The Importance of Being Earnest Must Victorian-era social interactions involved a dichotomy between what people said and how they acted in public and what they truly thought. The play's title -- and many of its quotes -- allude to Wilde's belief that it was important to be earnest, and that truthfulness and honesty were lacking in Victorian society.
Full Answer
Why is'the importance of Being Earnest'so popular?
Its high farce and witty dialogue have helped make The Importance of Being Earnest Wilde's most enduringly popular play. The successful opening night marked the climax of Wilde's career but also heralded his downfall.
What is the last exchange in the importance of Being Earnest?
Lady Bracknell: “My nephew, you seem to be displaying signs of triviality.” Jack: “On the contrary, Aunt Augusta, I’ve now realized for the first time in my life the vital Importance of Being Earnest.” These lines form the last exchange in the play.
What does earnestness mean in the play?
In terms of the play’s primary plot, earnestness is the quality of honesty or candor. But exactly what the play really says about this attribute is hard to determine. Algernon professes not to believe that truth belongs in civilized conversation.
What did Mary McCarthy think of the importance of Being Earnest?
Mary McCarthy, in Sights and Spectacles (1959), however, and despite thinking the play extremely funny, called it "a ferocious idyll"; "depravity is the hero and the only character." The Importance of Being Earnest is Wilde's most popular work and is continually revived.
What is the main message of the importance of being earnest?
Performance is a central theme in The Importance of Being Earnest. Both of Wilde's main characters, Jack and Algernon, lead double lives, which means that they are each pretending to be someone they are not, or performing.
What does the importance of being earnest tell us about our society?
By Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest reveals the differences between the behavior of the upper class and that of the lower class. Members of the upper class display a great deal of pride and pretense, feeling that they are inherently entitled to their wealth and higher social position.
Why is Ernest important in The Importance of Being Earnest?
For Jack, “Ernest” is an alter ego, an identity through which he can court Gwendolen and cavort in the pleasures of city life. The name holds similar meaning to Algernon, who masquerades as “Ernest” to escape to the country to meet Cecily under false pretenses.
What can we learn from Oscar Wilde?
16 Things We Can Learn From Oscar WildeHit the books. ... Don't forget your roots. ... Dress to impress. ... Help make your own myth. ... Everyone needs to make a living. ... Get political. ... Screw the diet. ... Don't be afraid of a fight.More items...•
Why did Wilde write The Importance of Being Earnest?
Wilde was satirising and puncturing the hypocrisy and artificiality of Victorian society.
Why is the title of The Importance of Being Earnest ironic?
It is very ironic for two reasons. The first being that Earnest is not even the real name of her “true love.” Gwendolen is unaware that his name is, in fact, Jack. Then every other character is left very unaware that she even got the tattoo in the first place, but not the audience.
What does Ernest symbolize?
Ernest Symbol Analysis. Similar to Bunbury, Ernest represents deception, fiction, and escapism, but also idealism. While Algernon and Jack attempt to masquerade as the real Ernest, he is just as fictional as Algernon's Bunbury.
What does earnest symbolize?
Adjective. serious, grave, solemn, sedate, staid, sober, earnest mean not light or frivolous. serious implies a concern for what really matters. a serious play about social injustice grave implies both seriousness and dignity in expression or attitude.
What does The Importance of Being Earnest reveal about Victorian society?
The play The Importance of Being Ernest Oscar Wilde ridicules Victorian customs and traditions, marriage and particularly the pursuit of love. In Victorian times earnestness was considered as of the topmost ideals for reforming the lower classes. Later on, it spread to the upper class as well.
How does The Importance of Being Earnest serve as a satirical critique of Victorian society?
In his work, The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde uses satire to mock the trivial society of the Victorian Era. Explanation: This scene shows satire in the way higher class Victorian society followed frivolous trends. Cecily uses Gwendolen's responses to outright insult her by forcing her to be 'unfashionable'.
What are the social issues in The Importance of Being Earnest?
Nevertheless, religious themes can also be covered in social themes.Themes of “Importance of Being Earnest”: ... Satire on the Upper Class: ... The triviality of Marriage: ... Victorian Manners: ... Importance of Wealth: ... “Life of Leisure” and “Luxurious Life”: Last but Major Themes of Importance of Being Earnest:
How does this dialogue poke fun at a society that takes marriage too lightly?
