Background of the Play
The complete title of the play The Importance of Being Earnest is The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People. The play was first staged on February 14, 1895, in the Saint James’s Theatre in London. The play is an absurd comedy. The protagonists of the play sustain disguises to escape the social obligations that have been causing a lot of burdens. The play is set on the social conventions of London in the late Victorian era. The major themes of the play deal with the trivialities of the institutions of marriage and satirize the ways of Victorians.
The play has been praised for its humor. It marks the peak of the artistic career of Oscar Wilde. The play lacks any social message. The high mockery and witty dialogues of the play support the play to be one of the most popular plays to date.
Historical Context
At the time when his literary career was its peak and his most popular play The Importance of Being Earnest was widely performed, Oscar Wilde, charged the lover of his father Marquess of Queensberry for criminal defamation. Quesenberry was upset with his daughter’s affair with Oscar Wilde, and sent him a letter titled “Oscar Wilde: Posing Somdomite.” Somdomitte is a misspelling of the sodomite. The defamation trial made Oscar Wilde drop his charges against Marquess and caused his own arrest for indecency with men. The charge against Wilde was proved, and he was put into hard labor for two years (1895-1897).
The scandal brought a lot of damage to the career of Oscar Wilde. It shuts down the successfully running play The Importance of Being Earnest. It also caused Wilde to spend the rest of his life in obscurity abroad. Regardless of the humiliation Wilde suffers, his literary works turned out to be an important part of the Aesthetic movement in the following century.
The aesthetic movement reforms the contemporary concept of art. According to Victorians, art should contain an appositive moral aspiration. However, Oscar Wilde asserts that art can also be valued for its beauty. The saying “art for art’s sake” is the everlasting hymn of the modern writers because of the works of Oscar Wilde.
Literary Context
Lady Windermere’s Fan, An Ideal Husband, and A Woman of No Importance are the related plays to The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. These plays were written from 1892 to 1895. It was the time when the literary career of Oscar Wilde was at the peak, and his plays were widely performed on the London stage.
These plays show the characteristics of comedy and drama. These plays are revolving around the same themes as that of The Importance of Being Earnest. The themes include uncertain parentage, the fallen woman, puns, wordplay, dark secrets, mistaken identities, and a biting critique of the social standards and morality of the Victorian era.
The Importance of Being Earnest Summary
Act I, Part 1
The protagonist of the play is Jack Worthing. Jack is the foundation of the community in Hertfordshire. He is the guardian of a pretty eighteen years old girl Cecily Cardew. Cicely Cardew is the granddaughter of Thomas Cardew, who adopted Jack when he was a little baby.
In the community of Hertfordshire, Jack has many responsibilities. He is the justice of peace chief landowner, and farmers, tenants, and many other employees highly depend on him. For many years, Jack disguised himself as his younger, black-sheep brother Ernest. Ernest lived a scandalous life in search of pleasure. He always gets in trouble in which Jack would rush him to help him out of the trouble. However, in reality, Ernest is Jack. He would disguise himself as Ernest by allowing his real self to disappear for days. No one in the community knows that Ernest is actually Jack. Whenever Jack would go to London for occasions, he would disguise himself as Ernest.
Jack falls in love with Gwendolen Fairfax. Gwendolen is the cousin of his best friend, Algernon Moncrieff.
When the play opens, Algernon knows Jack as Ernest. Algernon has doubted something after finding something written in Jack’s cigarette case. It was an inscription addressed to Uncle Jack from little Cecily. Algernon doubted that Jack could be living a double life. Algernon considers the practice of living a double life as ordinary and necessary for modern life. After a nonexistent friend acts as if he has, he starts calling the person Bunburyist who leads a double life after his false name Bunbury. Whenever Algernon wants to get rid of the tiresome social obligations, he is summoned on the death of Bunbury.
When the act 1 begins, Jack unexpectedly announces to Algernon that he wants to propose to his cousin Gwendolen. Algernon finds a cigarette case and makes him come clean and also demands to know who Cecily and Jack are. Jack admits that he is Jack in reality and is disguised as Ernest. He also tells him Cecily is his ward. She is his responsibility thrown upon him by the will of his adoptive father.
He also tells about his fictitious brother to Algernon. When he was disguised as Ernest, Cecily started taking great interest in him. So he has been planning to kill his supposed brother. Jack, though unintentionally, illustrates Cecily in such terms that Algernon started taking great interest in her.
