The Importance of Being Earnest

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Recommended: An essay on 'Importance" on Oscar Wilde's Important of being earnest

Oscar Wilde, the writer of The Importance of Being Earnest, celebrated the Victorian Era society while criticizing it in his play. Through his play, he utilized the humorous literary techniques of pun, irony, and satire to comment on the impact of Victorian Era society left on the characters themselves. These comedic literary devices also help to show how the members of this society in the Victorian Era live by a set of unspoken rules that determine politeness, as well as proper etiquette to live by. Wilde uses a pun in the title of the work, as well as in the character personalities. Different types of irony appear in many scenes in the play, to flout the rules of society, as well as mock the intelligence of the upper-class characters, compared to the lower-class characters. Wilde satirizes the rules of the upper-class society of the Victorian Era through the dialogue of the characters. The time period in which these characters live, impacts their daily lives, and their personalities. As members of the upper class, it is important that they live by these rules for society. Even in the country, which for the cream of the society is associated with relaxation and leisure, the rules of society are followed though the characters really do not perform any laborious actions. “We live, as I hope you know, Mr. Worthington, in the age of ideals. (pg. 20)” Wilde insinuates that the society, in which the characters live, hold them to live to fill roles, which are gender appropriate. According to Felicia Appel, the women of the Victorian Era were raised and groomed to be the perfect wife to whatever husband chooses them. Gwendolen states “My ideal has always been to love someone of the name Ernest. (pg. 20)” Her idea of a happy life is to ... ... middle of paper ... ...he governess, to set an example for the upper class, when in reality; the lower class wants to learn from the upper-class to gain social status. Appearance, society, and class are everything to the people in this society as well as the characters in this play. Oscar Wilde critiqued the Victorian society of people through his play, as he satirized the rules of the Victorian society, utilized irony to isolate areas that showed the facade of politeness, and he created a pun about the human trait of earnestness and the name Earnest. He mirrored the society he lived in into his work, and used these literary techniques to comment on the aesthetic, as well as materialistic nature of this society. Although he used these humorous literary devices to write a comedy, he also analyzed the impact that the society has on different genders and the personalities of the characters.

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