How does this dialogue poke fun at a society that takes marriage too lightly? Jack is joking about his marriage proposal. Jack tells Gwendolen that he loves no one else. Gwendolen is happy that Jack has finally asked her to marry him.
What is the importance of being earnest?
Although the themes in The Importance of Being Earnest address Victorian social issues, the structure of the play was largely influenced by French theatre, melodrama, social drama, and farce. Wilde was quite familiar with these genres, and borrowed from them freely. A play by W. Lestocq and E.M. Robson, The Foundling, is thought to be a source of Earnest, and it was playing in London at the time Wilde was writing Earnest. The Foundling has an orphan-hero, like Jack Worthing in Wilde's play. A farce is a humorous play using exaggerated physical action, such as slapstick, absurdity, and improbability. It often contains surprises where the unexpected is disclosed. The ending of Earnest, in which Jack misidentifies Prism as his unmarried mother, is typical of the endings of farces. Farces were usually done in three acts and often included changes of identity, stock characters, and lovers misunderstanding each other. Wearing mourning clothes or gobbling food down at times of stress are conventions that can be traced to early farces.
Why was the importance of being earnest important?
James Theatre on February 14, 1895. On this particular evening, to honor Wilde's aestheticism, the women wore lily corsages, and the young men wore lilies of the valley in their lapels.
How many acts did Wilde make in Earnest?
The theatre manager of the St. James where Earnest opened, George Alexander, asked Wilde to reduce his original four-act play to three acts, like more conventional farces. Wilde accomplished this by omitting the Gribsby episode and merging two acts into one. In doing so, he maneuvered his play for greater commercial and literary response.
What is the ending of Earnest?
It often contains surprises where the unexpected is disclosed. The ending of Earnest, in which Jack misidentifies Prism as his unmarried mother, is typical of the endings of farces.
What did Wilde's plays encourage people to think about?
In an age of change, their work, as well as Wilde's plays, encouraged people to think about the artificial barriers that defined society and enabled a privileged life for the rich at the expense of the working class. American writer, Edith Wharton, was also writing about the lifestyles of the rich during the same period.
What did the aristocracy know about Wilde's play?
The aristocracy attending Wilde's play knew and understood the private lives of characters like Jack and Algernon. They were aware of the culture and atmosphere of the West End. It had clubs, hotels, cafes, restaurants, casinos, and most of the 50 theatres in London.
Who is the author of Earnest?
Wilde was quite familiar with these genres, and borrowed from them freely. A play by W. Lestocq and E.M. Robson, The Foundling, is thought to be a source of Earnest, and it was playing in London at the time Wilde was writing Earnest. The Foundling has an orphan-hero, like Jack Worthing in Wilde's play.
What is the setting of the play The Importance of Being Earnest?
English. Genre. Comedy, farce. Setting. London and an estate in Hertfordshire. The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae to escape burdensome ...
Where was Earnest performed?
The Importance of Being Earnest and Wilde's three other society plays were performed in Britain during the author's imprisonment and exile, albeit by small touring companies. A. B. Tapping's company toured Earnest between October 1895 and March 1899 (their performance at the Theatre Royal, Limerick, in the last week of October 1895 was almost certainly the first production of the play in Ireland). Elsie Lanham's company also toured 'Earnest' between November 1899 and April 1900. Alexander revived Earnest in a small theatre in Notting Hill, outside the West End, in 1901; in the same year he presented the piece on tour, playing Jack Worthing with a cast including the young Lilian Braithwaite as Cecily. The play returned to the West End when Alexander presented a revival at the St James's in 1902. Broadway revivals were mounted in 1902 and again in 1910, each production running for six weeks.
How did Wilde free himself?
Ransome argues that Wilde freed himself by abandoning the melodrama, the basic structure which underlies his earlier social comedies, and basing the story entirely on the Earnest/Ernest verbal conceit. Freed from "living up to any drama more serious than conversation" Wilde could now amuse himself to a fuller extent with quips, bons mots, epigrams and repartee that really had little to do with the business at hand.
What was the most important influence on the play Engaged?
