How Is Irony Used In Algernon

The character of Algernon is clearly complex in nature, if one can get past all of the apparent superficialities. Despite this, Algernon's significance most notably lays in the fact that his idea of bunburying can be seen as a deeper metaphor for Wilde's own double

When Jack tells Algernon that he has traveled to town to propose, and classifies his trip as pleasure, Algernon retorts that he “thought you had come up for pleasure…I call that business.” This displays his lack of interest in the romance of marriage and that he instead cares about acquiring money through marriage. Algernon represents the broader views of the upper class. In a following scene, Lady Bracknell interrogates Jake about his prospects for his daughter. She asks “What is you income” and further into

In The Crucible, Arthur Miller reveals false religious values over logical assumption is hazardous and can cause great hysteria by using dramatic irony and verbal irony. The dramatic irony is a type of situation that can lead to a dramatic event and mainly presents to the audience but not the other characters. By using this to generate critical thinking throughout the audience and to catch the attention. Verbal irony is the using of words and phrase that it seems to disobey itself or simply being counterintuitive. These are the techniques that can help us try to comprehend what is the author try to infer us in the content.

In fact, the starkest accusation of wrongdoing comes when Cecily accuses Algernon of deception: “’I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time. That would be hypocrisy’”

Algernon Moncreiff on the other hand, lied to get to the coutnry so he could find something more genuine as opposed to the false honesty of the city. Again, one sees the same dichotomy as one would see in Jack. Alge lied to get to Cecily, his true love, which again is genuine. Cecily Cardew has a dichotomous personality as well. On the outside, Cecily appears to be innotcent and very victorian like, which represents the victorian dewfinitionof honesty. However, if one dug a little deeper, they would see that Cecily is much like a female version of a dandy. She has wicked thoughts, which represent her genuine, truly honest self.

Algernon’s stances on marriage, relationships, and self accurately describe his selfishness. Not only does Algernon destroy his own sense of reality, he destroys everyone else’s concept of the truth. The Importance of Being Earnest is meant to make people laugh; unfortunately, Wilde’s characters are so rude and condescending that the reader can have trouble finding the humor. This play is so full of unhealthy relationships that one has to assume that nothing will work out in the end. Algernon is an egomaniac, and there is no doubt that his attitude will rub off on Cecily, Jack, and

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.

They are presented to within a high class of society, with a lack of consideration or care for the lower classes. Both are bored by their high society lives and “stiff” lunches/meetings that they must attend, so have created alter egos which they use to have fun in a different place. Algernon has invented a sick friend called Bunbury, who he sometimes must spend long lengths of time “looking after”, and when in the country, Jack becomes Ernest.

Characters use a light hearted banter even as the issues they deal with are heavy- Algernon accuses Lane of pilfering through a light rhetorical banter – ‘Why is it that at a bachelor’s establishment the servants invariably drink the champagne?’ The soliloquy is used to deliver profound thoughts like where Algernon claims rights for

Satire is especially used to criticize people’s morals and outlooks on life. Algernon is very fashionable man, and is always overly dressed. This can be humorous but it also ridicules that type of picky lifestyle because young Englishmen of the time also worried too much about their clothes. As Lady Bracknell points out, Algernon “is nothing but he looks every thing”. According to Jack, Algernon is very prideful which is made clear from Algernon’s claim to being “immensely over-educated”. His view that relatives are “a tedious pack of

This is very funny, because Algernon is trying to be honest to Jack about advising him of an action that in fact is itself dishonest and false. The pun is when Algernon thinks that Jack deserves to be advised and learn the rules, since he turned out to be a real Bunburyist, even the most advanced one. This is very ridiculous! As if Jack was discovered to be a man with high principles or qualities.

One moment that I thought was particularly effective was when both characters exposed each other’s name to the audience through the use of contrasting vocal delivery and body language during each characters sentences. When Jack addressed Algernon by name, he folded his arms and paused before the name, putting emphasis on it. When Algernon addressed Jack by name, he sat down and pointedly looked at Jack, to put emphasis on his name.

During her German lesson with Mrs. Prism, Cecily states that, “I keep a diary in order to enter the wonderful secrets of my life” (Wilde 24) Although Cecily never takes another name, she bunburies in her own mind and flees from her overcontrolled life through her diary. After Algernon comes to Jack’s house pretending to be Earnest and proposes to Cecily, Cecily reveals that they “have been engaged for the last three months” (Wilde 35). She then reads to him parts of her diary to confirm the engagement. Cecily makes herself believe in the engagement so that she can lead a more interesting life. She is tired of her daily routine and her German lessons with Miss. Prism. Additionally, when Algernon tells Cecily that he did not write any letters to her, Cecily replies, “I was forced to write your letters for you” (Wilde 36). Cecily writes these love letters from Algie in an attempt to further break free from the boring, trapped lifestyle of a young heiress. Through these letters, she is able to deceive herself and Algernon into believing that they are in a true relationship.

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

In The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde portrays a relationship between two men, Algernon and Jack, which is filled with constant arguing and disagreement. Their first dispute over a cigarette case is presented early in act one, leaving the reader with a lasting impression of the flaws in their relationship. Algernon and Jack disagree over who holds ownership over the cigarette case leading Algernon to remark “I think that is rather mean of you, Ernest, I must say” (Wilde 462). Being that both of these men are members of the upper class, the case clearly does not have true monetary value to them except to use an a manipulating factor. Algernon eventually trades the case in order to receive an explanation from Jack about why he is “Earnest in the town and Jack in the country” (464). The trivial nature of this strife shows the weak bond between Algernon and Jack. This weakness is reinforced when Jack and Algernon meet again in the middle of the play. After returning from town, Jack finds Algernon at his house and is forced to listen to Algernon lie about being his brother. In response, Jack says “nothing will induce me to take his hand. I think his coming down here disgraceful. He knows perfectly well why” (498). This is another example showing the poor relationship between Algernon and Jack. Jack’s distrust of Algernon due to his habitual lying goes hand in hand with several of their disagreements, further preventing a successful friendship between them.