ipl-logo

The Importance Of Being Earnest Moral Analysis

1074 Words5 Pages

Man Ieng Wong
Dr. Damian Shaw
ENGB220-001
12 April 2016
Is Oscar Wilde’s The Importance Of Being Ernest Merely Written To Amuse An Audience, Or Does It Have A Serious Moral Message?
Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest is a comedy produced and released in 1895. It is regarded as his most famous and successful work. Wilde showed his marvelous skills in using humorous and satirical words in the play. However, in the early and mid-twentieth century, many people criticized that it was barely a play to amuse the audience, but without any meaningful inspiration. In order to overturn this comment, it is necessary to have an analysis of the play.
“… He developed a set of attitudes and postures for which he would eventually become famous. Chief …show more content…

The Victorian society regarded Ernest as a popular and respected name. Also, the meaning it implies, which is ‘serious’, ‘honest’, and ‘earnestness’, was seen as a serious value for the upper class people. In the play, Gwendolen and Cecily’s attitude towards the name Ernest is remarkable. When the two girls were asked whether they would still love the men engaged to them if their name was not Ernest, both of them definitely showed their attitude. For Gwendolen, she said “the only safe name is Ernest” (The Norton Anthology English Literature, 2303) and Cecily replied, “I fear that I should not be able to give you my undivided attention” (The Norton Anthology English Literature, 2320). From the conversations between Jack and Gwendolen, Algernon and Cecily, it is also notable that both of the girls were not really caring about “whether the man actually possesses the qualities that comprise earnestness” (SparkNotes Editors), what they admired was merely their name. This demonstrates again the Victorian upper class’s shallowness. Besides, it is quite preposterous to be engaged to someone only because of his or her name. This kind of engagement could hardly be serious and sincere. Moreover, it is ironic that none of the men were called Ernest. Ernest was just an artificial name invented by them, and both of them were not earnest

Show More
Related

  • Mt. Denali Research Paper

    823 Words  | 4 Pages

    What’s in a name? that which we call a rose/ By any other name would smell as sweet” (Romeo & Juliet 2.2 43-44). Shakespeare wrote these words to indicate that the value of a name is placed there only by the people who use it and no matter the name, it does not change the object. Roses are sweet in smell no matter the name and Mt. Denali is going to be the largest mountain in North America whether the name is Denali or McKinley.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde Analysis

    1408 Words  | 6 Pages

    His intention in lampooning was for his audience to enjoy the irony and sarcasm of his work while criticizing the foolish view of the upper class. During the time play’s release, many critics wrote about their opinions of the play. Some critics saw his work as a fantasy, others said it was burlesque, but there were also critics who understood Wilde’s purpose for writing this play (Kohl 272). For instance, Norbert Kohl said, “He is made to laugh at the hollow superficiality hidden behind the mask of earnestness, and to mock the rich facade…” (Kohl 272). Khol clearly understood that Wilde’s purpose of writing The Importance of Being Earnest was to publicly and comically criticize the rich.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Much Ado About Nothing And The Importance Of Being Ernest

    3221 Words  | 13 Pages

    In both Much Ado About Nothing and The Importance of Being Earnest, marriage is the central theme, and driving force, of the plot. Both Shakespeare and Wilde depict shallow societies in which marriage is based on superficial values, such as wealth and status. Within these contexts, the writers present the dilemmas and problems which need to be overcome before the two couples can finally have their successful conclusion of marriage, a convention of the comedy genre to which both texts align themselves. However, throughout the play, the authors explore contemporary reasoning behind marriage and what is required to make matrimony a success. Whilst the comedic world of Wilde’s Earnest satirises Victorian society, with features wildly exaggerated,

    Read More

  • Classism In Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest

    3890 Words  | 16 Pages

    The lower classes were obliged to work hard in the factories and farms and make do with very low wages. It often resulted in friction between the classes bordering on social strife although it never erupted in a revolution the way it did in France. The injustice of the English society encouraged novelists such as Oscar Wilde to describe in moving terms the many hardships suffered by the common people and the many failures and follies of English life. Oscar Wilde’s great plays, The Importance of Being Earnest, incorporates some classical

    Read More

  • And The Characters Of Algernon And Jacks

    923 Words  | 4 Pages

    While both Algernon and Jack treat names trivially, both Cecily and Gwendolen take names too seriously. Their shared obsession with marrying a man named Ernest indicates that they they prioritize superficial markers of identity over true character. Gwendolen seems to believe that names actually say quite a lot about a person because when Ernest asks her if she could love him if his name were Jack she says, “Jack?... No, there is very little music in the name Jack, if any at all, indeed. It does not thrill.

    Read More

  • Social Commentary In The Picture Of Dorian Gray By Oscar Wilde

    1121 Words  | 5 Pages

    Relatively all authors are very fond of creating an underlying message to criticize society. Authors do this through social commentary. The book “The Picture of Dorian Gray” is no exception. The author, Oscar Wilde, criticizes the upper class through the consistent underlying idea that people are often deceived by one's beauty and are unable to understand the poison that fills the world is corrupting it. From the beginning of this book, the social commentary towards the upper class begins with the structure of the novel.