Act I, Part 2
In the meanwhile, Algernon’s cousin Gwendolen and her mother, Lady Bracknell, arrive. This gives Jack a chance to propose Gwendolen for marriage. Gwendolen also returns her affection towards him, which pleases Jack. However, he feels alarmed when he finds that Gwendolen is obsessed with the name Ernest. According to her, the name inspires absolute confidence. She also makes it clear that she did not think of marrying anyone whose name was not Ernest.
Gwendolen’s mother also interviews Jack to know if he is eligible to be his son-in-law or not. During the interview, she inquires about his family background. Lady Bracknell is shocked when Jack tells him that he does not know about his parents, and he was adopted by a man who found him in a handbag at Victoria Station. She refuses to accept him as her son-in-law and leaves the house.
Act II, Part 1
Act II opens with Cecily and Miss Prism in the garden of the Manor House where Miss Prism is teaching some German lessons to Cecily. Cecily lacks interest in her lesson and prefer to water the flowers than study. However, Miss Prism tells her Jack has advised her to improve herself in every way. Cecily becomes irritated with the seriousness of her Uncle Jack and starts writing her diary about Ernest. Miss Prism tells Cecily to put away her diary and starts focusing on the novel she gave her.
In the meanwhile, a local rector, Dr. Chasuble enters. Being aware of the affection between Dr, Chasuble and Miss Prism, Cecily tells him that Miss Prism is having a headache and must take a walk with him. They both left.
The Merimen enters and announces that Mr. Ernest Worthing has arrived. It is actually Algernon disguised as the nonexistent brother of jack.
Act II, Part 2
Act II opens with Algernon showing up at Jack’s estate, pretending as Ernest. In the meantime, Jack has arrived at the home with the news that Ernest has died in Paris. He brought this news with deep sadness after deciding that his disguise as Ernst has lost its usefulness. After seeing Algernon in his house disguised as Ernest, he becomes furious. He could not do anything but goes along with the plan. If he does not follow the plan, he owns lies and fraud will be revealed.
Jack changes his mourning clothes. In the meantime, Algernon, after meeting Cecily, falls in love with her and proposes to her for marriage. When Cecily tells him that she already considers them to be engaged, he is shocked. However, he is also charmed when she discloses that her attraction towards her Uncle Jack’s supposed brother makes her establish a romantic relationship between them some months ago. Algernon is not delighted to know that like Gwendolen, Cecily’s attraction towards Ernest is established just because of the name Ernest.
Algernon leaves the house and searches for the local rector. Dr. Chasuble. He wants to christen himself as Ernest. In the meantime, Gwendolen pays an unexpected visit to Jack. Cecily hosts her and orders tea for her in the garden. Cecily and Gwendolen do not know anything about each other. They both are trying to know each other. Initially, Gwendolen assumes that Cecily is the visitor. However, when she learns that she is the ward of Mr. Worthing, she becomes confused. She tells her that Ernes has never mentioned before her that he has any ward. On this, Cecily tells her that it is Jack Worthing, who is her guardian, not Ernest. She also tells him that she is engaged to Ernest, and soon they will be married. Both start the war of manners.
When the fight is at the climax, Algernon and Jack arrive. They both have separately made dealings with the local rector to change their name to Ernest. Both ladies pinpoint that they are deceived when Cecily informs Gwendolen that the one who Gwendolen is engaged to be Jack, whereas, Gwendolen tells Cecily is the one who Cecily is engaged to be Algernon. Cecily and Gwendolen demand to know who Ernest is. On this point, Jack admits that he has no brother, and he himself was disguised as Ernest. Upon listening to this, both women turn furious and shocked. Both ladies go to the drawing-room of the Manor House
Act III, Part 1
Act III of the play opens in the Manor House’s drawing-room. Cecily and Gwendolen confront Jack and Algernon. Gwendolen inquires from Jack that if he really pretended to be Ernest to meet her or she interprets his indirect reply as affirmation. Likewise, Cecily asks Algernon why he disguised himself as the brother of her Uncle Jack.
Though the women have become a little bit calm, they are still anxious about the problem of the name. They both forgive Jack and Algernon when they tell them that they have made arrangements to be christened as Ernest. The pairs embrace themselves. At that very instant, the arrival of Gwendolen’s mother, Lady Bracknell, is announced.
Having bribed the maid of Gwendolen to reveal her destination, Lady Bracknell soon came after her from London. On her arrival, she asks about what is going on in the house. Gwendolen tells her that she and Jack are engaged. Lady Bracknell denies accepting the marriage between the two.
