... they live happily ever after. One major theme in The Importance of Being Earnest is the use of satire. Throughout the play, the word earnest serves a double meaning. It's used as a male name and also to be serious or honest. The characters lied to be earnest, but in fact, they weren't lying at all because in the end, they were earnest (honest). By not being earnest, the characters were going after what they wanted and were rewarded ... proposing. The use of epigrams seems to keep the flow of the play moving swiftly. I would recommend this play to readers who enjoy comedy. To get the ful...

• Word Count: 1981
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... not mastered the art of irony. Oscar Wilde's play The Importance of Being Earnest may be the biggest example of a comedy that has mastered irony. Irony blends the play between humor and social commentary amazingly. Almost every key idea in the play could be interpreted to be some form of irony. Wilde depicts his ironic tone mostly through his many obscure, yet thoughtful, characters. The characters in The Importance of Being Earnest truly define irony, and the irony in ... this play truly defines the characters. Primarily are the two main characters of the play, Jack and Algernon. Both ...

• Word Count: 1025
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... non-exist identities to cheat both themselves and others. Although everything happens accidently the same as they plan in the end, they learn that it is always important to be earnest. The whole play is full of great humor, and Wilde tries to express the importance of being earnest through different ways in the play. In this essay, I try to explore what different attitude each character ... holds and how it changes with plot development. The first two characters are Gwendolen and Cecily. In the beginning, their attitude towards marriage is ... fashionable lady. Now she lives with happi...

• Word Count: 1058
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... play The Importance of Being Earnest. Wilde's skillful writing pokes fun at the all-too-serious members of the elite British upper-class, and proves that to be earnest or Ernest, should not necessarily be a sought-after trait. It is through clever puns, an always-twisting plot, and light-hearted criticisms of Victorian aristocracy that Wilde achieves truly sharp humor that creates a whirlwind of laughter throughout his audience. The relationship between being earnest and being ... , and Algernon and Cecily find love, Lady Bracknell is still miserable and alone. Thus proving that earnestn...

• Word Count: 631
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

The great play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, can be described as a timeless play because many of its context can be related to today's world. People these days are not saints, they lie about things and make stupid excuses. They also make many stupid and selfish acts that they hope no one will notice. The three main themes associated with this play are selfishness, marriage, and ... saying "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine- comes in play here because when people do that, they often do not think about the long term consequences and how it can affect other people. Ove...

• Word Count: 1242
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest shows how the lives of the upper class people were boring, only being concerned with manners and customs, and so perfectly earnest that it was almost inhuman. It is being earnest that the play mainly focuses on,which is obvious from the title. Jack, in saying that his name is Earnest, is found to be telling the truth at the revelatory end of the story, and Algernon's lie of being Jack's brother is also found ... to be true when they find Jack's real parents Wilde adds a very sarcastic wit to his characters in his play . The most obvious humor is i...

• Word Count: 1139
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST The Importance Of Being Earnest written by Oscar Wilde is the type of book, which is very comical. This book takes place in London, a country house I Hertfordshire, and England; the 1890's. The book is mainly about two men dealing with their alter ego's. Jack Worthing a gentleman of the Manor House, he has an alter ego named Ernest. Algernon Moncrieff, Jack's friend, has an alter ego called Bunbury. Algernon tells everyone in town ... she read that are really good. She named a few then said "The Importance of Being Ernest", that rang a bell in my head. I didn't...

• Word Count: 628
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... Throughout Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest- various different literary devices are very effectively and skillfully used. Most of these literary devices create a sense of comedy in the book. One that especially puts a light hearted tone into the reading is the inverted logic, which almost every character is guilty of using at one time or another. Just when you think you know what a character is going to say, they react ... plays a huge role in creating the comedy in "The Importance of Being Ernest-. Another character that embraces inverted logic as though it was a way of l...

• Word Count: 1133
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... sincere and studied triviality." Oscar Wilde1 While it is possible to declare Oscar Wilde's play "The Importance of being Earnest" as pure nonsense with the only aim to entertain, a closer look reveals its sobriety. Oscar Wilde wrote a comedy of manners, mistaken identity and social conventions.2 The story is set in the English society of the 1890's, the society against whose aristocracy, artificiality and clinging to social standards this play is aimed at ... realizing that they are laughing at their own values and conventions. Words: 1557 Bibliography M. H. Abrams A Glossary of Litera...

• Word Count: 1589
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... eyelashes and making oneself wanted without seeming trampy or coquettish was the acceptable flirting technique of the early 1900's. This instillment of thought was put into the women's minds as young children, which grew and developed as the young lady matured and approached to the direction of marriage. In The Importance of Being Earnest, initially, Lady Bracknell is in control over Jack/Earnest and Gwendolen's relationship. In Gwendolen's opinion, her mother watches over her ... about and makes it more comprehensible. By understanding the resemblance's and divisions between the three ...

• Word Count: 783
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... one's political connections. Never before have so many people chosen to marry because of the ridiculous notion of love. In the Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde shows a surprisingly late 20th century view of marriage. Marriage, as the couples in the book would have it, should be based entirely on love. First one must understand what the social norm of the day was concerning marriage. This play premiered in 1895. Although it is true ... 's hand. This is hardly a romantic conception. Another view that Oscar Wilde takes in The Importance of Being Earnest is that the trappings or prac...

• Word Count: 1055
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School