The Importance Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde

In the book the word earnest is being used as a pun by the character Jack Worthing. Although the word earnest means to be truthful, Jack is doing the exact opposite by using the name Earnest, pretending to be his little brother. No one in the play seems to truly be earnest, as even Algernon pretends to be his non existent friend, Bunbury. The significance of “being earnest” is that both Algernon and Jack’s loves had their minds set on getting married to a man named Earnest. “Being Earnest” was especially important to Jack because it was his birthright.

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

Wilde’s play is about two men who live double lives. The main characters Earnest and Algernon both have another identity with a different life story. Earnest is also known as Jack in some parts of the country and Algernon is also know as Bunbury.

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

When talking to Algernon for the first time, Cecily thinks his name is Ernest. When he asks if she would love him if his name was different, her response was :”I might respect you Ernest, I might admire your character, but I fear I should not be able to give you my undivided attention.”(Wilde, 76) Incongruity shows how ridiculous Cecily’s values are. If she is concerned about a name to determine if someone is a good person to love, how could it possibly be a serious love? Incongruity is also used later in that same conversation, when Algernon is leaving and Cecily says, “Considering that we have been engaged since February the 14th and that I only met you today for the first time, I think it is rather hard that you should leave me for so long a period as half an hour.”(Wilde, 77) Cecily and Algernon had been engaged for three months but they only met once. That tells a story about how seriously they are taking their engagement and soon to be, marriage. Which seems to be not so seriously, since one of them doesn’t even know the others real name when they meet. Although they do not seem to be serious about it, Algernon and Cecily seem to be going through with the marriage, and when Lady Bracknell finds out her nephews fiancé has a fortune of “A hundred and thirty thousand pounds!”,she thinks “Miss Cardew seems to me a most attractive young

While defining the term “Bunburyist,” Algernon comments to Jack that, “If it wasn’t for Bunbury’s extraordinary bad health [. . .] I wouldn’t be able to dine with you at Willis’s to-night” (Wilde 9). Bunbury, Algernon’s fake sick friend, allows him to be himself and enjoy time with his friends instead of entertaining his aunt. Algernon tells Jack that he created Bunbury to “be able to go down into the country whenever [he] choose[s]” (Wilde 9). Being of his high standing, Algernon was expected to stay in the city with his aunt as well as go to balls, dinner parties and other events on the social calendar; however, having a sick friend with a perpetual sickness allows him to go to the country, pretend to be Earnest, and eventually meet his future wife Cecily. When Jack tries to get Algy to leave Hertfordshire by asserting that his “duty as a gentleman” was calling him back to town, Algy responds with, “My duty as a gentleman has never interfered with my pleasures” (Wilde 33) Because of his fake friend Bunbury, Algernon is able to evade the obligations of being a gentleman. He can enjoy life and have fun without offending his aunt or

Wilde uses puns throughout this play, but the major pun is found within the title. In The Importance of Being Earnest, the pun, widely considered to be the lowest form of verbal wit, is rarely just a play on words. The title,

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

The Importance of Being Earnest is about a man named Jack Worthing who works several jobs in his town servicing other people. For many years, Jack has pretended to have a brother named Ernest who is supposedly off living a life on the edge on the pursuit of happiness, while managing to get into constant trouble. What Jack’s community doesn’t know, is that Ernest is just a made up person whom Jack uses as an excuse to leave work anytime he wants and to visit his lover Gwendolen. In the beginning, no one else knows that Ernest is actually Jack’s secret identity, until later in the play when Jack meets Algernon, who becomes

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.

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.

Every line, every character, and every stage direction in The Importance of Being Earnest is set on supporting Oscar Wilde’s want for social change. The Importance of Being Earnest was written during the late period of the Victorian era. During this period social classification was taken very seriously. It could affect working and living conditions, education, religion, and marriage. Wilde explores the issues of social class and turns it into a comedic play. He humorously criticizes Victorian manners and attacking the society of the luxurious life. The audience becomes self-aware as the characters reflect on themselves. Plays such as this become successful because of the backgrounds the writers come from and the experiences they have had.

Wilde uses a deceptively flippant tone and irony to criticize the hypocrisy of the upper class in Victorian society in relation to living an earnest life. Earnestness as a virtue was of paramount importance during Victorian Society, with people constantly striving to live an earnest life, that is, a life of honesty and seriousness in intention and purpose. The Victorian society was passionately obsessed with the ideals of earnestness, that individuals in the upper middle class were pressured to go to any lengths to lead such a life, even if it meant a difference between what they said, how they acted in public and what they honestly thought. "My dear fellow, the truth isn't quite the sort of thing

With so much pressure to keep up with reputations and affairs, Wilde’s characters took to lying or “bunburying” to elude their responsibilities. Algernon would use a fictitious invalid friend named Bunbury to leave the city for the country, then the name Ernest to trick Cecily,

Webster’s dictionary defines earnest as “characterized by or proceeding from an intense and serious state of mind.” This definition is subject to total upheaval by Oscar Wilde in The Importance of Being Earnest. The title suggests a treatise on the value of solemnity in everyday life. However, Wilde presents us with an ironic play that leaves us with the opposite lesson. None of the characters benefit from propriety. The least serious characters, Algernon and Jack are rewarded in the end for their frivolous behavior throughout the play, implying that there is very little, if any, importance to being earnest, excepting that you give the appearance of such, for example the name.