36 Oscar Wilde : The Importance of Being Earnest

Dr. Ami Upadhyay

Learning outcomes:

The students will learn about the plot outline, characters, themes and other aspects of „The Importance of Being Earnest‟ by Oscar Wilde. Oscar Wilde is a celebrated playwright and literary genius. „The Importance of Being Earnest‟ was an artistic breakthrough for Wilde. It is a self-parody and deceivingly flippant observations on the dramatic genre in which Wilde had already a grand success. Wilde‟s genre of preference was the Victorian melodrama or „sentimental comedy‟. The students will grasp the basic essentials about Oscar Wilde and his famous. Multiple choice exercises will help them in assessing their knowledge and understanding of the work. Bibliography, list of websites and YouTube videos will help them in their in-depth study and further reading. Critical quotes and quotes from the book will also help them in understanding various literary aspects of the book.

Introduction:

The Importance of Being Earnest‟ is a comedy play by Oscar Wilde that was first performed in 1895. The play is often performed in Britain, especially by amateur dramatics groups, and is much loved for its clever humour and comic situations. It is a story of a young man, Jack Worthing who wants to marry the daughter of Lady Bracknell. But Lady Bracknell rejects him because he tells her that he does not know his parents as he was found in a handbag at Victoria Station.

„The Importance of Being Earnest‟ was an early attempt in Victorian melodrama. Little satire with glimpses of comedy of manners and little intellectual farce, „The Importance of Being Earnest‟ was the last and greatest of Wilde’s finished plays. „The Importance of Being Earnest‟ remains till date one of the greatest comedies in the English language. „The Importance of Being Earnest‟ is a sharp satire of the upper class Victorian society. In „The Importance of Being Earnest‟ Oscar Wilde is at his best engaging, charming and wooing the readers and audience with sharp wit.

Oscar Wilde – A Biographical Sketch:

Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1854 to upper middle-class parents. His father was a reputed surgeon and his mother was a poet and Irish Nationalist. Oscar Wilde was a brilliant student of classical literature at Trinity University where he won scholarship to Oxford. There he developed his ideas about art. Then he moved to London after university study where he worked as a journalist, lecturer and writer. Through his charm, wit and brilliant conversation, as well as his flamboyant dress and behavior, Wilde became a darling of Victorian high society in London.

He became one of the most successful playwrights of the stylish London upper class theater scene with a series of “society dramas” including „Lady Windermere‟s Fan‟ (1892), „A Woman of No Importance‟ (1893), and „An Ideal Husband‟ (1895). He was at the height of his success when „The Importance of Being Ernest‟ came out in 1895. In this brilliantly witty comedy, Wilde used the conventions of society drama to mock the very things society drama had developed to uphold: The morality and values of high society. Wilde‟s abrupt fall and imprisonment came when Queensbury who was a pugnacious, homophobic and powerful man and hated Wilde, publicly attacked Wilde for his homosexuality. Wilde sued Queensbury for defamation to try to protect himself. Wilde lost the suit and was then prosecuted and convicted for homosexuality under British anti-sodomy laws. Wilde was imprisoned for two years. This humiliation ended his career as a playwright and his public life in London. So he moved to Paris after his imprisonment and died there in 1900 at the age of 46.

Oscar Wilde‟s Major Works:

Prose

• The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)
• Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime (1891)
•  The Happy Prince and Other Tales
• A House of Pomegranates
• The Canterville Ghost
• The Sphinx Without A Secret
• The Model Millionaire

Plays

• Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892)
• Salome (1894)
• A Woman of No Importance (1893)
• An Ideal Husband (1895)
• The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)

Poems

•  “The Ballad of Reading Gaol” (1898)
• “Les Ballons”
• “Charmides”
• De Profundis
• “The Harlot’s House”
•  “Helas!”
• “Impression du Matin”
• “Pan — Double Villanelle”
• “The Sphinx”
• “Symphony In Yellow”

Criticism and essays

• The Decay of Lying (January 1889)
• The Soul of Man under Socialism

Oscar Wilde‟s Ideas about art: Art for Art‟s Sake:

