finds Jack’s cigarette case and demands to know why the inscription says, “Uncle Jack” and who Cecily is. Jack confesses that his real name is not Earnest and that Cecily is his ward. Jack also mentions that he wants to tell people his “brother” died because Cecily has become too interested in him. This catches the attention of Algernon who becomes interested in Cecily. Eventually, Gwendolyn accepts Jack’s proposal because she thinks his name is Earnest and Algernon visits Jack’s house in Hertfordshire pretending to be Jack’s brother, Earnest, just after Jack has told everyone that his brother died. Cecily falls in love with Algernon thinking his name is Earnest. The girls start talking and think they are engaged to the same man, and they confront Jack and Algernon. Jack admits there is no brother and neither of them are named Earnest. The girls are mad but the guys explain they only did it because they love them, and they both plan to be christened Earnest. Finally, Lady Bracknell, Gwendolyn’s mother arrives, and she gives consent for Algernon to marry Cecily, but as Cecily’s legal guardian, Jack refuses and says she does not come of age until she is thirty-five. As she and Gwendolyn are about to leave, Miss Prism, Cecily’s governess, arrives.

In the comedy, the two characters Jack Worthing and Algernon are showing the value of earnestness and were obsessed with the name. Jack Worthing was the reason for the confusion and misunderstanding between the names. Jack stayed in the country and in the city he would use the name Ernest. When I first read the play, I wondered why the name of the play was “Earnest”, instead of “Ernest”. After reading and researching, the name Ernest meant a lot to the Victorian society. Jack knew that many women in the modern Victorian age were obsessed over any man by the name Ernest because of what it stood for; honorable, loyal, trustworthy, and sincere of feelings. Jack was even considering getting re-baptized with the name Ernest. Needless to say, Jack played the character of a double-life. He was known for Jack in the country and Ernest in the city. Researchers claim that the British society didn’t allow one to live a double life. It was simply permitted. Additionally, Jack

The ultimate double life at this time was to differ from this highly important ritual of matrimony, and instead to favour those of your own sex, as Wilde did. We must also take into account the fact ‘Earnest’ is not only a word meaning ‘truthful’, but was, in Victorian times, a slang word for ‘gay’. Homosexual undertones within the play are fittingly subtle, matching perfectly with how expressing these feelings the time of the play would have had to be, as Wilde was well aware. The heterosexuality of the characters is very over the top, acting as a mask yet again, for what may lay beneath. (Craft, 1990, 24). The consistent use of the term ‘Bunburying’ by Algernon, in reference to visiting his ill friend Bunbury in the countryside, plays into this subtle sense of acting on ones desires hidden from society, with the identity of a man who is non-existent, therefore faces no