Satire In The Importance Of Being Earnest

Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” epitomizes the idiosyncrasy of the Victorian society through satire and wit. Throughout the play Wilde criticizes the common perception of the mid seventeenth through early eighteenth century culture, “Prudish, hypocritical, stuffy and narrow minded”. With his quintessential characters and intricate situations Wilde configures the perfect depiction of the carless irrationality of social life, the frivolity of the wealthy, the importance of money, and the lack of reverence for marriage often manifested by those in this era. Wilde also jabs at the Victorian convention to uphold the appearance of decency in order to hide the cruel, indignant and manipulative attitudes of the time. Through setting, characters, comedy, and a great deal of drama Oscar Wilde portrays his views on the elitist of his time.

On “The Importance Of Being Earnest”, Act II lines 1324 to 1446 the sources of humor of these passage are the satirization of the Victorian era norms, violations against common sense, mockery of love and delusion. All of these humorous source are provided by the extravagant author Oscar Wilde in the short passage of 122 lines.

Whenever Jack Worthing (Firth) wants to leave his boring country life behind, he travels to London pretending to be his fictitious ‘brother’ Earnest. In the city he falls in love with the beautiful Gwendolen (O’Connor). There are two things standing in the way of their true love: first there is Gwendolen's Mother (Dench), a matriarchal woman whom all potential suitors must pass. Secondly, Gwendolen believes that she could only ever love a man named Earnest: which is the name by which she knows Jack.

Foster, Richard. “Wilde as Parodist: A Second Look at The Importance of Being Earnest.” College English 18.1 (1956): 18-23.

Oscar Wilde ridiculed the institution of marriage. Throughout the play, The Importance of Being Earnest, there is a pessimistic view on marriage. In many lines, Wilde made a mockery of the most sacred tradition; marriage. The hypocritical custom and traditions were also mocked. Marriage is the plot’s main core, where the two young men desire to marry two young women, who in return desire to marry men named Ernest. Wilde poked fun at the aristocrats by using marriage for mainly two reasons. One it is a traditionally sacred ceremony, and two, he can emphasize the importance of wealth and status among the upper class. Marriages, among the aristocrats, were viewed as a financial contract.

In “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde, humor functions through the use of Characterization and the social satire of the Victorian period. Characterization is the method an author uses to reveal or describe characters and their various personalities. Satire is a literary tone used to ridicule or make fun of human vice or weakness, often with the intent of correcting, or changing, the subject of the satirical attack. These two comical devices are part of the nature of humor, which is the concept that a person’s flaws are funny. An example is if a person was to stand on stage and one was to point out their physical and physiological flaws in front of a big crowd. Of course everyone in the crowd would be laughing because that is the nature of humor. This is what the whole play, “The Importance of Being Earnest” is based around. The play also works perfectly on how it is setup in the beginning and brought through to become a very funny play in the end.

Oscar Wilde’s most famous Comedy of Manners, The Importance of Being Earnest, is farcical whilst also being critical of Victorian society. Wilde invites us to find meaning in the play even in the title with the word “importance”; in this nonsensical world Wilde has created, what really is important? Is our reality really so far from the version Wilde has devised dramatic physicalities Wilde gives many characters provide lighthearted humour but is it fair to say Wilde’s “masterpiece” has no substance or moral point?

Satire in Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest "The Importance of Being Earnest" is a play by Oscar Wilde, set in the late 1800's. His actors are playing upper class citizens who are very self-absorbed. The play is set amongst upper class, wealthy people. They appear not to work and are concerned with their own pleasure. Nothing is taken seriously except trivial things.

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.

In ‘The Important of Being Earnest’, Oscar Wilde's ridiculing representation of Victorian Society comments on the ridiculous behavior of the Victorian Society’s inability to recognise the difference between important and unimportant issues. Therefore, Oscar Wilde subverts Victorian values to mock and imply triviality and superficiality. Wilde forces the audience to rethink the importance of their life and how they act while also scrutinizing the ignorance of the characters in upper class society through mocking their morals and obsessive fascinations. Wilde's uses the inversion of what isn’t serious and what is to ridicule Victorian Society. Despite this, Wilde wanted to create something beautiful and superficial. Hence, it would be more accurate to say everything in the play is presented as superficial so perhaps there isn’t a message that needs to be taken seriously.