Why Do We Love the Liar?: The Analysis of Algernon from The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
“A storyteller makes up things to help other people; a liar makes up things to help himself” (Wallace 89). This quotation accurately describes the character Algernon from the great play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. The play was written in 1895 and is the example of Comedy of Manners, the form, where author satirizes the manners and behavior of the society. In this story we see how Algernon and his friend Jack try to lie to the society by creating second identities, fall in love, and at the end decide to finish their silly games, because of strong feelings. Although, Algernon is not the protagonist of the play, his character
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Since the beginning of the play, we find him in the morning by playing the piano. Honestly, he is not really good, but he is sure that, “Anyone can play accurately – but I play with wonderful expression” (2). It reminds us ourselves in childhood, when we realize we do not know how to do something, we try to find any possible excuse. This unwillingness to accept failure is a strong quality of Algy’s character. Also his childlike behavior appears in all its glory when the business is connected to food. During the play we often notice his inexplicable passion for any kind of food. When Jack visits Algernon at his apartment and reaches for cucumber sandwiches, Algy says, “Please, don’t touch the cucumber sandwiches. They are ordered specially for Aunt Augusta [Takes on and eats it]”(4). This situation is the example of Algy’s irresponsibility and his childish play, “Why are there no cucumber sandwiches? I ordered them specially” (10). He tries to change a little offense into the joke. As a little child he wishes to fool adults, as he does with Lady Bracknell. Later in the play, at Jack’s country house, Jack and Algy argue over muffins. Algy says, “Jack, you are at the muffins again! I wish you wouldn’t. There are only two left. [Takes them.] I told you I was particularly fond of muffins” (47). It demonstrates us how Algernon is greedy in the relation to food. He reminds us again of a …show more content…
That is not a secret that static characters usually do not attract us. We do not want to see the same picture at the beginning and the end, because it makes us to ask ourselves question, “Why is this play interesting if people inside the story stay the same during the whole play?”. We love changes, and we want to see them in novels, our life, and society. We are strong because we do not want to be the same every day, and Algernon is a human, as we, who has his disadvantages. However, he fights with them. After the reading of The Importance of Being Earnest I wrote to my Russian teacher of literature, who organizes plays at school, and gave her advice to make this play on the scene. I am sure that such work will help students to reconsider their thoughts. Maybe inside the crowd will be someone similar to Algernon, who is blocked inside and this play may help him to find the right way to the freedom. The 21st century is full of scientific inventions, skeptical thoughts and ideas, which often go against feelings and it makes me sad. That is why I hope that this play can change the mind of our future generation. They will see a man, who changed himself because of wonderful, amazing and strong feeling –
Food is probably the most vivid icon of all the signs in this story. Its easy detection is likely because of how boldly Wilde uses it. In Act II, Algernon shows that he's in a controlling position while everyone thinks him to be Earnest by eating Jack's muffins. This is properly shown at the end of Act II when Jack says, "Algernon! I have already told you to go. I don't want you here. Why don't you go!" and Algernon replies, "I haven't quite finished my tea yet! and there is still one muffin left." ( 46 )
Algernon takes eating very seriously throughout ‘The importance of being earnest’. I believe this is done by the writer to not only show his character to be of comic type, but also to show his insecurities within the world he lives and his inability to function in a high society. In page 8 Algernon takes sandwiches that are intended for his guest, Lady Bracknell. In victorian times it would be greatly frowned upon to consume food that is laid out for your guests and Algernon is aware of his ungentlemanly actions. When his Aunt asks where the cucumber sandwiches are, Algernon pretends to be shocked by their absence ‘Good heavens! Lane! Why are their no cucumber sandwiches?’ This ability to lie with such impeccable composure suggests he is familiar with the act of covering up his food indulgences. Algernon is not only greedy but also selfish and does not like the idea of Jack eating bread and butter, an obvious act of hypocrisy however he is content with his beliefs. I believe this is done by Oscar Wilde to further enforce how out of touch Algernon is from his surroundings. We even see...
You, I see from your card, are my Uncle Jack’s brother, my cousin Earnest... (Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest) This dialogue between Algernon and Cecily is very important because Algernon is lying to her which will further the dispute in the next act. Lastly, the third act, along with act, uses situational irony. Throughout the play, Mr.Worthing claims to have a brother.
The Importance of Being Earnest Written, written in 1854, by Oscar Wilde, discusses many social matters occurring in the 19th century. Since The Importance of Being Earnest is a comedy, it “awakens thoughtful laughter” (George Meredith). This comedic play often awakens thoughtful laughter, or laughter that makes someone ponder more about important issues. One of many of the primary instances of this is created by the ideas of marriage and love is a social device during this era. The characters didn’t fall in love because there was a romantic spark or that they felt a love connection with one another, they fell in love because the people they loved had a specific name, history, physical characteristics or economic status.
In Oscar Wilde’s drama The Importance of Being Earnest, he uses light-hearted tones and humor to poke fun at British high society while handling the serious theme of truth and the true identity of who is really “Earnest.” Truth as theme is most significantly portrayed through the women characters, Gwendolen and Cecily but to present serious themes comically, Wilde portrays women to be the weaker sex of society, despite the seriousness of the subject—the identity of the men they want to marry.
