The Importance of Being Ernest

Analysis

Oscar Wilde's play, The Importance of Being Earnest, is a work that has many trivial ideas that out way the important ones. The author does a very good job at describing the way he views certain groups of society through his characters. One main character, Lady Bracknell, is the perfect description of people who believe they are the symbol of importance in society. She believes that everything she says is proper and everyone must listen to her. The main characters in this play all believe that they are perfect in every way when really they are far from it.

There are many accounts in the play where a situation occurs that should not be taken lightly and yet the characters just brush it off as if there is nothing wrong. When both Cecily and Gwendolen find out the men they are about to marry have been lying to them and have told them fake identities, they simply fight over dessert. How could you push aside something as severe as being lied to by your fiance and focus on being served cake instead of bread and butter. You would think that people who believe they are of such high standards and proper would take things more seriously and not so lightly. At another time in the play Jack and Algernon have a very long talk on the proper way to eat a muffin when in reality they should have been concerned with losing their fiances. Again a very large situation occurs and the characters focus on small trivial things that do nothing for the situation they are faced with.

Appearance can only take you so far in many if not all societies. These characters are of high status and believe to be following proper Victorian etiquette but really they are making fools out of themselves. Their ideas are complete nonsense and they focus on the small non important aspects of life. You would think that people of this type of society would have a large amount of intelligence, but that is only what appears on the outside. This play, The Importance of Being Earnest, is a perfect example of how looks do not mean everything and intelligence should not be classified by the society you live in.

Quote:
"To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness" (14).

I think this quote shows just how intelligent Lady Bracknell really is. How do you make a comment such as this and expected to be taken seriously? You can not control the death of a parent and should not be judged because of it. It is such non sense that Lady Bracknell would look down upon Jack because he has no parents. That just proved how Lady Bracknell is only concerned with the social status of someone and nothing else. This character is the main example of how people in some societies judge others for the wrong reasons, and are only concerned with what they see and know on the outside rather then the inside.

Opinion
Over all I thought this play taught such a good lesson. It does not matter where you are from and how much money you have, that does not make you the top notch perfect person in life. There are so many flaws in people that others overlook just because they live in a rich place or have the money to spend. This play showed just how not everyone is perfect. The characters that were involved with this play focused so much on the proper ways to live life that they barely cared about the things that really mattered. I found it amazing that when you find out your fiance has completely lied to you, you can focus on dessert and not the secrets you were just told. How is that the right thing you should be doing? This play points out so many things that happen everyday that people over look and focus on the unimportant things instead.

I really liked this book and thought it taught a wonderful lesson and in a very funny way. The author was able to poke fun at these people and make it seem funny, and at the same time send out a very important message.