Wilde scholars agree the most important influence on the play was W. S. Gilbert 's 1877 farce Engaged, from which Wilde borrowed not only several incidents but also "the gravity of tone demanded by Gilbert of his actors". Wilde continually revised the text over the next months.
Is Earnest a homosexual name?
It has been said that the use of the name Earnest may have been a homosexual in-joke. In 1892, three years before Wilde wrote the play, John Gambril Nicholson had published the book of pederastic poetry Love in Earnest. The sonnet Of Boys' Names included the verse: "Though Frank may ring like silver bell / And Cecil softer music claim / They cannot work the miracle / –'Tis Ernest sets my heart a-flame." The word "earnest" may also have been a code-word for homosexual, as in: "Is he earnest?", in the same way that "Is he so?" and "Is he musical?" were employed. Sir Donald Sinden, an actor who had met two of the play's original cast (Irene Vanbrugh and Allan Aynesworth), and Lord Alfred Douglas, wrote to The Times to dispute suggestions that "Earnest" held any sexual connotations:
What is the importance of being earnest?
One of the moral paradoxes that The Importance of Being Earnest seems intended to express is the idea that the perfectly moral man is the man who professes to be immoral, who speaks truly by virtue of the fact that he admits to being essentially a liar. Wilde set great store in lying, which, he argued in a quasi-Platonic dialogue called “The Decay ...
What is the quality of honesty in Algernon's play?
In terms of the play’s primary plot, earnestness is the quality of honesty or candor. But exactly what the play really says about this attribute is hard to determine. Algernon professes not to believe that truth belongs in civilized conversation.
What does Lady Bracknell believe about her age?
Lady Bracknell believes that a woman should always lie about her age . Gwendolen feels that “In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing.”. Of course, which of these characters is speaking the truth about the truth is impossible to determine. One of the moral paradoxes that The Importance of Being Earnest seems intended ...
What was the significance of being earnest?
During the initial run of The Importance of Being Earnest, Lord Alfred’s father, the Marquess of Queensberry, accused Wilde of being a “somdomite” (sic). Under his lover’s influence, Wilde countered by suing the Marquess for libel. Queensberry was acquitted, ...
Where is the setting of the novel Ernest?
Setting: The 1890s in London, England (Act I), and then Hertfordshire, a rural country outside of London (Acts II and III). Climax: Gwendolen and Cecily discover that neither Jack, nor Algernon holds the name of “Ernest.”. Antagonist: Lady Bracknell.
What philosophy did Wilde use?
At Oxford, Wilde came under the influence of tutor Walter Pater’s Aesthetic philosophy —“art for arts sake”—and developed a reputation as an eccentric, flamboyant, and foppish young man. Moving from Oxford to London upon graduation, Wilde then published his first volume of poems to some critical acclaim.
What did Wilde believe about art?
While the Victorians believed that art should have a positive moral influence, aesthetes like Wilde believed that art could be valued for its beauty alone.
Why is Ernest's name ironic?
Even using the name Ernest for his secret life is ironic because Algernon is not being dutiful — earnest — in living a secret life. Various characters in the play allude to passion, sex and moral looseness.
Why did Wilde create the secret lives?
Because Victorian norms were so repressive and suffocating, Wilde creates episodes in which his characters live secret lives or create false impressions to express who they really are. Jack and Algernon both create personas to be free. These other lives allow them to neglect their duties — in Algernon's case — or to leave their duties and pursue pleasure — in Jack's case. Very early in Act I, Wilde sets up these secret lives, and they follow through until the final act. When Jack and Algernon realize their marriages will end their pursuit of pleasure, they both admit rather earnestly, "You won't be able to run down to the country quite so often as you used to do, dear Algy," and "You won't be able to disappear to London quite so frequently as your wicked custom was." Marriage means the end of freedom, pleasure, wickedness, and the beginning of duty and doing what is expected. Of course, Jack and Algernon could continue to don their masks after they marry Gwendolen and Cecily, but they will have to be cautious and make sure society is looking the other way.
What is the subject of Wilde's "One should have something sensational to read in the train"?
Religion. Another serious subject — religion — is also a topic of satire.
What is Lady Bracknell's primary duty?
