Tiffany Shearer
Spring Critical Theory Essay
Deconstructing Itself?
There isn’t much need to deconstruct The Importance of Being Earnest because it does so
on its own. The play is based on people of an instable social structure who think that they are
perfectly structured. The Importance of Being Earnest not only tests the line between truth and
falsehood, but it also pokes fun at the Victorian era, showing its many flaws through the
contradictions portrayed by the “proper” characters. Cecily even states, “I hope you have not
been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being good all the time. That would be
hypocrisy” (Wilde 25). The statement within itself is hypocrisy. It also shows where they stand
on the subject of truth. By doing this, Wilde gets to the root of what really matters, which is
neither truth nor falsehood, nor proper or improper, but rather being who you are, not what
society makes you, which none of these characters seem to grasp.
Throughout the play, falsehood is deemed better than the truth. In fact, the truth is looked
down upon as an act that is unacceptable. For example, Jack did not know who he really was.
When he would go out and call himself Earnest as a fake name, he was really telling the truth
about his identity and didn’t even know it. Half the fun was knowing he was lying, so when he
found out he wasn’t lying after all, he was upset. A key example of this is at the end of the play
when jack finds out that he has really been telling the truth when he told everyone that his name
was Earnest. He said, “Gwendolen, it is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his
life he has been speaking nothing but the truth. Can you forgive me” (Wilde 43)? The truth is
something that he, and the rest of the characters find to be boring, but yet Cecily and Gwedolen
get mad at Jack and Algernon for lying to them about their names. Cecily states after she finds
out, “A gross deception has been practiced on both of us” (Wilde 45). While they are both mad at
Tiffany Shearer
Spring Critical Theory Essay
the men for lying to them, in a way the men weren’t lying because according to the MerriamWebster dictionary the word Earnest means to be in a serious and intent mental state and neither
of them fit that description. In fact, nothing about this play is serious. If anything, the characters
were serious about being anything but serious. The characters in the play wanted to appear
serious because that is what was accepted by society, but there was nothing fun in being serious.
That is why both Algernon and Jack came up with alter egos. They wanted to be able to let their
guard down without it having any effect on their reputation. For example Lady Bracknell says,
“Algernon is an extremely, I may almost say an ostentatiously, eligible young man. He has
nothing, but he looks everything. What more can one desire” (Wilde 38)? Right up front Lady
Bracknell tells us that she doesn’t mind that Algernon lies as long as he does a good job doing
so.
The Society that Wilde is portraying is one that puts form over function. While the whole
point of the double lives is to escape the serious society they live in, they really aren’t escaping
at all, but making another reality for themselves in which they also have to act serious. Both
worlds expect the same of them. And that is for them to act proper as any man of that social class
should. It is always going to be expected that they be serious. If they really wanted to escape this
social norm they should go to another social class. Then other people’s expectations of them
would not be as high. But in this play, Wilde switches this idea around because he makes it seem
as though the lower classes are the ones that should be keeping the upper classes in line because
the way the upper classes act is trivial. Algernon says, “Really, if the lower orders don’t set us a
good example, what on earth is the use of them? They seem, as a class, to have absolutely no
sense of moral responsibility” (Wilde 2). While the upper classes are expected to be serious, they
Tiffany Shearer
Spring Critical Theory Essay
never will be because all their problems are simple and of no real importance. While the lower
class is worrying about whether there will be food on the table, the upper class is bickering over
who gets to eat the cucumber sandwiches and when the proper time to eat them is. Wilde is
pointing out that there is no way for Jack and Algernon to escape their “serious” lives because
they are already the least serious. Cecily said “It would hardly have been a serious engagement if
it hadn’t been broken off at least once” (Wilde 37). Their idea of serious is distorted compared to
the norm just to show how trivial they really are. Algernon even says to Jack, “Well, one must be
serious about something, if one wants to have any amusement in life and I happen to be serious
about Bunburying. What on earth you are serious about I haven’t got the remotest idea. You have
such an absolutely trivial nature” (Wilde 46). Then he also goes on to say, “I hate people who are
not serious about meals. It is so shallow of them” (Wilde 9). This is all just a giant contradiction.
