Wordplay And Dramatic Irony In The Importance Of Being Earnest

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

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,

In one of Oscar Wilde’s most enduring play, The Importance of Being Earnest, it displays very noticeable pun, referring to the word “earnest” honest and loyal. Filled with parodies of the Victorian society, in where the play shows how deceptive the characters really are. Jack Worthing, who fakes his identity with a fictitious character, Earnest, uses to escape his responsibilities. While Algernon using the same alternative of escape from reality, “Bunbury”,an invalid friend that will provide him a means to do as he pleases. All characters in the play seem to not tell the truth whether it is their names or any details of their lives. With a double meaning title, it seems like Wilde wanted to joke around with his audience, making it the perfect parody to enjoy.

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 by Oscar Wilde is a satirical play about the trivial values the upper-class held during the Victorian era. In this play, two men, Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, choose to bend the rules and live a double life in order to break away from the monotony of wealthy living. Algernon calls this Bunburying, and is an expert on what it means to be a Bunburyist. Algernon freely lives his life by his own code of values.

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 Importance of Being Earnest is a play written by Oscar Wilde about a man named Jack who lies about his identity and ends up creating huge confusion about who he really is. The biggest notion that appears throughout the play is about character. There are many instances where the characters of the play lie about their identities and pretend to be people they are not. Oscar Wilde does this throughout the play in order to explain how one’s identity can be made up. One is not born with an identity; rather, one creates an identity that best fits them. This identity can be influenced by other people and their surroundings.

Seeing the orthodox through the play and the part of Wilde no one has ever seen shown through the writing of The Importance of Being Earnest. “ The Importance of Being Earnest is his exuberant parody of the ‘trivial comidies’ (his own amongest them) which the ‘serious people’ had established in the english theatre” (Allingham). The show of comedy throughout the play even when performed in the english theater shows the true joy in the authors writing. Comedy shown even with how the characters speak or act to one another in the play such as the two women act toward each other. “ You have filled my tea with lumps of sugar, and though I asked you most distinctly for bread and butter, you have given me cake. I am known for the gentleness of my dispostion, and the extraordinary sweetness of my nature, but I warn you, Miss Cardew, you may go too far” (Wilde 63). The comedy comes from them showing there actual dislike between each other but doing it through comedy of messing up things she asks for. The relief of comedy throughout the play can become touching also very

The importance of Being Earnest is a comedy of manners, as it explores codes of upper and middle class society. For example,"I don't play accurately - any one can play accurately - but I play with wonderful expression.". However, The Importance of Being Earnest has other types of comedy, such as, comedy of humours and farce. Comedy of humours focuses on a character of range of characters, who have an over riding trait or humour that dominates their personality. For example, Algernon’s greed. Farce is a dramatic comedy that creates humour through a series of ludicrous events taking place in rapid succession. For example, Cecily andGwendolyn fighting over the same man who doesn’t exist, followed by a baptism that isn’t needed.

One of which who supports this case is the protagonist of The Importance of Being Earnest, John Worthing. John Worthing, or Jack, often goes by Earnest when he visits London. When he is not out of town, Jack claims Earnest is his brother. Jack is a prime example of Oscar Wilde’s satirical portrayal of a cliché, proper character, and this is evident in some of the actions he does in the story, including his personality as Jack, his creation and portrayal of Earnest, and his refusal to admit the truth to his family about Earnest.

In the play The Importance of Being Earnest, there are many types of literary techniques used. One major skill that was seen throughout the dialog is restoration comedy. It is evident all throughout the play, mostly between Jack and Algernon. For these two characters are always battling through a war of wits in attempts to outdo the other. Algernon and Jack constantly bicker, however they maintain a sense of professionalism. During the Victorian era, restoration comedy was widely seen, as it played upon the aspects of ones intelligence. Oscar Wilde had a very unique way of writing, and definitively made use of all the great literary techniques!

In Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” many characters are not what they appear to be. These characters use deceptive methods to deceive each other in comically cunning ways. Wilde uses humor as the character’s try to discern the truth from what is make believe. This humorous character development keeps the audience fascinated throughout the duration of the play.

In Act II of the play, The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde creates humor through the use of the three levels of irony: dramatic, verbal and situational. This recurring elements can be seen throughout the scene in Algernon and Cecily dialogue with each other. Wilde does this in order to satirize love and romance in the Victorian Age as well as the standing values that it upholds. In the beginning of the scene, dramatic irony takes place when Cecily and Algernon “decide” to marry each other.

Oscar Wilde, the writer of The Importance of Being Earnest, celebrated the Victorian Era society while criticizing it in his play. Through his play, he utilized the humorous literary techniques of pun, irony, and satire to comment on the impact of Victorian Era society left on the characters themselves. These comedic literary devices also help to show how the members of this society in the Victorian Era live by a set of unspoken rules that determine politeness, as well as proper etiquette to live by. Wilde uses a pun in the title of the work, as well as in the character personalities. Different types of irony appear in many scenes in the play, to flout the rules of society, as well as mock the intelligence of the upper-class characters,

Oscar Wilde is a legendary author who has composed many great plays including The Green Carnation and A Woman of No Importance, however, The Importance of Being Earnest was undoubtedly the most famous of his works. First published in 1930, yet acknowledged since the late 1800s, The Importance of Being Earnest helped to revive the theater tradition of Congreve and Sheridan. The story is a comedic view of romance and the emphasis we place on seemingly trivial articles, such as a name. In this story, contrary to the typical saying, a rose by any other name would not smell as sweet.