Algernon informs Lady Bracknell about his engagement to Cecily. Lady Bracknell inquires from Cecily her status and family background in a very patronizing manner. This manner of her infuriates Jack. Jack replies to Lady Bracknell’s questions with sarcasm and courtesy. He withholds it until the last moment that Cecily inherits a great deal of money when she comes of her age. After listening to this, Lady Bracknell becomes really interested in the match between Algernon and Cecily.
However, Jack tells Lady Bracknell that, being a legal guardian of Cecily, he does not agree to the marriage between Cecily and Algernon. On this, Lady Bracknell suggests that they will wait until Cecily comes of her age. On this, Jack replies that according to the will of her grandfather, Cecily will come of age when she turns thirty-five.
Lady Bracknell suggests Jack reconsider his decision, and he tells her that the matter is entirely his own hands. Once she agrees to the marriage between Jack and Gwendolen, he will agree to the marriage between Algernon and Cecily. Lady Bracknell refuses for any deal. When Gwendolen and Lady Bracknell are leaving, the local Rector, Mr. Chasuble, arrives and asks for Miss Prism, the governess of Cecily. Lady Bracknell insists on meeting Miss Prism.
Act III, Part 2
When Miss Prism arrives and sees Lady Bracknell, she starts looking guilty and secretive. Lady Bracknell blames her that twenty-eight years before, Miss Prism left the house of her sister and stole her baby boy. She asks about the baby and where he is. Miss Prism tells her that she does not know where the baby is. She has lost him in a handbag in which she would place the manuscripts of the novel she wrote.
Jack inquires where she lost the handbag. On this, Miss Prism reveals that she had left it at the railway station. Jack presses her to tell him more about the baby and the bag. He then leaves the scene and goes to bring the bag. Miss Prism confirms that it is her bag. Jack throws himself to Lady Bracknell by crying, “Mother!” Jack is actually the child of the sister of Lady Bracknell and is the elder brother of Algernon.
Moreover, it is also revealed that originally Jack had been christened as “Ernest John. Unknowingly, he had been telling the truth that his name is Jack and had a brother – Algernon. The story ends with the couples embracing each other. D, Chasuble, and Miss Prism also follow suit. Jack realizes that he really understands “The importance of being earnest.
The Importance of Being Earnest Characters Analysis
John Worthing (Jack/Ernest)
He is the protagonist of the play. Jack is an apparently responsible and honorable young man in the community of Hertfordshire; however, he is leading a double life. In the countryside of Hertfordshire, he is known as Jack. However, when he goes to London, he disguised himself as Ernest to escape from societal obligations. Jack was discovered in a handbag in a cloakroom at the Station in London by Thomas Cardew. He adopted him.
After the death of Thomas Cardew, he became the guardian of Cecily Cardew, the eighteen years old granddaughter of Thomas. At the end of the play, it was Jack who is actually Ernest John, the nephew of Lady Bracknell. He was stolen by Miss Prism twenty-eight years ago. Miss Prism is now maid to Cecily Cardew.
Jack Worthing
Jack Worthing is the protagonist of the play. Before the play opens, he is found by Mr. Thomas Cardew (who is now dead) in the cloakroom at the London’s railway station. Jack is the foundation of the community of Hertfordshire. He is the landowner and Justice of Peace. Though he was assumed to be born as an illegitimate child, he has grown up as an apparently respectable and responsible young man.
In his country’s estate, he is known by his real name Jack. He is the guardian of the pretty eighteen years old granddaughter of Thomas Cardew, named Cecily Cardew. He has many others responsibly in the community as well. A large number of people in the country depend on him. He disguised himself as his fictitious younger brother Ernest to escape from the overburdened responsibilities. Being disguised as Ernest, he would act highly irresponsible and, with the help of his real persona, get himself out of the mischiefs he would do. With this name, he would go to London to spend his vacations with.
Jack Worthing reflects the conventional values of the Victorian era. He let other people think that he adheres to the concepts of honor, duty, and respect that are necessary to preserve one’s status quo in society. However, being disguised as Ernest, he runs away from these values. Certainly, through the character of Jack Worthing, Wilde is actually satirizing the general hypocrisy prevailing in the society of the 19th century. to keep his honorable image undamaged, he used his alter-ego and disguised as Ernest.
Being disguised as Ernest, Jack is able to escape from the social boundaries and act as much as irresponsible as he wants, which is not possible with his identity as Jack. Being Ernest is an easy way for him to get away with his mischiefs and invoke his alter-ego when he feels necessary. Jack wants to maintain his status quo in society and does not care to lie about his identity.
