What Is The Importance Of Being Earnest Essay

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.

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

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

Some males and females try to cash in by being greedy and choosing to get married for money; when they choose a partner that they can depend on for life. Most of victims are singers, self-employed businessmen/women, actresses, or elder rich singles. Although they may not be forced into the marriage, these wealthy persons are unaware of the ulterior motives of their partner. The effect of marrying only for love is the eventual unfold of the lies and deceits of the particular partner. Another effect is if that rich person loses their wealth, the outcome is all the same. Depending if the person lost wealth or the ‘victim’ finds out the true motive of the relationship they will most likely divorce this person and continue on their search for true love or money.

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.

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

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

“A trivial comedy for serious people” – List words/phrases where trivial events are treated with overblown seriousness:

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.

When comparing and contrasting the two, one can see how Wilde and Stevenson accomplished their goals of showing how the Victorian era were dangerously conservative. First, Wilde and Stevenson both use the idea of a separate identity to aid the characters in escaping the expectations of dignified living. In “The Importance of Being Earnest,” both Jack and Algernon created fake personas to get out of the strict family and society obligation that they faced daily. Algernon created an

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

It was highly moral for a man to have a family and to be current in marriage; it boosts up his image and role in society. A man, who has been out of marriage for too long, is seen as idle. Wilde presents two characters, Algernon and Jack, who have a dispute whether marriage is silly or not. It suggests that not every Victorian man were keen on the idea of marriage. In the Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde displays a

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.

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

Gender fluidity through the characters’ personalities and actions is subtly utilized in both plays to comment on the social traits expected of both sexes. In The Importance of Being Earnest, Jack and Algernon exhibit immature personalities through their Bunburying. When Algy says to Jack, "I have invented an invaluable permanent invalid called Bunbury, in order that I may be able to go down into the country whenever I choose" (Wilde, 301), it demonstrates Algernon’s yearning for an aesthetic life free from the social correctness. The same behaviour is seen in Jack through his creation of Ernest, and Algy’s comment on Jack being “one of the most advanced Bunburyists I know” (|Wilde ?301). Their desire to escape the monotonous routine of their daily lives reveals their