Satire In The Importance Of Being Earnest Essay

As one reads through Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, they can not help but struggle to understand what being earnest truly is. A handful of characters, different in nearly every which fashion, all have their own understanding of what being earnest is, and one concise definition is never formed. For Wilde, the definition of the word earnest is comprised of two differing ideas: the notion of false truth and the notion of false morality. Earnest, by definition, is “resulting from or showing sincere and intense conviction”, or in other words, relating to seriousness or sincerity. This is quite ironic, as throughout the play, with numerous varying perceptions of earnestness, the characters use the word “serious” when describing trivial matters, and vice versa. During the Victorian Era, people were expected to act with moral fortitude, but it was typical for the upper class to embody earnestness through seriousness, self-righteousness, smugness, pomposity, and sense of duty. The sharp contrast between the accepted idea of earnestness and its use by the aristocrats in The Importance of Being Earnest emphasizes Wilde’s satire of the Victorian era.

They attempt to win the hearts of two women who, conveniently, claim to only love men called Ernest. The pair struggle to keep up with their own stories and become tangled in a tale of deception, disguise and misadventure. The basic synopsis of the play already makes it clear that there will be a great deal of conflict that arises from dishonesty, a trait not associated with “earnest” people. Additionally, the comedic genre of the play indicates that the idea itself of “earnestness” will be examined, as earnestness implies