When the play begins, the disguise of Ernest is his unpleasant alter ego; however, with the progress of the play, Jack wants to become Ernest by name. He wants to marry Gwendolen. However, Gwendolen is obsessed with the name of Ernest and cannot think of a man whose name is not Ernest. This makes Jack reveal the secret of his identity. Though at the end of the play, Jack is not punished for what he does, he realizes that he must make an ascent to reunite his two words to achieve what he desired.
Algernon Moncrieff
He is the secondary hero of the play. He is closer to being an excellent figure than any other character of the play. He is a charming, ornamented, idle bachelor. He is witty, selfish, brilliant, and an amoral character. He makes delightful epigrammatic and paradoxical statements that sometimes make no sense at all and sometimes touches some profound idea.
Just like, Algernon has also established a fictional character Bunbury and pretends him to be his best friend. Whenever he wants to escape from the obligation of society, he leaves the house with an excuse of going to the death ceremony of Bunbury. Like the disguise of Jack, Algernon is provided with an opportunity to indulge himself through Bunbury while also pretending to have a great sense of duty and seriousness.
However, between Jack and Algernon, there is a characteristic difference. Jack, even though he revealed himself for living a double life, does not declare for being a Bunburyist.” Whereas Algernon realizes his wrongdoings and celebrates it. Algernon is happy in his own ingenuity and cleverness and does not care about anyone’s disapproval. He has his own personal philosophy and which makes him put a higher value on his genius and artistry than anything else. He considers his living as a kind of art and his life as a work of art – he creates his life for himself.
In the play, Algernon appears to be a supporter of aestheticism. He stands for Wilde and the modish characters in his plays such Lord Goring from An Ideal Husband, Lord Illingworth from A Woman of No Importance, and Lord Darlington from Lady’s Windermere’s Fan.
However, unlike these characters, Algernon appears to completely amoral with no recognition of any duty and moral convictions at all. Whereas the characters of Lord Illingworth are deeply evil, and Lord Darlington and Lord Goring are extremely good.
Cecily Cardew
Cecily is the antithesis of Gwendolen. Gwendolen is an outcome of London High Society, whereas Cecily is the product of nature. She is an unspoiled and ingenious child. In Act II, Algernon compares her with a pink rose. In the play, Cecily’s ingenuity is contradicted by her attraction towards wickedness. Just like Gwendolen, She is fixated on the name Ernest. She falls in love with the wickedness of the supposed brother of her Uncle Jack.
Cecily is also an idealistic girl like Jack and Algernon. Though she has never met Ernest, she has established a romantic relationship with Ernest in her imagination. She also elaborated this romance with enthusiasm and artistry, just like men having secret identities and false obligations. Though she does not disguise herself into her alter-ego like Jack and Algernon, her assertion that she is engaged to Ernest all based on her assumptions and fantasy world she has created around her.
Regardless of her fantastical worlds, she is the most realistic character in the play. She is the only character in the play who does not speak witty dialogues. Her beauty and charm are based on her imaginative capacity and the characteristic cast of mind. These qualities are derived from Oscar Wilde’s ideas of life. Wilde considers life as a work of art. She is the perfect match for Algernon with these elements in her personality.
Gwendolen Fairfax
Gwendolen displays the characteristics of a conventional Victorian woman in the play than any other character of the play. Gwendolen is a woman with ideas and ideals. She attends lectures and is focused on improving herself. Because of her outward behavior, she is a pretentious and artificial woman. Like Cecily, she is also obsessed with the name Ernest and is in life with Jack, who has disguised himself as Ernest.
Gwendolen’s obsession with the name is the reflection of the obsession of the middle class and upper-middle-class with honor and virtue. Gwendolendolen does not care about how Jack looks like but is preoccupied with his name Ernest; for her, it “inspires absolute confidence.” She is not able to see that Jack is fooling her with his name. Due to this, her judgment has been blurred by her consciousness.
Gwendolen is deliberately more intellectual than her mother; however, she has the attitude like her mother’s attitude. She is resolute and strong-minded. She speaks with unquestionable authority on the issues of morality and taste, just like her mother, Lady Bracknell. Due to similarity in the attitude between Lady Bracknell and Gwendolen, Jack fears that “in about a hundred and fifty years,” Gwendolen will become just like her mother. However, both are likable characters in the play as their statements are so outrageous.