Health is the primary duty of life.". Lady Bracknell, like other aristocrats, is too busy worrying about her own life, the advantages of her daughter's marriage, and her nephew's errors in judgment to feel any compassion for others.
What is Gwendolen's aristocratic attitude?
Gwendolen's aristocratic attitude is "In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the vital thing.". The trivial is important; the serious is overlooked. The tea ceremony in Act II is a hilarious example of Wilde's contention that manners and appearance are everything. The guise of correctness is the framework for war.
Is France a good place to kill off Ernest?
Otherwise, France is a good place to kill off and request the burial of Ernest. As the good reverend says, "I fear that hardly points to any very serious state of mind at the last.". Literary criticism is for "people who haven't been at a University. They do it so well in the daily papers.".
What is the importance of being earnest?
Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest derives much of its comedic and thematic heft from the way in which it inverts the values of everyday life. The play constantly pokes fun at conventionally serious topics like love, death, and religion, while simultaneously handling trivialities (e.g., which teatime snacks are trendy this season) with the utmost seriousness. This irreverence takes its most perfect form in the dozens of epigrams and witticisms that make up so much of the play’s dialogue.
Who said "It is important to be earnest"?
Oscar Wilde. “ [The Importance of Being Earnest] is exquisitely trivial, a delicate bubble of fancy, and it has its philosophy…That we should treat all the trivial things of life very seriously, and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality.”. — Oscar Wilde, from a January 1895 interview with Robbie Ross, ...
Is Earnest ridiculous?
All of the characters in Earnest are ridiculous in their own unique ways, and yet we always laugh with them, never at them. What is the difference between the two, and why does it matter?
Overview
Synopsis
The play is set in "The Present" (i.e. 1895).
The play opens with Algernon Moncrieff, an idle young gentleman, receiving his best friend, Jack Worthing ("Ernest"). Ernest has come from the country to propose to Algernon's cousin, Gwendolen Fairfax. Algernon refuses to consent until Ernest explains why his cigarette case bears the inscription, "From little C…
Composition
The play was written following the success of Wilde's earlier plays Lady Windermere's Fan, An Ideal Husband and A Woman of No Importance. He spent the summer of 1894 with his family at Worthing, where he began work on the new play. His fame now at its peak, he used the working title Lady Lancing to avoid preemptive speculation about its content. Many names and ideas in the …
Productions
The play was first produced at the St James's Theatre on Valentine's Day 1895. It was freezing cold but Wilde arrived dressed in "florid sobriety", wearing a green carnation. The audience, according to one report, "included many members of the great and good, former cabinet ministers and privy councillors, as well as actors, writers, academics, and enthusiasts". Allan Aynesworth, who …
Characters
• Jack Worthing (Ernest), a young gentleman from the country, in love with Gwendolen Fairfax.
• Algernon Moncrieff, a young gentleman from London, the nephew of Lady Bracknell, in love with Cecily Cardew.
• Gwendolen Fairfax, a young lady, loved by Jack Worthing.
Themes
Arthur Ransome described The Importance... as the most trivial of Wilde's society plays, and the only one that produces "that peculiar exhilaration of the spirit by which we recognise the beautiful." "It is", he wrote, "precisely because it is consistently trivial that it is not ugly." Ellmann says that The Importance of Being Earnest touched on many themes Wilde had been building since the 188…
Bunburying
Bunburying is a stratagem used by people who need an excuse for avoiding social obligations in their daily life. The word "bunburying" first appears in Act I when Algernon explains that he invented a fictional friend, a chronic invalid named "Bunbury", to have an excuse for getting out of events he does not wish to attend, particularly with his Aunt Augusta (Lady Bracknell). Algernon and Jack both use this method to secretly visit their lovers, Cecily and Gwendolen.
Dramatic analysis
While Wilde had long been famous for dialogue and his use of language, Raby (1988) argues that he achieved a unity and mastery in Earnest that was unmatched in his other plays, except perhaps Salomé. While his earlier comedies suffer from an unevenness resulting from the thematic clash between the trivial and the serious, Earnest achieves a pitch-perfect style that allows these to dissolve. There are three different registers detectable in the play. The dandyish insouciance of …