The ideas of critic John Ruskin and Walter Pater influenced Oscar Wilde. Wilde believed in the superiority of art to nature or reality and in the imaginative power of art to cultivate an aesthetic transcendence in individuals. He believed art should strive to attain an ideal beauty and freedom, rather than being a mere mirror of life‟s dull realities and restrictions. He did not believe art should have a moral or social purpose. It was as opposed to other writers like Dickens and Fugard who see art as means of transforming not only the individual but society and politics. He said “art is quite useless” in terms of practical value but of great value in and of itself as a source of beauty, imagination and aesthetic pleasure. Many of Wilde‟s ideas about art can be seen playing out in hilarious and metaphorical ways in „The Importance of Being Earnest‟.

The Importance of Being Earnest– Plot Summary:

Jack and Algernon are wealthy gentlemen. Jack (known to Algernon as Ernest) lives a reputable life in the country setting an example for his young ward Cecily. Algernon lives a luxurious life in London. He shows to the world an imaginary invalid friend named Bunbury. He visits him in the country whenever an unpleasant social engagement presents itself. Jack also shows off a character – a wayward younger brother called Ernest. He uses him as pretext for going up to London and enjoying himself.

Now Jack wants to marry Algernon‟s cousin Gwendolen. But he must first convince her mother, Lady Bracknell. For a person like Jack who had been abandoned in a handbag at Victoria station, this is quite a tricky task. Algernon visits Jack‟s house in the country and introduces himself to Cecily as Ernest. He knows that Cecily is already trapped by tales of Ernest’s wickedness. Later He wins her over and they soon get engaged. Immediately after arrival at home, Jack announces Ernest‟s demise. This ignites a series of farcical events. Cecily and Gwendolen have a polite confrontation over the claim on „Ernest‟. Jack and Algernon contest to be christened Ernest. In the end, Jack finds out that his parents were Lady Bracknell‟s sister and brother-in-law. In fact, he is Algernon‟s elder brother named Ernest. Jack concedes that he now understands “the vital Importance of Being Earnest.” That paves way for the two pairs of lovers to get married.

Amidst all these events, the characters of Canon Chasuble and Cecily‟s governess, Miss Prism have also started loving. As it is the tradition of the well-made play, the story ends with all the loose ends tied up. Everyone sets to live happily ever after.

Major Characters of the Novel:

John (Jack/Ernest) Worthing, J.P. –

He is the protagonist of the play. He is a apparently responsible and respectable young man but leads a double life. In Hertfordshire, where he possesses a country estate, he is known as Jack while in London, he is known as Ernest. When he was a baby, he was discovered in a handbag in the cloakroom of Victoria Station by an old man who later adopted him and subsequently made Jack guardian to his granddaughter, Cecily Cardew. Jack is in love with his friend Algernon‟s cousin, Gwendolen Fairfax.

Jack is the character around which the plot of the play revolves. His is the role that the audience most identifies with. His character throws the light on the upper class society to which the characters represent. He is not fully a part of the privileged world due to his lineage in question. Yet he aspires to be the part of it. Jack demonstrates a more serious nature than Algernon. At the same time displays mannerisms and wit that make the play lively. Jack‟s mask of Earnest reveals the double standards of the Victorian society and values. However he is keen to throw away sham to attain happiness. His whole life had been built upon mistaken identity that again exposes the falseness of the society in which he lives. It‟s a society where one is judged by material birth rather than ability and character. His own pretence is seen in his willingness to deceive Gwendolen to achieve his desire. He feels Algernon unsuitable for his ward Cecily while Algernon is no different to him in actions.