Lady Bracknell
She is a domineering, snobbish, and greedy aunt of Algernon and mother of Gwendolen. Lady Bracknell is a well-settled lady and is now looking for a better suitor for her daughter. She has prepared an interview for the list of eligible young men. Lady Bracknell utters hilarious dialogues that are full of pun and humor like her nephew Algernon. She unintentionally adds humor in her speeches that make the audience/readers laugh.
Wilde satirizes the stupidity and hypocrisy of the aristocratic class of England by means of the character of Lady Bracknell. Lady Bracknell considers ignorance as silicate and interesting fruit and values it. She prefers her husband not to attend the party and eat downstairs with servants whenever she throws a party. Lady Bracknell is a narrow-minded, cunning, and authoritarian woman. Possibly, in the play, she is the most quotable character.
Miss Prism
She is the maid and governess of Cecily Cardew. She is an unlimited source of secrets and betrayal. She is approved of the honorable and respectable personality of Jack. She harshly criticizes Ernest, the unfortunate and supposed brother of Jack. Though he is a strict puritan, however, her extreme practices and harsh dialogues are a source of laughter for readers/audience.
Regardless of her firmness and rigidity, she has a softer side. She entertains the feeling of affection from Dr. Chasuble, a local rector.
Rev. Canon Chasuble, D.D.
He is the local rector in the estate of Jack. When Algernon and Jack thought of changing their name to Ernest, they both approached Dr. Chasuble. Dr. Chasuble carries romantic feelings for Miss. Prism. The “Dr.” in his refers to the “Doctor of Divinity.”
Lane
He is the manservant of Algernon. At the beginning of the play, Lane is the only person who knows about “Bunburying” practices of Algernon. He only appears in Act one of the Play.
Merriman
He is the butler at the estate of Jack in the countryside. He only appears in Act II and Act III of the play.
Themes in The Importance of Being Earnest
The Nature of Marriage
The theme of marriage carries supreme importance in the play The Importance of Being Earnest. Marriage is the primary force that develops the plot of the. It is also a subject of philosophical debate and speculations. The theme of marriage appears in the opening dialogues of the play between Lane and Algernon. Since then, the theme of marriage is carried to the end of the play.
A dispute between Algernon and Jack starts when they discuss the nature of the marriage. They argue over whether marriage should be a matter of pleasure or business. Lady Bracknell also shows her views on the nature of marriage when she says, “An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant, as the case may be.”
The questions Lady Bracknell prepares for the list of bachelor to interview also shows her views about the purpose and nature of marriage. Generally viewing, these views are the representation of the views of the convention of the people on the marriage in the Victorian Era. Like Lady Bracknell, Victorians focus on income, character, and social position.
In fact, the play is all about the debate regarding the nature of marriage, as well as whether marriage is pleasant or unpleasant. For Lane, marriage is a very pleasant state before mentioning that his own marriage has ended because of a misunderstanding between a young person. However, Algernon considers the view of Lane as negligent. The views of Algernon are somewhat relentlessly pessimistic unless he falls in love with Cecily.
On the other hand, Jack has a totally contrasting view of marriage. He considers marriage as pleasant and speaks about marriage with a romantic tone. He says to Algernon that the reality “isn’t quite the sort of thing one tells to a nice, sweet, refined girl.”
Towards the end of the play, Jack asks for forgiveness from Gwendolen when he acknowledges that when he realizes that he had been speaking truth unintentionally all his life. She forgives him on the account that he is certain to change. This view of Gwendolen suggests her cynical views about marriage and the nature of men.
The Restrictions of Morality
One of the major topics of the conversation between the characters of the play The Importance of Being Earnest is the notion of morality and the restrictions it imposes on society. According to Algernon, it is the responsibility of the servant class to set the standards of morality for the upper class. For Jack, reading someone’s private cigarette case is “ungentlemanly.” However, Algernon says that the majority of modern culture is based on what one should not read.
The views and restrictions propose that in Victorian society, strict codes of morality were practiced. However, in the play, Oscar Wilde is not at all concerned with what is moral and what is not moral. Rather he satirizes the whole idea of morality in the Victorian Society. In Victorian society, morality was regarded as the strict body of rules and regulations about what people are supposed to do and what is not.
Even the title of the play is an ironic comment on the notion of morality. The central plot of the play is based on the protagonist, who is and is not Ernest or earnest. This shows a moral paradox. The Earnestness in the title refers to as being sincere and serious and makes it the primary object of satire.