Irony in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde The play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde is full of irony. Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, the protagonists in the play, get themselves into a complicated situation called Bunburyism (as Algernon refers to it). They pretend to be someone that they are not to escape their daily lives. They lie to the women they admire, and eventually the truth is revealed.
...erpreted as dark and significant to the period. The comedy Wilde achieves is at the expense of the characters who are seemingly intelligent adding to the ironic structure that much of the comedy is based on. Many of the comic elements of the play are shown through human reactions to Victorian repression and the effect it has on the men and women of the time. Love seems to be nonexistent within the finds of the fierce and brutal Aristocracy when so many of the qualities they value are not based on human qualities but that of the class’s social norms. Wildes Characters are at often times not subtle about their distaste in marriage and love, Algernon is no exception to this “In aried lie, three is company, two is none” showing that they all have distorted views on many of the social practices that make them morally sound, thus adding to the satire elements of the play.
The Importance of Being Earnest is regarded as one of the most successful plays written by Oscar Wilde, a great 19th century playwright. Oscar Wilde deals with something unique about his contemporary age in this drama. It addresses Victorian social issues, French theatre, farce, social drama and melodrama. All these factors influenced the structure of the play in a large scale. This play is basically a Victorian satirical drama showcasing the social, political, economic and religious structural changes that affected 18th century England. It was the time when British Empire had captured most part of the world including Oscar Wilde’s homeland, Ireland. The aristocrats of England had become dominant over the middle and poor class people and Wilde wrote plays with the motivation to encourage people to think against the English aristocracy and artificiality.
Throughout The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde plays around with the standard expectations along with the absence of compassion of a Victorian society in the 1890’s, he demonstrates this through several genres of comedy such as Melodrama, Comedy of Manners, Farce, dark humour and Irony, as well as portraying the themes, death and illness, in this play in a brilliance of unusual amount of references.
Molière’s play “Tartuffe and Oscar Wilde’s play “The Importance of Being Earnest” both demonstrate a comical portrait of hypocrisy. In “Tartuffe”, the main character Tartuffe is seen as a religious hypocrite who takes advantage of Orgon’s wealth and agrees to marry his daughter, Mariane against her wishes. In “The Importance of Being Earnest”, Jack and Algernon both lie about their identity to get the woman of their dreams. The authors use the concept of double personalities in the play to reveal the deceit and lies to represent the theme of hypocrisy. In fact, hypocrisy is not only displayed in the characters but in the play as a whole. Additionally, the plays are both hypocrital in ways that they do not follow the structure of comedy.
The pun on the word "Earnest" suggests two things; it stands for the name but also refers to honesty and integrity. It is also known as a `one joke' or a play on words. Though the name is spelt as "Ernest" the reader still recognizes the double meaning of the title. Two of the main characters, Jack and Algernon, strive to be "Ernest" and "Earnest" in the play, yet they both deceive others to escape lives which they grow tired of. They both hope to marry the girls that they love, yet they are starting the relationships base on false pretence and lies. It is ironic that they both call themselves "Ernest," a name that suggests honesty and sincerity, yet they both create stories to escape something or the other. Jack creates a brother called "Ernest" in the city that he uses as a `scape goat' to leave his prim and proper, respectable country life, whereas Algernon creates a friend by the name of "Bunbury" to escape his aunt's high class society parties. He shows his lack of interest in such social events when he tells Jack,
Two adolescent women who incorrectly consider the men’s names to be Ernest, and who are passionate about the men for this very reason think highly of both Jack and Algernon. In relating the story of mix-ups and mistaken identities, the ideals and manners of the Victorian society are satirized in a comedy where the characters "treat all the trivial things of life seriously and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality"(Wilde, Oscar). Oscar Wilde’s amusing scenes often take their source in societal satire and unconventional (Baselga 15). All the way through his play, The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde satirizes education, women, and morality.
At the end the farce turns to be an idyll of wish-fulfillment- Cecily wishes to be engaged to Earnest and it happens so, Jack declares that he is called Earnest and he is in fact, Algy pretends to be Jack's young brother and it comes true too. The characters' fantasies are brought to life at the end of the play. Their double life is not a hypocrisy. They mock the laws and the customs of the society in which they live. The characters challenge society's values, free themselves from their rigid norms and at the end of the play they manage to regain their balance and become earnest.
Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays. Ed. Richard Allen Cave. New York: Penguin, 2000.
Oscar Wilde’s, “The Importance of Being Earnest”, play carefully uses satire as a didactic tool to mask the underlying social commentary with the help of comedy through characters theme and dialogue. Wilde uses satire to ridicule class and wealth, marriage and the ignorance of the Victorian Age. Audiences are continually amused by Wilde’s use of linguistic and comic devices such as double entendre, puns, paradox and epigrams, especially in the case of social commentary and didactic lessons. Characters portrayed in the play such as Jack, Cecily, Algernon and Lady Bracknell, allow Wilde to express his opinions on the social problems during the Victorian Age.