Importance Of Being Earnest Worthing Quotes

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.

The contrast of city and country is a motif that echoes sporadically throughout Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. Town and country are portrayed as different environments on which life develops accordingly. Early in the first act, the character first introduced as Jack says that the point of one’s life varies greatly depending on where the person is: “When one is in town one amuses oneself. When one is in the country, one amuses other people.” This separation is actually what creates the conditions for what turns out to be the play’s most important theme, the double lives. Life in the country, demands a high moral tone it needs to be kept by a guardian and rarely lets one relax. This is why Jack feels the need to create a double life in the city for his own pleasure .“It can hardly be said to conduce very much to

Jack uses his alter-ego, Ernest, as a escape from his boring and prude life, however as duty starts to call append itself and Jack seeks to marry a woman he met,Gwendolen, and he now wishes to rid his alter-ego but not without consequence. As, Gwendolen’s fixation on the name Ernest and Ernest alone, Jack has to choose between his two worlds, and his lies eventually become his undoing. Wilde’s play and the character Jack Worthing was meant to expose the Victorian Era’s repressive and suffocating norms, The classes care so much about being respectable that they are willing to lie about it, The Importance of Being Earnest reveals the differences between the behavior of the people and the

In the Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde creates two completely different identities for two of the main characters, in two entirely different settings. One of the settings takes place in a town in England and the other takes place in Hertfordshire, in the country. I believe that Wilde purposely did that to reflect on the characters that he wanted to portray. When Jack Worthing is in the country, where he resides, he is a well-respected, wealthy man that a lot of depend on. He is a major landowner and Justice of the Peace in Hertfordshire, where he has a country estate. He received his good fortune and respectability from his adopted father. Coming from this, he must know the rules and behaviors of polite society. He is extremely witty

A person’s name and position in society are significantly important for the upper class, due to the fact that if one were to marry into the family, a key member of the family would judge the person by their social class and the family name they carry to see if they are worthy to being a part of their lineage. In the play, “The Importance of Being Earnest,” a person's social class is highly admired. The main characters are high in society and are falsely appearing to live up to great expectations. In Oscar Wilde’s play, the theme of the social class is extensively explored through the characters, although they are living double-lives.

In the play, The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, there is a lot of humor that can be found. Specifically, developed behind the characters in this play that display many instances of irony and how important it was to fit into the “status quo” of this time period. There are specific behaviors from the characters of Lady Bracknell, Gwendolen, and Algernon that portray Wilde’s opinion of society during the Victorian Age. The attitude of these characters is snobbish and their manners display double standards and superiority. The play’s use of mockery and irony of these satirical situations is meant to publicly ridicule the self- loving attitude of the upper class while exposing their true absence of intelligence which causes their absurd social behaviors

Cecily and Gwendolen were perfectly happy to become attached to something that appears to be true and real rather than taking a closer look to expose the genuine nature of Jack and Algernon proves that the two young women were more attached to the name of both men, and did not consider their actions and words to verify them not being earnest – exposing both women as superficial. Algernon’s occupation with his outer appearance and Lady Bracknell’s need to look good in the eyes of others proves them both to be superficially committed to their external manifestations. It is possible that Wilde was revealing what the upper class life resulted in, and that as one rises higher in status one loses themselves, becoming preoccupied with what others want and what others think, forgetting one’s true

This allows him to navigate the old Victorian courting societal convention with a great sense of

Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest (.1993.) is an enlightening epitome of social class in the Victorian era. The satire is driven by the frivolous behaviour, superficial lives and artificial norms within the Victorian aristocracy. Incorporating his own opinion into the play, Wilde continually attacked and mocked their hypocrisy, views on marriage, and their mannerisms. Throughout the play, Wilde used an abundant range of literary techniques to reinforce his opinion. Irony, paradox and hyperboles, as well as witty epigrams and aphorisms were used astutely and were ubiquitous throughout the play. This contributed to the satirical style and tone of the text, and enabled Wilde to effectively communicate his critical perspective on social class in Victorian England.

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.

By creating two identities for Jack/Earnest Worthing, Wilde is able to create a farce that satirizes the society of Victorian England. From the first few minutes of the play, the reader or viewer sees the predicament that Wilde has placed Mr. Worthing in. Within the first pages, Algernon,

He uses the term “earnest” in order to expose this hypocrisy and the certain falsities that are paradoxically encouraged and despised by Victorians. Algernon and Jack see through to this hypocrisy; which is why they invent fictional selves in order to escape the silly and stifling weight of gentile society. Ultimately, what Wilde is trying to say is that an individual’s definition of decency is not necessarily decency. This exchange occurs in the play: Lady Bracknell says to Jack, “My nephew, you seem to be displaying signs of triviality,” and Jack responds to Lady Bracknell, “On the contrary, Aunt Augusta, I’ve now realized for the first time in my life the vital Importance of Being Earnest.” Wilde is satirizing the impossible standard that Victorians have placed upon themselves. Here, Jack is being honest and Lady Bracknell is simply following the rubric of aristocracy. What Lady Bracknell considers trivial in Jack is closer to true earnestness than her put-upon sense of

Cronk 1 Cameron Cronk Mrs. Gilbert English CP 3rd Period March 1, 2015 The Importance of Being Ernest In the play, “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde he shows true morality through immorality by making it important to be “serious”. Earnest who is also Jack and how he has mad immoral choices by lying to other people and what his true identity is. Also how Algernon is also lying to other people about his other identity whose name is Bunbury and how his moral and immoral decisions have lead him to where he is now.

One example is his having to look after Cecily, as he is the person who has power over her, because he is her guardian. We see this when Miss Prism says “You know how anxious your guardian is to improve you in every way.” This means that Jack feels strongly that he needs to make sure that Cecily has a good education, and knows the proper social etiquette in Victorian society, and he knows that he is responsible for looking after her properly. In addition, we see that he does also care about Cecily, seeing as if he didn’t, then he wouldn’t want her to be able to learn well, and would most likely leave Miss Prism to sort out all of Cecily’s education, rather than instructing Miss Prism on what to

Earnestness, which implies seriousness or sincerity, is the great enemy of morality in The Importance of Being Earnest. Earnestness can take many forms, including boringness, solemnity, pomposity, complacency, smugness, self-righteousness, and sense of duty, all of which Wilde saw as hallmarks of the Victorian character. When characters in the play use the word serious, they tend to mean “trivial,” and vice versa. For example, Algernon thinks it “shallow” for people not to be “serious” about meals, and Gwendolen believes, “In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the vital thing.”