The characters of Jack, Miss Prism, Gwendolen, and Dr. Chasuble, who wears the mask of honesty and seriousness are hypocrites and pretentious. The Wilde depicts the image of what appears to be moral really opposite to earnestness.
Hypocrisy vs. Ingenuity
Jack and Algernon in the play appear to be deceptive in the same way. However, they are not morally equal. When Jacks comes to the house with the news of his fake brother’s death, he also imposes the pretentiousness of his family, who are unaware of the deception. He wears mourning clothes and does his best to convince his family that he is really mourning. He acts hypocritically.
However, contrary to Jack, Algernon and Cecily establish elaborated stories that are not an attack on truth in any way. They both do not attempt to change the perception of reality. We can say that Cecily and Algernon are the characters that speak of Wilde’s heart. These characters create a life for themselves according to the notion that life is a work of art.
Considering this point of view, one can argue that it is not Jack, who is the hero of the play but Algernon. Algernon not only echoes the wit, tastes, priorities, and disdains of Wilde. He also resembles Wilde in his personality, and what he creates is just like that of Wilde’s creation.
The Importance of Not Being “Earnest”
The term Earnestness refers to sincerity and seriousness. In the play The Importance of Being Earnest, Earnestness is a great enemy of morality. In the play, Earnestness is taken in many forms. It often takes the form of boringness, self-importance, smugness, self-righteousness, smugness, sense of duty, solemnity. According to Wilde, all these things are the hallmarks of the Victorian characters. For example, in the play, whenever the characters use the word “serious,” they mean it as “trivial” and likewise.
Algernon assumes that people are “shallow” if they are not “serious” about meals. Similarly, Gwendolen states that “In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the vital thing.”
The term Earnest carries two different but interrelated ideas for Oscar Wilde. First, it is the notion of false truth, and second, it is the notion of morality or morality. The morality of Victorian society was based on the pomposity and smugness. This morality made Jack and Algernon create fictional alter-egos to be able to escape from the social restrictions and obligations that impose decency and propriety.
However, the single person’s perception of decency or indecency is not the reflection of what actually decency and indecency are. One of the major paradoxes in the play is the impracticality of being earnest or moral while claiming to be moral and earnest. The greatest chance of attaining seriousness is for those characters in the play that hold triviality and wickedness.
The Importance of Being Earnest Analysis
In the late 1800s, Oscar Wilde was among the established writers who was gifted with the ability to be witty. In the play, The Importance of Being Earnest is the hilarious satire on the Victorian age and on the hypocritical practices and values of Victorian people. In the play, Wilde parades his natural wittiness and exposes the contradictory social beliefs of the common people. He also highlights the ideals of the victorian aristocratic society of his time by mocking their trendy ways.
Wilde creates a laughing stock of incorrect beliefs and living an “earnest life.” Through this, he highlights the issue of double-faces of people in the Victorian era, and their hypocritical stands on societal norms and values. In the play, Wilde is not conveying any moral lesson; nut is bringing to light the collapse of the values in Victorian society.
The term earnestness can be defined as being honest and serious in purpose, effort, or any intention. In simple words, the term refers to the seriousness of the desire to do any right thing. Being earnest was the very top code of Victorian values and conduct, despite the fact that many people were living a corrupt life.
For Victorians, Earnestness was a sublime virtue that is necessary for an individual to live an orderly life and gain acceptance of the upper-class society. However, many people regarded it as very trivial. Victorians have the term to the extent that they consider it as more than a manner of being. This is perfectly illustrated by Oscar Wilde in the character of Gwendolen. She says to Jack as “We live, as I hope you know, Mr. Worthing, in an age of ideas,” and continues to say that “and my ideal has always been to love someone by the name of Earnest. There is something in that name that inspires absolute confidence.”
Later in the play, Gwendolen says that, for her the only safe name is Ernest and considers it as a divine name that has its own music.
To conclude, the presence of earnestness in one’s personality is not a bad thing. However, when people start holding each other to this standard as if it is the only thing which matters is creating lots of problems.
Symbols
Abstract ideas and concepts in a literary text are represented by objects, characters, and figures. The following are the symbols in the Play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde.
The Double Life and Disguise
The central metaphor in the play is the double life. This symbol highlights the idea of “Bunbury.” The very notion of “Bunburying” is defined by Algernon as the exercise of creating an alter-ego or deception that permits an individual to do irresponsible acts that appear to be at the heights of the social standard of responsibility and duty.
