A Streetcar Named Desire: the Importance of Being Earnest

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 importance of being Earnest is a parody of Victorian society. Each character is exaggerated in some way. Men and women were expected to get married according to the Victorian standard. In Gwendolen and Cecily’s case, they both fell in love with the name of “Ernest”. This fixation on the name Ernest would’ve put pressure on Jack and Algernon as they would have to live up to the dreams of the girls due to Victorian ideals.

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

Oscar Wilde's, "The Importance of Being Earnest" revolves around the dichotomy of the true definition of honesty versus the victorian definition of honesty. It is apparent that Wilde's opinion is that true honesty is expressed through being genuine to one's self as opposed to putting on a front as is important in victorian ideals. In this work, Wilde uses humor to off-set the seriousness of the theme of the story. One who has studied this work can also clearly see that Wilde is using sarcasm to say things that would not have been accepted by society if they were said bluntly. For example he exemplifies in a very sarcastic manner the hypocracy that victorian society represents by the very fact that they pretend to uphold honesty above all

Marriage is meant to be a cherished union between two lovers; however, Algernon’s behavior towards marriage is inherently selfish. Many times throughout The Importance of Being Earnest, Algernon acts as though marriage is an outdated and boorish concept. Directly after Jack confesses his proposal plan to Algernon, Algy says “I thought you had come up for pleasure? … I call that business” (Wilde 3). Algernon takes the romance out of the proposal. Algernon’s shallow nature lends

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

One of the most famous quotes from Oscar Wilde’s play, The Importance of Being Earnest is in the final act where Gwendolen and Cecily are discussing what they should do with Jack and Algernon. She claims that, “in matter of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the vital thing” (III, 19). This is the epitome of the story because it truly encompasses Wilde’s thoughts on Victorian life and society. Throughout the play, there are numerous instances where you can see that majority, if not all of, the characters believe this ideal of style of substance. This commentary on the Victorian Era and the extremities of controlling behaviors and personalities can also be related to today’s culture and the representation of humans on different social media platforms.

Behind every great story there is always a well written plot and even greater characters. The Importance of Being Earnest is filled with dynamic characters that add intensity and symbolism to the plot. Without characters such as Gwendolen, Cecily, and Lady Bracknell, the twist and turns of the play would not have been possible. All characters in a play are important, but there is always a main character or protagonist that the story could not exist without. This play has two important protagonist, John “Jack” Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff. Algernon and Jack not only have character traits in common but their actions and what they symbolized are very similar also.

In Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, two gentlemen exemplify the result of dishonesty and hypocrisy. Set in Victorian England, the two bachelors, Algernon and Jack, fight over which one of them will take the name Ernest in order to win their own girl. Wilde circumvents conventionalism and employs superior satirical strategy to not only teach the importance of being earnest, a characteristic held dear by Victorian society, but he also chastises his world for the hypocrisy between man and woman and between upper and lower classes.

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 satirizes people in the Victorian Era for believing that their ideal romantic fantasies are pragmatic and attainable in reality. The play’s utilization of comedy of manners, through satire, aims criticism at the higher classes of society. Wilde shows that even though upper class citizens have a lavish lifestyle it does not mean that they can also obtain a romance that is as equally extravagant. Wilde’s usage of comedic tools, such as hyperboles and ironic concepts, emphasizes how people’s expectations and high standards can often jumble, as well as lead them astray, from the actuality of romance and how it is flawed rather than flawless, and that no one will always get the fairytale ending they

Oscar Wilde once said, “To define is to limit.” If one attempts to define love for the entirety of their life, they would only be looking for one way how love is expressed, not the other shapes and forms that intimacy comes in. In The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde uses many forms of figurative language to make fun of social beliefs of that era, which has lessons can be carried into today. This comedic piece of writing takes place in England during the 1890s. Jack Worthing, the protagonist of the play, lives a very interesting double life.

In The Importance of Being Earnest, the intimate conversation between Algernon and Cecily at Jack’s country estate foreshadows the upcoming comical collision and most significantly, paves the way for the unravelling of deceptions as the characters discover their true identities. The dialogue also captures Algernon’s deceptive appearance in the name of “Ernest”, his genuine love for Cecily and her irresistible desires. In this scene, Wilde satirizes how it seems compulsory for the aristocracy to adhere to the rigidity of the moral duties that organized the society and that the hypocritical aristocracy is driven to pursue their authentic desires by any means. Through this, Wilde exposes the superficiality of the aristocracy as they indulge in

The main women of the play, do not lead a double lives but instead impose their version of reality on those around them and demand it be accepted as truth. Oscar Wilde wrote ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ to expose the false virtue standards that encompassed the Victorian Age through ridicule. Lack of compassion towards the unhealthy and less fortunate was riddled in ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’. A sick person or “invalid”, as the unhealthy were termed, was actually deemed as rude and inconsiderate. In the beginning of the play, act one, Algernon is telling his aunt, Lady Bracknell, that he has to miss her dinner later that evening to tend to his sickly friend “Bunbury”.

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