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Satire In The Importance Of Being Ernest

770 Words4 Pages

Karolyn M. Nieves

Professor Jeffrey Kosse

English 200

October 25, 2015

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Satire is defined, as a way of using humor to show that someone or something is foolish, weak, bad, etc. or humor that shows the weaknesses or bad qualities of a person, government, society, etc. ("Satire | Definition of Satire by Merriam-Webster"). The Importance of Being Earnest is a play that is full of Satire and it’s that precise social satire that helps convey the overall message of the play. Oscar Wilde is known for his satire and in this play he uses satire towards the Upper class in the Victorian System of the time and ironically he expects them to be the audience of this play and that is a movement that was very bold in his time but I’m sure he probably felt it necessary in order to show to them their true self. The Importance of Being Earnest is a popular play that is still widely performed in English-language theaters and also in many other languages (Bastiat). As it turns out Oscar Wilde was gay in a society stifled by social conventions and governed by very tough laws on …show more content…

He first employed a pattern of ironic inversion in “An Ideal Husband”, the play immediately preceding “Earnest” (Reinert p14). However in the play “The Importance of Being Earnest” Wilde presents his characters as being constantly flippant. The Importance of Being Earnest is one sustained metaphor, and esthetic detachment is the only mood in which it can be intelligently enjoyed ((Reinert p15). Wilde begins his satire in this play with the title itself. In Vitctorian times earnestness was considered to be the over-riding societal value, originating in religious attempts to reform the lower classes, it spread to the upper ones too throughout the century ("Importance of Being Earnest"). The title sets the tone and theme of the play and gives the audience insight as to what is

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