Ernest, the imaginary and supposed brother of Jack, is a way through which Jack not only escapes from the moral and social obligations, it also allows Jack to appear more moral and obliged before the society. Likewise, the fictitious friend of Algernon named Bunbury permits Algernon to escape from his house whenever he wants. He goes to the countryside where people do not know him much and impose themselves on people through his Christian charity.
In Victorian society, it was a common practice to visit poor people by upper and middle-class people. The only difference between Jack and Algernon’s action as Jack not only disguised himself as what he is not as in the shape of Ernest, he routinely pretends to be what he is not, in shape, a responsible, earnest, and dutiful individual. This double living proposes the utmost degree of deception and hypocrisy. Wilde highlights the double standard and hypocrisy of Victorian society through his double-living of his characters.
Food
In the play The Importance of Being Earnest, the scenes of eating and food often appear. These scenes in the play are a source of conflict. For example, in Act I of the play, there is an extended joke on the cucumber sandwich. In the scene, Algernon eats all the sandwiches without realizing it.
Likewise, in Act II, the fight between Gwendolen and Cecily over who is really engaged to Ernest begins just after when Cecily offers her cake and sugar. Gwendolen tells Cecily that sugar is out of fashion, and nowadays, in the best houses, cakes are rarely seen. However, Cecily responds to Gwendolen by filling her cup of tea with sugar and placing the cake on her plate. Thus, the two women have already started arguing and insulting each other for some time. However, the bold actions of Cecily made Gwendolen angrier and made her warn Cecily that she may go too far.
On the one hand, the food and jokes made on them are a source of comedy in the play. On the other hand, food also appears to be a symbol of sex. For example, when Jack folds into the butter and bread too much, Algernon points out that he is acting as if he is married to Gwendolen. In the play, the gluttony and food also suggest the indulgences and appetites of Victorian society.
Writing and Fictional Characters
The idea of writing and creating fictional characters in the play are illustrated in the play in a variety of different and important ways. When the play opens, Algernon starts doubting that the life of Jack is somewhat fictional. By creating a supposed brother Earnest, Jack creates a fictional character and, more importantly, makes his life fictional. Similarly, the Bunbury created by Algernon is also fictional.
Algernon also made an indirect reference to fictional writing when in Act I, he says that the majority of modern culture is based on what people should not read. In the Victorian era, reading fictional material was conceived as immoral.
The notional of fiction develops in the play when in Act II, Cecily superficially speaks of three volumes of novels. Miss Prism also tells her that she once wrote a novel, alluding to the secretive past life that is revealed at the end of the play.
The diary of Cecily is also a kind of fiction. In the diary, she has mentioned her fictional romance with Ernest. She has recorded the details and development of her romance entirely based on her imagination. Moreover, When Gwendolen and Cecily fight over who is engaged to Ernest, Cecily refers to her diary in which she wrote an imaginary date of her engagement. The fact that she has written something makes it a fact.
Eventually, the notion of fiction is considered as the idea of life wing work of art. In the play, numerous characters try to invent a fictional life for themselves, which also become real afterward. Oscar Wilde appears to be considering the morality of people of the Victorian era that they not only create fictional life but are also proud of it.
Motifs
The recurrent images, structures, and literary devices in a literary text are called Motifs. The emphasis on the idea helps develop the major themes of a work. The following are the motifs in the Play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde.
Puns
Oscar’s Wilde employs the lowest form of verbal wit in The Importance of Being Earnest. In the play, the puns employed are not simply the play on words. First of all, the very title of the play employs a pun. The pun on the notion of Ernest and earnest is a harsh satire on the notion of dutifulness and respectability practiced by Victorians.
In the play, Gwendolen only intends to marry the person whose name is Ernest. She is not at all concerned with the fact that whether the person really carries those qualities or not. Moreover, when Jack tells her that he is changing his name to Ernest, she instantly forgives him.
A man who is neither Ernest or earnest when the play starts eventually becomes both through the forces that are beyond his control. In the play, the character of Jack is a living paradox and a complicated symbol of the hypocrisy in Victorian society.
Moreover, in Act III, Lady Bracknell makes a complicated joke when she says that she had never heard about any person who has Terminus origin. Lady Bracknell intends that the railway station is as far as Jack can trace his own identity, thus the identity of Jack is a railway station. In the days of Oscar Wilde, as well as in today’s England, the first stop of the railway line is called “origin” and the last stop as “terminus.”
