1. A TRIVIAL COMEDY FOR SERIOUS PEOPLE.
Oscar Wilde’s masterpiece “The importance of being Earnest”, a trivial comedy for serious people, is produced in
1895. In this play, Wilde abandons sentimentality in favor of a plot.
The comedy deals with humorous events and the behavior of ordinary people, speaking the language of everyday life.
Its purpose is to amuse, therefore treatment of character often has touches of exaggeration and caricature. Oscar Wilde,
rather than focusing on the lower classes or social conditions, chooses to satirize the life of the English aristocracy, a
world with which he was personally familiar. His characters are typical Victorian snobs; they are often arrogant, formal,
and concerned with money. Wilde focuses on the easy life of the wealthy, none of whom seem to work at all.
He attacks Victorian morals and social possibilities, the hypocrisy of “good society”, money worship and mercenary
marriage.
Though The Importance of Being Earnest is a comedy, nevertheless it has many goals. It mocks at the aristocracy,
marriage, English manners and customs, women, men, love, religion and all sorts of other staples in modern society.
On the one hand, the aim of the comedy is to entertain. On the other hand, it shows us all the world of Victorian
England with its prejudice, hypocrisy and stupidity. That is the main reason why Oscar Wilde called his work “the trivial
comedy for serious people”.
2. FEMALE CHARACTERS OF THE PLAY.
Three women represent the main female characters of the play: Lady Bracknell, Gwendolen Fairfax, Cecily Cardew.
They are the typical representative of English aristocracy: snobbish, stubborn and hypocritical.
Gwendolen Fairfax - the daughter of Lady Bracknell. She is in love with Jack, but believes that she could not love
him if he were named anything other than Ernest. She is young and beautiful, but being brought up under the influence of
her mother, she is rather snobbish and impatient.
Cecily Cardew - Jack's niece and ward. She falls in love with Algernon when he visits her under the assumed name of
Ernest, and she tells him that she could never love a man named anything but Ernest as well. She has rich imagination and
keeps a diary where she puts down every event of her life.
To my mind, they are very similar to each other: they both judge a man by his physical appearance, both like the same
name and both have deeply entrenched prejudice.
The most vivid example of Victorian aristocracy is Lady Bracknell - the aunt of Algernon and the mother of
Gwendolen. A well-entrenched member of the English aristocracy, she forbids her daughter to marry Jack, whom she does
not think is suitable because of his origin. She has a tremendous influence on her daughter and seems to judge a man only
by his wealth.
The female characters of the play are presented ironically and the author vividly mocks at them.
3. MALE CHARACTERS OF THE PLAY.
Two men represent the main male characters of the play: Jack Worthing, Algernon Moncrieff.
Jack Worthing - the central figure of the play, he loves Lady Gwendolen and wishes to marry her but cannot secure
the approval of her mother, Lady Bracknell. When he is in the city, he goes by the name of Ernest; when he is in the
country, he goes by the name of Jack, which he believes is his real name. He is the legal guardian of Cecily Cardew, who
lives in the country and knows him only as Uncle Jack. Jack does not know his personal history; he was discovered as a
baby in a handbag in Victoria Station. At the end of the play, a search through the military periodicals of the time reveals
that Jack's name has, indeed, all along been Ernest. Overjoyed, Jack realizes that he has been telling the truth his whole
life even though he thought he was lying. At the end of the play, when he gets together with Gwendolen, he retorts that he
has only just discovered "the vital Importance of Being Earnest."
Algernon Moncrieff - he lives in the city and is a good friend of Jack's—though at the beginning of the play he thinks
that Jack's name is Ernest. Algernon lives in a nice flat in a prestigious part of London. He invents Bunbury a friend of his
who is constantly ill, to be able to go down the country, whenever he chooses. He is the nephew of Lady Bracknell. When
he learns that Jack has an attractive "niece" in the country, Algernon goes out to visit her and falls in love with her.
The male characters of the play are similar as well as the female. Jack and Algernon are both in the same situation:
their names are not Ernest and they both happen to love women who do not want to hear any other name. They are
presented ironically and they are both typical representative of English aristocracy.
4. THE INTRIGUE OF THE PLAY.
Oscar Wilde built the intrigue of the play around a pun. Running throughout the entire play is the double meaning
behind the word earnest, which functions both as a male name and as an adjective describing seriousness.
Two young girls, Gwendolen and Cecily happen to love the name Ernest more than the love two young men, Jack and
Algernon. The girls tell them that they could not love them if they were named anything other than Ernest. Finally, the two
men confess that they have lied about their names and that neither of them is named Ernest. They both decide to be
christened under the name of Earnest. At the end of the play, a search through the military periodicals of the time reveals
that Jack’s father's first name was Ernest, and because first sons are always named after the father, he realizes that his
name has, indeed, all along been Ernest. Overjoyed, Jack realizes that he has been telling the truth his whole life even
though he thought he was lying. In the end, he gets together with Gwendolen, Algernon gets together with Cecily, and
although Lady Bracknell accuses Jack of triviality, he retorts that he has only just discovered "the vital Importance of
Being Earnest.
Through this pun, Wilde attacks Victorian morals and social possibilities, the hypocrisy of “good society”, money
worship and mercenary marriages.