Algernon Moncrieff –

He is secondary hero of the play. Algernon is a charming, idle, decorative bachelor. He is nephew of Lady Bracknell and cousin of Gwendolen Fairfax. He is the best friend of Jack Worthing whom he has known for years as Ernest. Algernon is brilliant, witty, selfish, immoral and makes delightful ironic and succinct pronouncements. He has created a fictional friend named „Bunbury‟ who is an invalid and his frequent sudden deterioration permits Algernon to get rid of unpleasant or dull social obligations. Character of Algernon allows Wilde to reveal his wit and cleverness in language. Like Jack, he also has created a made up a character to run away from the normality of his reserved Victorian life. While an audience may relate him to Jack, the audience enjoys his character the most due to his irreverent and funny nature. It is the character of Algernon who mocks the world of „The Importance of Being Earnest‟ more than any other. Algernon is sharp and manipulative. Yet he lives a suppressed life with his aunt. He is seen forever seeking approval of his aunt. Even when he is engaged to Cecily, there is an immaturity in him. He falls in love with the image of Cecily before even knowing her true nature. Here Wilde uses the character of Algernon to show the frivolity of the Victorian society. Algernon‟s character is rather marginalised by Act Three where he is converted into more of an observer of the disclosures involving Jack, Lady Bracknell and Miss Prism.

Gwendolen Fairfax –

Gwendolen is a cousin of Algernon and daughter Lady Bracknell. She is in love with Jack but knows him as Ernest. Gwendolen speaks with unassailable authority on matters of taste and morality. She is model and trendsetter of high fashion and society. She is sophisticated, intellectual and utterly pretentious. Gwendolen is obsessed with the name „Ernest‟. She says she will not marry a man without that name. In Act One, she is clever and intelligent though her focus is on the trivial. On one hand she agrees to her mother to obey and appear submissive, she returns to see Jack against her mother‟s wishes on the other hand. She confesses her love and manages to get the address of Jack to visit. She travels to the country on her own that shows the strength of her character and determination. Her wish to find out the truth about the engagement of Cecily also shows a sense of duty and determination. The scene between her and Cecily where on the surface politeness is shown but actually, it shows ill will and revenge. Yet it reveals a sharp intelligence in her wit. When she comes to know about the deceit by Jack and Algernon, she becomes closer to Cecily. She seems inconsistent in her readiness to forgive Jack. She immediately returns to her shallow love. Indirectly Wilde uses her character to comment on the shallow nature of Victorian society and morals.

Cecily Cardew –

Cecily is Jack‟s ward. She is the granddaughter of the old gentlemen who found and adopted Jack when Jack was a baby. Cecily is perhaps the most realistically drawn character of the play. Like Gwendolen, she is also obsessed with the name Ernest. But she is even more intrigued by the idea of wickedness. This idea has provoked her to fall in love with the brother of Jack- Ernest in her imagination. Cecily represents youth and beauty. Her immaturity is shown in the fantasy life she has portrayed in her diary. At the same time, there is a subtle maturity in her in when she uses the diary to a great effect to gain her own will. She has a real strength when she takes over the proposal of Algernon and dominates the situation. This echoes their future relations too. Wilde creates the characters where the women dominate the men. Perhaps it is a reflection not only of his view of society but the personal experience of his family life too. Cecily is clever and cunning with her exchanges with Gwendolen. At first sight Cecily seems to be submissive but she later controls and manipulates all those around her. She doesn‟t only arrange her own future marriage but she also sets off the matchmaking between Reverend Chasuble and Miss Prism. She is flirtatious and also manages to be alone with Algernon.

Lady Bracknell –

Lady Bracknell is snobby and dominant. She is Algernon‟s aunt and Gwendolen‟s mother. Lady Bracknell married well. Her chief goal in life is to see her daughter also do the same. She has enlisted “eligible young men”. She has also a prepared interview she gives to probable suitors of her daughter. Lady Bracknell makes hilarious pronouncements like her nephew. The humour in Lady Bracknell‟s speeches is unplanned. Through the character of Lady Bracknell, Oscar Wilde satirizes the hypocrisy and stupidity of the British upper class. She values ignorance and calls it “a delicate exotic fruit.” During a dinner party that she gives, she prefers her husband to eat downstairs with the servants. She is shrewd, narrow-minded and dictatorial. She is perhaps the most quotable character in the play.

Minor characters:

Miss Prism –

She is governess of Cecily. She is a great source of obscure pronouncements and clichés. She supports presumed respectability of Jack. But she severely criticizes his “unfortunate” brother. She is a Puritan. Miss Prism utters such things that go far over the top of all which inspires laughter. On one hand she is rigid but on the other hand she occasionally shows a softer side too. She even says that she tried writing a novel but the manuscript was “lost” or “abandoned.” She entertains romantic feelings for Dr. Chasuble also.

