The Double Life in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

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

Oscar Wilde’s play entitled “The Importance of Being Earnest” illustrates the concept of dual personality, fantasy, love, and lies. Jack, Algernon, Gwendolyn, and Cecily all live in lies. They are manipulated by their fantasies and desire for perfect relationship and love. Jack, the protagonist in the play, is the root of lies because of his imaginary brother named Earnest. Algernon uses the name to win Cecily, while Gwendolyn and Cecily are both fascinated by this name because it expresses strength and perfection of manhood. Due to their search and desire to have Earnest, the male and female characters escape from the reality. Therefore, Wilde in The Importance of Being Earnest portrays a gender doubled

Social norms and expectations have the capacity to constrain people to live within a certain standard. When this standard becomes overwhelming, people tend to look for ways to temporarily escape their lives. Fortunately, there are several possible options that grant such escape, wearing social masks being one of them. Social masks allow people to hide their true identities from others as they live their desired lives, protecting their real social images. In Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, Jack’s and Algy’s method of bunburying strongly correlates to this mean of escape. As readers analyze how bunburying works towards Jack’s and Algy’s advantage, it becomes clear that bunburying fundamentally gives these two characters a social mask that allows them to become distinctly different characters.

The Importance of being Earnest includes three acts, with seven major characters. In act one, we start with a conversation between Jack (a notable bachelor) and Algernon (an in debt bachelor, with a laid back temperament), in which we learn both have made up 'friends,' who are often sick, as to escape from wherever they live whenever they want. We also learn

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

Throughout much of the play and especially the beginning, Wilde satirizes the setting in which both the characters as well as his audience live in. This satirization specifically requires that the audience be thoughtful whenever Wilde makes a joke, resulting in the thoughtful laughter which makes a true comedy. “The Importance of Being Earnest” is set during the late 20th century in Britain, a time period known as the Victorian Era, in which the British Empire was at its absolute peak. The dominance of Britain in world affairs resulted in a sense of

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

I call that business,”(Wilde, 15). As for Lady Bracknell, she becomes a contradiction claiming, “...when I was married to Lord Bracknell I had no fortune of any kind,” (Wilde, 64), yet she proposes an immense inquisition towards Jack regarding her wanting Gwendolen to marry rich. Wilde’s diverse usage of character's moralities in the play allots for the depiction of Victorian conversation, behavior, and responsibility. Oscar Wilde’s masterful use of allusion, the neologism of the word “Bunbury” and the mockery of Victorian society establish the theme of duality embedded throughout the play, The Importance of Being Ernest.

This idea of superficiality is later magnified by the evidence that Wilde gives proving Algernon and Jack to not be at all earnest. Wilde takes advantage of the name Ernest and makes it a pun, as both women have the logic that a man named Ernest must be earnest. Wilde ensures the audience knows this and uses this pun to create irony, as many times Algernon and Jack are presented as morally askew, and not at all earnest. On the subject of Bunburying, Algernon says “in married life. Three is company and two is none.” Which states his view on having two different lives, and this is seemingly how he justifies him lying, as he sees cheating as a normal part of married life. There is also the matter of Jack and Algernon’s acceptance of them having to change their names to be able to marry Gwendolen and Cecily. Of course, lying about their names in the first place is a clear indication that Jack and Algernon are not very honourable, but their acceptance of the fact that Gwendolen and Cecily would not have accepted their proposals if their real names had been revealed presents Jack and Algernon as characters who aren’t bothered by the prospect of lying to their wives for their entire lives.

Jack does not admit to being a Bunburyist, even after he is exposed as such, while Algernon not only admits his wrongdoings but also takes pleasure in it. Algernon's enjoyment stems from his own cleverness and ingenuity with his philosophy on life being blatantly apparent in his statement, "one must be serious about something, if one wants to have any amusement in life. I happen to be serious about Bunburying..." (Wilde, 40) Still, Jack takes the idea of Bunburrying too far, and even though Algernon states to him, "I naturally want to talk to you about Bunburrying. I want to tell you the rules," Jack has no interest in hearing about these rules and thus acts as a prime example of the consequences of the general hypocrisy of the Victorian mindset which Wilde seems to comment on in this case.

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.

The main character of Wilde's story, Jack Worthing creates an elaborate deceit in which he invents a brother in the city but also reinvents his entire self. He created his fake brother to get away from the country and go live a more exciting life in the city. However, his deceitfulness leads to him being completly honest with himself, and finding a true love. Something genuine. There one would see the dichotomy in Jack, or as he's known in the city, Ernest.

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, premiered in London in 1895 when Wilde was in the peak of his career. During this time of the Victorian Era, society was very moral and chaste, at least on the surface. There was a very specific code of behavior that governed almost everything, but focused mainly on the topic of marriage. This affected Wilde first-hand as he was married to a woman but also involved with men which was forbidden at the time. Using the themes of dualism and marriage, Wilde is trying to show the audience the ridiculous nature of Victorian society. Through the reoccurring theme of dualism, Oscar Wilde uses sizable amounts of satire to not only mock the trivial Victorian society, but more specifically to ridicule

AThe Importance of Being Earnest a play written by Oscar Wilde is set in England in the late Victorian era. Wilde uses obvious situational and dramatic irony within the play to satirize his time period. According to Roger Sale in Being Ernest the title has a double meaning to it and is certainly another example of satire used by Wilde. With a comedic approach, Wilde ridicules the absurdities of the character’s courtship rituals, their false faces, and their secrets. (Sale, 478)

In The Importance of Being Earnest, the author, Oscar Wilde uses characterization to put forth his theme of how humans attach importance to concepts that have very little meaning at all by describing each character to be judgmental and cruel towards one another. Lady Bracknell, for example, believes wealth is by far more important than breeding, and tends to bully everyone in her path including her own daughter Gwendolen. In the play, the society focuses more on how each person presents themselves, rather than their brutal actions. The Aristocrats, who are known as the upper class, tend to treat their close family and relatives poorly. Whereas the lower class, such as Jack and Cecily, have more trustworthy and compassionate relationships with their families. Even though Jack is made up to be trustworthy, he somehow turns out be a manipulated liar. Jack Worthing is a character in the play who repeatedly tells people his name is Ernest in the city, and Jack in the country. The only time Jack has ever showed his honesty was when he confessed the love he has for Gwendolen Fairfax.