Theatre

The Importance of Being Earnest is a comedy that is rife with paradoxes and inversions. These traits are especially exemplified by two main characters of whom the story also revolves around John Worthing, J.P. (also known as Jack) and Algernon Moncrieff. Jack is a simple country lad that perceives issues of life quite casually while Algernon is a cynic whose views of life are dandiasic and formal. Indeed the two, as will be demonstrated later on, clash insofar as their respective perceptions of the major themes in this play are concerned.

Jacks place of residence is in the countryside where he lives with Cecily who under his care. According to Jack it is Cecily who compelled him to create a fictitious brother by the name of Earnest who lives in the city. Jack would then frequent the city of London just to pay this brother of his a visit (The Internet Movie Database). In the course of these visits, we are meant to believe, Jack meets Gwendolen to whom he introduces himself as Earnest. Gwendolen, apparently, is impressed with the name Earnest more than any other thing of Jack. On the other hand Jack loves Gwendolen and would really like to marry her. In time Algernon learns of Jacks double life and sees an opportunity to exploit it to his advantage. This he does by, paradoxically, taking on another life as Earnest.

Algernon, unlike Jack, lives in the city of London. He also would like to visit the countryside without arousing any suspicions and so he creates this invalid friend of his known as Bunbury that he frequently pays a visit. He calls these visits bunburying. It is under the guise of one of these visits that he introduces himself to Cecily as Uncle Earnest. In the course of their conversation Cecily reveals to Algernon her long-held adoration for Uncle Earnest-in her fantasy Earnest had already proposed to her and therefore there was no need for Algernon to request for hand in marriage. She is especially attracted with the name Earnest. She would like to marry Algernon particularly because of this wonderful name.

In the end all these is brought to the open. It becomes clear that both Jack and Algernon have been living double lives just so as to achieve their own personal ventures. However, it is determined ultimately that Jacks real name is actually Earnest and that Jack actually been living a sincere life throughout the play he has been both Earnest and earnest without knowing. In light of this development Jack says that It is such a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that he has been speaking nothing but the truth (ACT III). This can be contrasted to the remarks he issued after Algernon had asked him if he told Gwendolen the truth about his double life. He had replied  My dear fellow, the truth isnt quite the sort of thing one tells to a nice, sweet, refined girl. (ACT I).
Actually both these statements speak volumes about the theme of this play with its paradoxes and inversions a play that seems to portray the very character and philosophy of the playwright. In the The importance of being earnest Oscar Wilde is true to his is literary philosophy of art for arts sake and through the character of Algernon, Wilde brings out his obsession with dandyism and formalism (Sparknotes). 

Oscar Wilde explores the issues of marriage, morality, deception, class, dandyism and others in a manner that is uniquely artistic.  Indeed, his views on these issues are somehow unconventional unlike Victorian eras conventions.

The essay website, Sparknotes, gives a myriad of themes that are explored in this late nineteenth century play. These include the themes of morality, inventiveness and deception, class and dandyism. But it is the theme of marriage that features extensively in the play.

The play is mainly about the ideal nature of marriage. Marriage is such a critical aspect of human life, and how humanity perceives it goes a long way in either making it a success or failure.  These perceptions differ in two of the plays main characters Algernon and John Worthing. While Algernon is of the opinion that marriage should be a serious and formal social arrangement, Jack believes that marriage is something pleasurable that should not be capped with formalities. In the first Act their divergent perceptions on marriage play out when Algernon equates marriage to business and Jack counters by stating that marriage is something that borders on pleasure (Sparknotes).

And whereas Algernon believes that marriage is such a serious undertaking that should not be marred with some smugness, deception and white lies, Jack believes that for marriage to be romantic one cannot avoid deceptions or even the flirting that irks Algernon. It is paradoxical that in the end it is Algernon who has really been deceptive while Jack has been telling nothing but the truth.

The play also explores the issue of what is moral or not moral in the Victorian society. In fact it is as though Wilde satirizes the very notion of morality during this period. At one point Algernon is of the opinion that it is the duty of the lower class to set moral standards for the upper classes. Issues of morality are also dealt with when Jack disagrees with Algernon on whether some few white lies are harmless in a relationship.

The play also addresses the significance of class stratification as far as such occasions as marriages are concerned in the Victorian society. Lady Bracknell does not only warn Algernon not to speak ill of the Society, she is also concerned with the cadre of that person that should marry her daughter. She seems to suggest that any class less than the upper class is unacceptable. To her, you may not be a member of the Society by association, but you can always be a qualified member if you meet certain conditions like financial superiority as she tried to get from Jack.

The author uses certain stylistic devices to pass across his central message. Sarcasm is one of them. The very title of the play is a sarcastic. Actually it is sarcastic that the author should talk of the importance of being earnest when those who succeed as in Jack and Algernon are not really earnest. Jack wins Gwendolens love first and foremost because he has personified himself as Earnest. And so the importance really lies in being Earnest rather than earnest.

The writer also uses motifs. Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the texts major themes (Sparknotes, 2010). Talking of repetition the word Bunbury appears most times as it illustrates the deceptive action of the two main characters Algernon and Jack.

Puns are also quite common in the play. When the author talks of Jack who is neither Earnest nor earnest only to be found to be both eventually, that is a clear illustration of a pun. The same applies to the joke by Lady Bracknell that Jacks origin was in a Railway terminus.  This according to Sparknotes is one of the complicated puns in the play.

The play is also full of inversions of thought, situations, and character (Sparkontes, 2010). For example it is a clear inversion of a common marriage clich when Algernon quips that divorces are made in heaven as opposed to marriages are made in heaven. Jacks regret that he has been leading an honest life without knowing is clearly an inversion of morality.

However, it is the women who clearly portray inverte roles, at least as far Victorian practices with gender roles are concerned. Lady Bracknell for example takes up her husbands role of interviewing Jack while the two young ladies, Gwendolen and Cecily take charge of their romantic lives rather than their parents. All along the men watch passively (Spark notes, 2010).