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

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.

This is very funny because we can see that Jack is also lying about his brother, but he is judging Algernon as if he is a very honest person.

Wilde stresses. The play shows an immense amount of immaturity; for example, in the scene where Mr. Worthing is trying to propose Gwendolen. Gwendolen will not let Worthing get a word out until he proposes properly, “Of course I will, darling. How long you have been about it! I am afraid you have had very little experience in how to purpose”. (Wilde 11). With this being said, Gwendolen is showing a great sense of immaturity. Instead of letting Mr. Worthing propose in his own way, she will not accept anything until he gets down on one knee. In another instance of immaturity comes when Algernon takes it upon himself to pretend he is Mr. Worthing’s brother. Algy fails to announce the fact to Jack. Algy takes this matter very immaturely as stated, “Mr. Ernest Worthing has just driven over from the station. He has brought his luggage with him”(Wilde 23). In addition to these selfless acts of immaturity, Wilde also exhibits immaturity when psychotic Miss. Cardew tells Algernon that they have already been married for three months. This scene comes about when Algy decides he wants to marry Miss Cardew. “You silly boy! Of course. Why? We have been engaged for the last three months (Wilde 32). This shows severe immaturity from Miss Cardew. She has gone ballistic at this point, writing notes from Algernon to herself, calling off the engagement for

Cecily pursues a relationship with Algernon the instance they meet. Cecily has constructed her fantasy around the traditional expectations of romance; he ‘proposed’ on Valentine’s Day, she keeps his letters that he ‘wrote’ and has ‘broken off’ the engagement once before as it wouldn’t have been considered a ‘serious engagement’ if it hadn’t ended ‘at least once’. The introduction of this fantasy by Wilde and Algernon’s willingness to go along with this fantasy heightens the idea of role reversal and strengthens Cecily as a character. In Act III when the opening scene closes, Jack and Algernon’s reconciliation with Cecily and Gwendolen mocks the typical codes of Victorian romance by staging the men’s willingness to be re-christened as the heroic

Furthermore, Wilde exposes the duplicity of Victorian social life through the neologism “bunbury” and the name “Ernest” to attack aristocratic social responsibility and exhibit the importance of titles within the society. Social masking is used by the wealthy to allow themselves to be dismissed of social responsibility momentarily. When Jack and Algernon were engaged in the conversation regarding marriage, Algernon introduces Wilde’s neologism “bunbury”.

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

It is as though Wilde, through the vehicle of Algernon, is trying to make a point about the difference in severity between the two cases of dual identity. Algernon never once tries to deceive others into thinking he is Bunburry, whereas Jack literally embodies a different persona depending on his location.

In the story, “The Importance of Being Ernest”, by Oscar Wilde he uses ignorance as a source of humor for the scene in act 2. The whole conversation that Cecily and Algernon had is full of ignorance, it is humorous because they act so unaffected by it, especially when Cecily tells him that they have been engaged. The ignorance in the conversation definitely adds that piece of humor in this story. In act 2, Cecily and Algernon have an interesting conversation in the process of getting to know each other, when Algernon declares his love to Cecily and asks her to marry him, she answers him by saying that they have been engaged for the past 3 months, and he was completely unaware of it.

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

The women of the play long to marry a man with the name Ernest so Jack and Algernon lie about their identities just for the sake of being able to marry the women they love. These men are able to simply lie about their names and create a completely new identity, replacing their old ones. The playwright uses this to explain how one’s image can be forged and created for one’s benefit. In the fictional sense, characters can be whoever they want to be, as they are people that solely exist in a made-up world, so anything is possible. In this play, Jack pretends to be “Ernest in town and Jack in the country,” as the name Ernest is a more likable name than Jack (12). He lies to everyone in town about his name, including his friend Algernon and love interest Gwendolen. When he states this line, he appears to be very casual and calm, as if the idea were obvious. This shows how one’s image is easily changed accordingly, based on the situation.

Throughout the play, “The Importance of Being Earnest,” deception is shown through most of the main characters. For example, Jack Worthing pretends to be his brother , Ernest, in the town for he will be able to marry Gwendolen and be someone he is not. All of Jack’s life he lived a lie and misunderstood who he truly was, however, his lies became his reality. He lived a double life and no one knew about it, until Algernon questioned the engraving on his cigarette case. Jack was not the only one who pretended to be Ernest, Algernon also played a part in the deception of who Ernest it. Innocent characters also misunderstood who Ernest was and if he even exists. For example, Gwendolen and Cecily believed they were engaged to the same man but

Finally Andrew has an accident while horseback riding just before he legally recognizes Arthur as his son. Andrew, however, has left a letter with his intentions to his friend and lawyer Leonard West. Elizabeth intercepts the letter and hides it.

Finally, act III takes place in the drawing-room, where things will be sorted out. Cecily asks Algernon why he has tried to pass himself off as Jack's brother and he says he did it in order to have an excuse to visit her in the countryside. The same question is made to Jack: why did he create Ernest? He gives a blurry answer and she interprets that he created Ernest to be able to go over and visit her whenever he felt like it. They seem to be reassured but they are still worried about the name, so they reveal that they have made arrangements in order to be christened Ernest.

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