Passage Analysis: The Importance Of Being Earnest Essay

Oscar Wildes purpose in writing this passage of the play The Importance of Being Earnest is to reveal the idiocy of the emphasis on appearance and rank in Victorian society, which in the case of this passage has led to a fabrication of identity in order to further the characters interests and allow them to do what they want. Wilde is stating the importance of being true to yourself and to other people, because a lie meant to impress others or to get ahead in society is unsustainable.

As illustrated by Oscar Wilde, there is a difference between being funny and being witty. Someone who is witty is intelligently clever, whereas someone who is funny is amusing or comical. Wilde uses his wit in order to expose the hypocrisy and artificial nature of his social environment. This is conveyed through Jack and Algernons bunburying, which has negative consequences due to the encounter between them and their female counterparts.

Literary devices such as tone, inversion, and parallelism are used to communicate the theme of the passage. The tone of the passage expresses Wildes attitude toward what he is depicting. For example, social interaction in Victorian England was very formal and serious. However, Wilde viewed social interaction as amusing and at times ridiculous due to its emphasis on insignificant or untrue factors. Similarly, the tone of the passage appears to be serious due to the severity of Jack and Algernons elaborate lies, but this seriousness is actually being mocked by the author through Cecily and Gwendolyns reactions. In the first half of the passage, Gwendolyn and Cecilys fears of being engaged to the same person are easily allayed by Jack and Algernons simple inquiry as to how such an idea entered their pretty little head. As previously stated, a very serious matter which Cecily and Gwendolyn had been fighting over is approached in a trivial, carefree way. The two-faced, shallow nature of society is further revealed and commented on when the problem between Cecily and Gwendolyn is falsely presented as having been solved. Toward the end of the passage, each of the girls refers to each other as sweet and wronged and immediately forgets the matter of their disagreement upon discovering that neither man is named Earnest. Wilde is communicating to the audience the ridiculousness of posing as someone you are not and the negative consequences it can have. In addition, he is exposing the false nature of society, displayed by tendencies of people to make friends and create alternate identities for the sole purpose of self-benefit. Through his personal experience with societys rules, Wilde is able to make the claim that people are driven to extremes in order to adhere to them.

Inversion in the play allows the characters to state that which is both true and would not normally be acceptable conversation in a social setting. It also contributes to the motifs of disguise and dishonesty, and communicates Wildes message. Relationships and interactions which are based on lies are exemplified by Jacks statement: it is very painful for me to speak the truth. Jack goes on to say that telling the truth would reduce him to an embarrassing position. Normally, one would expect a character to state that the act of lying is difficult. However, Wilde reversed the concepts of truth and falsehood in order to emphasize the ordinariness of dishonesty and call attention to an undesirable social norm that has disastrous potential. Another example of inversion occurs later in the passage. Algernon is describing Jacks serious approach to everything, but then goes on to state that he has an absolutely trivial nature. This inversion ties into the subtitle given to the play: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People. Wilde no doubt viewed the rules of society and peoples actions as trivial, but members of the elite class acted in a serious and formal manner. Algernon represents the upper class (through his excessive consumption of cucumber sandwiches) who has mistaken triviality for seriousness. They are so narrow-minded and arrogant that they believe they are acting in a serious manner. Those who are victimized by such behavior, like Wilde, are able to see past it and recognize its idiocy.

Parallelism in Wildes The Importance of Being Earnest accentuates the fact that Jacks actions mirror Algernons and underscores the hypocrisy created by their disagreements. For example, in the beginning of the passage, when Cecily and Gwendolyn discover that they are not engaged to the same person, they each approach their fiances, asking the same question and reacting in the same way. Similarly, Jack and Algernon give the same replies and explain their predicament in a parallel structure. This sets the stage for hypocrisy on Jacks part later in the passage, when he suggests that bunburying is a horrible thing that Algernon ought not to have done. Here, Wilde is asserting that people create and enforce the rules of society that they themselves are guilty of. Parallelism best facilitates this point of view because it visually displays the guilt of both parties involved, while also calling attention to an accusation of immorality. Parallel structure throughout the passage serves to create a common ground between Cecily, Gwendolyn, Jack, and Algernon by emphasizing the similarity of their situations.

The wit of Oscar Wilde is expressed in the passage through the use of tone, inversion, and parallelism in order to disguise what he says as triviality rather than a degradation of his audience. His characters take themselves all too seriously, say things that no one says but everyone thinks, and represent the ugly truth of what society, in his opinion, has been reduced to. Wildes purpose is not to make people laugh, though an ignorant audience may have. Every joke and phrase with comical nature is juxtaposed with the seriousness of the social scene, but represents it more accurately than some would like to think. The ability of the characters to say what they mean and do as they please reflects Wildes inability to do so. He can attest from personal experience to the fact that the ill-conceived notions that dictate your society may simultaneously create and punish a liar.