    Read More

  • Romeo Juliet Advantages

    841 Words  | 4 Pages

    Juliet asks ‘What’s in a name?’, the theme of illogical family feuding is seen Romeo and Juliet cannot be together because their parents don't approve. This still happens today, especially with young

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest

    928 Words  | 4 Pages

    Oscar Wilde’s satirical play The Importance of Being Earnest, set in the late Victorian era, London, is a portrayal of British upper class society and its conventions surrounded by a strict code of conduct. In 1890’s class society, earnestness was desired; to follow the moral code and social obligations in order to keep up one’s appearance. Besides, there was a huge gender disparity between men and women. In the play, Wilde criticizes the social inequality and Victorian upper class standards. He characterizes Victorian personae making fun of their qualities; hypocrisy, arrogance and absurdism, ultimately the very vital state and lifeline of not being earnest at all in Victorian society.

    Read More

  • Identity In The Importance Of Being Earnest

    1172 Words  | 5 Pages

    Art, artifice and identity is the theme explored through the use of the two chosen stimulus texts Grayson Perry: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl and The Importance of Being Earnest, written by Wendy Jones and Oscar Wilde respectively. Art and artifice merge as Grayson Perry uses his alter-ego, Claire, to express his creativity and identity. Similarly, the artifice of an alter-ego is part of The Importance of Being Earnest, as the play's protagonists, Jack and Algernon, deceive family and friends by lying about their identity to suit them best. The texts used to explore the theme are a review for the Guardian on the Grayson Perry memoir and an excerpt from Jack's diary set before the events in The Importance of Being Earnest

    Read More

  • Marriage In Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest

    1653 Words  | 7 Pages

    Oscar Wilde’s Victorian melodramatic play The Importance of Being Earnest opened on February 14, 1895. Wilde used this play to criticize Victorian society through clever phrasing and satire. Throughout the play The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde displayed the themes of the nature of marriage, the constraints of morality, and the importance of not being earnest. One of the themes that Oscar Wilde includes in the play is the nature of marriage.

    Read More

  • Aestheticism In The Importance Of Being Earnest

    1044 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Importance of Being Earnest written by Oscar Wilde is an excellent play which has many underlying themes and suggestions especially with regards to the Victorian era, during which this was written. Many themes within the play are reflective of Wilde and his life, including his secrecy and supposed “double life,” his interest in aestheticism, his life pertaining the mannerisms and social etiquette during his lifetime. Today, Oscar Wilde is often remembered in part due to his well known homosexuality trial of 1895 (Linderd, 1), but his “second life” per se had been speculated on for years prior to it, in fact many of his plays contain subtle yet effective implications towards a possible piece of his life kept hidden from the public eye. The Importance of Being Earnest mirrored this double life through the utilization of Jack and Algernon's “Bunburying,” and their motives for lying to the ones whom they love.

    Read More

  • John Drinkwater Satire

    576 Words  | 3 Pages

    I found that primarily The Importance of Being Earnest was satirical and humorous. Wilde focuses the story on the two aristocrats who seemingly had no other task, but to be sneaky and cunning. He writes with an insensitive kind of humour, which is equally entertaining and unsettling. John Drinkwater focuses on the joy and drama in the play. He also complements the simplicity of the story which I had not noticed till I had read Drinkwater’s criticism.

    Read More

  • Romeo's Attitude Towards Names

    588 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the play Romeo and Juliet, act two coveys Juliet and Romeo's Attitude toward names and what its significance really is in reality. Juliet goes to her balcony to express her feelings without prior knowledge Romeo was near. “Tis but thy name that is my enemy.

    Read More

  • Olfactory In Romeo And Juliet

    216 Words  | 1 Pages

    As a result of Romeo being a part of the Montague family, Juliet’s ongoing love for him is slightly pressured due to the name Romeo has been given. Before talking about Romeo’s name, she says how a “rose” would always “smell as sweet” if it had “any other word”. Clearly, Juliet uses olfactory imagery to demonstrate how a rose is just a name used to distinguish one flower to another, but it would have the same smell if it is named something else. Furthermore, she connects this idea to Romeo by stating “Romeo, doff thy name”, and this phrase shows how Juliet wants him to remove his name in order to “retain that dear perfection”. Evidently, this establishes how she thinks every part of Romeo is perfect, except for his name because Juliet is in

    Read More

  • Theme Of Marriage In Jane Eyre

    805 Words  | 4 Pages

    - Edward is an economically independent man with a favorable status and influential connections still looking for a profitable match. Jane will be the one in charge to unmask him to the audience: “I saw he was going to marry her [Blanche Ingram] for family, perhaps political reasons, because her rank and connections suited him” (Brontë 205) This manner of conduct converts Mr. Rochester from a hero into a villain, a perpetrator and “his project of

    Read More

More about The Importance Of Being Earnest Moral Analysis

Open Document