The Importance Of Being Earnest

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

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.

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

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

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 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 a well known phenomenon that many authors' lives are reflected through a character in their work. In Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, the double life, or double identity, can be seen as the central metaphor in the play, epitomized in Algernon's creation of "Bunbury" or "Bunburying". As this term is the only fictitious word employed throughout the text, it is crucial to critically analyze not only its use and implications, but more importantly, the character who coins the term; Algernon Moncrieff. In addition, it is also significant to note the marked differences between Algernon and Jack's perceptions of the notion of bunburying, as it further develops Algernon's character within the text. But perhaps the single most

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.

Later, when Lady Bracknell and Gwendolen enter, two more ideas of marriage are brought to the forefront. Lady Bracknell portrays the aristocratic Victorian view of marriage but to a more extreme extent. According to Ziegenfuss, marriage in the Victorian era was not romanticized or fairytale-like. Love actually played a very minor role in the majority of matrimonies that took place. Engagement was entered into as one would approach a business deal, with rules and guidelines (Ziegenfuss). This is blatantly obvious when Lady Bracknell interviews Jack to see if he’s fit to marry Gwendolen. She attacks Jack with questions about family, fortune, and even place of residency and his answers need be appropriate for a union between the two families. (Kupske, Souza, 122). Even when Algernon wants to marry Cecily, Lady Bracknell voices, “I think some preliminary inquiry on my part would not be out place.” (Wilde, 46). Gwendolen, however, has the same view of marriage as Jack but, still has strong ideals about social protocol. This is seen when Jack tries to propose, she replies, “Of course I will darling…I am afraid you have had very little experience in how to propose!” (Wilde, 11)

One thing that Jack and Algernon have in common is that they both have these false faces. Algernon’s alter ego Bunbury is a version of himself used in the country but he uses Ernest to marry Cecily. The story deals with Ernest, this immorally imaginary man that both Cecily and Gwendolyn become engaged to, it exemplifies the irony within the name. Most of the irony comes from this character. One of Wilde's satiric targets is romantic and sentimental love, which he ridicules by having the women fall in love with a man because of his name rather than more personal attributes. Gwendolyn said “No, there is very little music in the name Jack, if any at all, indeed. It does not thrill. It produces

The Importance of Being Earnest appears to be a conventional 19th century farce. False identities, prohibited engagements, domineering mothers, lost children are typical of almost every farce. However, this is only on the surface in Wilde's play. His parody works at two levels- on the one hand he ridicules the manners of the high society and on the other he satirises the human condition in general. The characters in The Importance of Being Earnest assume false identities in order to achieve their goals but do not interfere with the others' lives. The double life led by Algernon, Jack, and Cecily (through her diary) is simply another means by which they liberate

Being one of the most famous plays written by Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest is a romantic comedy that makes good use of the conflicts of characters to deal with themes such as marriage, social class and hypocrisy. There are two different types of conflict to drive plot and capture audience attention in a story: internal and external conflict. The former concerns a character’s emotional, moral or ideological dilemma within his own mind; the latter concerns a character’s struggle against an opposing view from another character, society or the nature. In fact, in The Importance of Being Earnest, by increasing the story’s tension and enhancing character development, the internal and external conflicts of Jack Worthing contribute