Other than these, there are a lot of indirect and implicit puns in the play about line or connection that can refer to both travel and ancestry. Oscar Wilde is making fun of the snobbery of Lady Bracknell. He portrays as if she is not able to distinguish between family line and railway line, the railway connection and social connection, the ancestral origin of the person, and the chance of where he could have been found. In fact, the employment of puns adds more meaning to the dialogues of characters, and the readers/audience are indulged in extracting the meaning of what has been communicated.
Inversion
Inversion is another common motif in the play The Importance of Being Earnest. In the play, there is an inversion of thought, character, situation, and the inversion of many prevalent concepts of philosophy and morality. Algernon inverts the common notion about marriage when he says that “Divorces are made in Heaven.”
Similarly, Jack inverts the concept of morality when he says that it is shocking for the person to know that he has been unknowingly speaking the truth all his life.
With regard to the gender roles, the women in the play also illustrate an inversion to the recognized practices of the Victorian era. For example, Lady Bracknell is interviewing Jack by assuming the role of Gwendolen’s father. In Victorian society, interviewing a suitor is typically the role of a father. Likewise, Gwendolen and Cecily are getting hold of their own lives while men are passive in this regard.
At the end of the play, Wilde plays a trick on Miss Prism, which is also an inversion. Wilde shows her as a “fallen woman” of melodrama who initially appears to be puritan.
Death
There are frequent jokes about death in the play The Importance of Being Earnest. When Lady Bracknell comes onstage, she is talking about death. Likewise, when she comments on her friend Lady Harbury, she says that after her husband’s death, she appears to be twenty years younger than her age. Moreover, on Bunbury, she says his death is highly inconvenient for others, and also says that Bunbury is “shilly-shallying” as he cannot decide to die or live.
In Act III, When Algernon told her that Bunbury had died according to the prediction of his physician, Lady Bracknell praised Bunbury for his actions according to the proper medical advice.
Moreover, Miss Prism views death as something from which an individual should take some moral lesson and says that Ernest will get profit from his death. Algernon and Jack also have numerous conversations about how to kill Ernest, the imaginary brother of Jack.
Apart from giving dark humor to the play, the jokes on death are associated with the notion of life being a work of art. In the play, the characters discuss death as something which they can control as if death is something on which one can decide how to create their life.
The Dandy
Wilde contributed the figure of the dandy to the form of Victorian melodrama. The dandy is the character who gives a lesson on morality, which he never processed. The literary works of Oscar Wilde, the dandy appears to be a styled philosopher, witty, and overdressed who speaks exaggerated dialogue and paradoxes. He ridicules the insincerity and hypocrisy of the moral mediators of society. To a great extent, the dandy figure was a portrayal of Wilde’s personality.
The dandy is not necessarily a comic figure in the works of Wilde. In the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray and the play A Woman of No Importance, he takes the very serious characters of his works as the dandy figures such as the villains’ Lord Henry Wootton and Lord Illingworth, respectively.
However, in the plays, Lady Windermere’s Fan and An Ideal Husband, Wilde evolves the figure of dandy and gives him a more moral position. He makes the dandy figure on the surface that makes him appear shallow, trivial, and ineffective. The dandy in the play appears to be more close to being the real hero of the play. The dandy character seems to be profoundly moral and important for the happy resolution of the plot.
In the play, The Importance of Being Earnest, the character of Algernon has many features similar to the dandy figure. However, throughout the play, he appears to a morally neutral character. Other characters in the play also show the sentiments and views of the dandy figure. Lady Bracknell and Gwendolen are having features of the dandy figure when they pay more importance to the style, profile, and surface thing. Even Jack reflects the notion of a dandy when he says that one should travel and search for pleasure.
Wilde includes the dandy figures in his plays to ridicule the superficiality of the upper class.
Tone
The tone of the play The Importance of Being Earnest is playful, humorous, and introspective. The creative ability of Oscar Wilde makes the play playful and humorous. He makes fun of his own characters by making them utter exaggerated dialogues full of puns and humor. Oscar Wilde also makes the play introspective by criticizing various social values and beliefs of Victorian society.
Genre
The play The Importance of Being Earnest is the comedy-drama. The play is full of disguises, twists, and turns that create a comic effect of the play. The main conflict in the play is resolved at the end and all characters of the reunite happily.
Setting of the Play
The play The Importance of Being Earnest has two important settings. The first setting is the countryside of Hertfordshire, where Jack estate the Manor House lies. The second setting of the play is the city of London, where Gwendolen, Algernon, and Lady Bracknell live. Jack also visits London on occasions in the disguise of Ernest. Moreover, the references to the cloakroom of Victoria’s railway station are also made in the play.