One great example of this is when Cecily says, “To be natural is such a very difficult pose to
keep up” (Wilde 51). Society has taught them that one must always act natural, but acting natural
must look a certain way, therefore they always keep up an act, which is not natural. Then, the
word natural takes up two separate meanings, just as it did with the word serious.
Furthermore, at the center of all presence there is absence. Everyone wants answers, but
answers just lead to more questions. The real problem with the truth is there is no truth. Truth is
generally perceived as good. But in The Importance of Being Earnest, truth is viewed as trivial
and way beneath them. Jack even states, “Gwendolen–Cecily–it is very painful for me to be
forced to speak the truth. It is the first time in my life that I have ever been reduced to such a
painful position, and I am really quite inexperienced in doing anything of the kind” (Wilde 63).
Tiffany Shearer
Spring Critical Theory Essay
The truth was to be associated with the lower class where the lies were associated with the upper
class. This was partially because the upper class could get away with it.
In addition, all the characters in the play act smart, but they really aren’t as intelligent as
they think. By trying so desperately to appear what they aren’t, they look even more ignorant.
Wilde wanted to show that just because they are of high social status does not mean that they are
automatically brilliant. For example when Cecily says, “Oh, don’t cough, Earnest. When one is
dictating one should speak fluently and not cough. Besides, I don’t know how to spell a cough”
(Wilde 35). Cecily is criticizing Algernon when she isn’t perfectly proper either. This all falls
into the category of lying for appearances, but even though they are trying to appear better they
end up looking worse. This would work if only their lies actually led to acting better. Algernon
says, “Man is least himself when he talks in his own person... Give him a mask and he'll tell you
the truth” (Wilde 7). But it still isn’t really the truth if you are hiding behind a different person.
Or does hiding behind someone else make one more themselves because they are free to say
whatever they choose? Algernon says, “The truth is rarely pure and never simple” (Wilde 7). He
thinks it is ok to tell the truth if one is hiding behind an alter ego, but not if one is being oneself.
Both ways involve lying whether it is about identity or the subject matter. Algernon and Jack
complain about not being able to act as they want, but they already do this every day. Even Jack
says, “I could deny it if I liked. I could deny anything if I liked” (Wilde 30). They hold no value
in the truth. In fact, they believe that whatever comes out of their mouth is true just because of
the fact that it is false. For example Gwendolen says, “I thought so. In fact, I am never wrong” (Wilde
8). The characters have this idea that the truth is irrelevant and since they are of high social class
they should always be right.
Tiffany Shearer
Spring Critical Theory Essay
Overall, the back and forth between truth and falsehood in The Importance of Being
Earnest is an ongoing example of how the play deconstructs itself. “Deconstructionist critics
believe that there are no truths, only rival interpretations” (Kennedy, 2049). Deconstruction
comes into play because how do you know who you are when you have always lived under the
constraints of society, never knowing what is better, a truth or a lie? Throughout all the lying, the
characters want to be viewed as serious because during the Victorian Era that is how society
expected them to be, but yet none of them were serious at all, which is what helped better explain
the word serious because it is everything that the characters weren’t. Deconstruction critics even
say, “Deconstruction discovered instability and indeterminacy everywhere, it seemed to support
the notion that social structures were contingent and social meanings malleable and fluid”
(Balkin 5). In fact, the contradictory characters and witty language help shape a better
understanding of deconstruction through example. For instance, “Deconstruction contains an
ethical imperative both to question our own beliefs and to understand the situation and views of
others” (Balkin 7). The Importance of Being Earnest is a play that deconstructs itself by
following the views of deconstruction critics. It makes one ponder all the possibilities and that is
exactly what deconstruction is for, to help one get a better understanding of a topic by looking at
every option.
Tiffany Shearer
Spring Critical Theory Essay
Works Cited
Balkin, Jack M. "Yale Law School | Redirect." Deconstruction (1996): n. pag. Web. 08 Apr.
2013. <http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/jbalkin/articles/deconessay.pdf>.
Literature, An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing, 11d, X. J. Kennedy and Dana
Gioia, © 2010.
Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest. New York: Dover Publications, 1990. Print.