Aphorisms In 'The Importance Of Being Ernest'

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Sudat Khan European Literature pd. 7 Mrs. Huhn The Complexity of a Truth “The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility!” Throughout, The Importance of Being Ernest, Oscar Wilde uses aphorisms to convey truths about society. A good example of the above aphorism’s reference to society is in the form of “bunburying”. Algy suspects Jack of being a “Bunburyist”, someone who has a fake story to get out of certain situations. After some pressuring Jack says, “in order [for me] to get up to town I have always pretended to have a younger brother by the name of Ernest, who lives in the Albany, and gets into the most dreadful scrapes. That, my dear Algy, …show more content…

After denying this accusation of being a Bunburyist, Jack announces that he plans to kill off his imaginary brother and his suggestion that Algy do the same with Bunbury. Algy replies, “Nothing will induce me to part with Bunbury, and if you ever get married, which seems to me extremely problematic, you will be very glad to know Bunbury. A man who marries without knowing Bunbury has a very tedious time of it” [Act 1]. In one perspective, this exchange could merely be Wilde continuing to make fun of marriage, and treats the whole Victorian notion of “married bliss” with a kind of humor. However, it initiates the play’s darker subtext. What Wilde, through Algy’s little monologue, suggests is that all husbands in Victorian society lead double lives. Wilde hints that in Victorian society husbands have this double life that make their lives easier, and explaining the truth to their wives would be a lot harder than just making up a fake excuse. In Wilde’s perspective, Jack denying the fact that he is a Bunburyist is what distinguishes him from Algy in a purely moral sense. When, Jack is forced to confess that Ernest was fictional he makes a speech about the pain involved in being forced to speak the truth. Jack explains that once he gets married to Cecily, he won’t need this double life, but Algy disagrees. Jack’s whole story is a good

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