Rev. Canon Chasuble, D.D. –

Rev. Canon Chasuble is the rector on the estate of Jack. Both Jack and Algernon meet Dr. Chasuble and request that they should be named “Ernest.” Dr. Chasuble has secret romantic feelings for Miss Prism. The initials of „D.D.‟ after his name stand for “Doctor of Divinity.”

Lane –

Lane is a manservant of Algernon. In the opening of the play, Lane is the only person who knows about Algernon‟s practice of “Bunburying.” Lane appears only in Act I and later he is missing in the action.

Merriman –

Merriman is the butler at the Manor House that is Jack‟s estate in the country. Merriman appears only in Acts II and III. His role is limited and does not play any significant role in the action.

Themes in „The Importance of Being Earnest‟:

1. The Nature of Marriage

Marriage is quite important in „The Importance of Being Earnest‟. It works both as a primary force for the plot and as a topic for philosophical speculation and debate. The nature of marriage is discussed for the first time in the opening dialogue between Algernon and his butler, Lane. From then onwards, the subject never disappears for very long. Algernon and Jack dispute briefly discussing the nature of marriage. The point of discussion is – whether a marriage proposal is a matter of “business” or “pleasure”. Lady Bracknell too comments on the issue when she says, “an engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant, as the case may be.” Even the enlisted bachelors by Lady Bracknell and the prepared interview support a set of assumptions about the nature and purpose of marriage. These assumptions throw light on the conventional obsessions of the Victorian morality— social position, income, and character. The play has lot of such debates about the nature of marriage. Lane comments that he believes it to be “a very pleasant state”. Algernon considers Lane‟s views on marriage as “somewhat lax.” But his own views are constantly cynical until he meets and falls in love with Cecily. On the contrary, Jack‟s views are of a true romantic.

2. The restraints of Morality

Morality and the restraints it imposes on society are often discussed in the play „The Importance of Being Earnest‟. Algernon believes the servant class has an accountability to set a moral standard for the upper classes. Jack thinks reading a private cigarette case is “ungentlemanly” while Algernon believes “more than half of modern culture depends on what one shouldn‟t read”. These restraints and assumptions suggest a strict code of morals that existed in the Victorian society. Wilde is not much concerned with what is moral and immoral. He makes fun of the Victorian idea of morality. The very title of the play is a double-edged comment on the phenomenon. Jack, Gwendolen, Miss Prism, and Dr. Chasuble who put a premium on sobriety and honesty are hypocrite.

3. Hypocrisy vs. ingenuity

Algernon and Jack create analogous deceptions but they are not morally alike characters. Jack fabricates his brother, Ernest‟s death. He constructs the deception with costumes and props. He does his best to prove to the family, he is mourning. He is acting hypocritically. On the contrary, Algernon and Cecily fabricate stories that do not tell the truth in any serious way or try to change any body‟s perception of reality. In a way, Algernon and Cecily are characters that Wilde has portrayed reflecting his own beliefs. Because in a way, they invent life for themselves despite the fact that life is a work of art. In a way, Algernon seems the real hero of the play, not Jack. He also resembles Wilde to the extent that his fictions and inventions resemble those of an artist.

4.   The Importance of Not Being “Earnest”-

Earnestness involves seriousness or sincerity. It is the great opponent of morality in „The Importance of Being Earnest‟. Earnestness can be found in many forms. Boringness, gravity, snobbishness, complacency, arrogance, self-righteousness, and sense of duty are the characteristics of the Victorian character that Wilde saw. Whenever characters in the play use the word „serious’, it means “trivial,” and vice versa. The word earnest compriseS two different but related ideas according to Wilde. One is the concept of false truth and another is the concept of false morality. The morals of Victorian society like its conceit and pompousness drives Algernon and Jack to create fictitious character so that they can run away from the bondages of politeness and decency. Yet the idea of „decency‟ is subjective and it may be interpreted in various forms by the members of the society. One of the contradictions, play presents is the impossibility in reality being either earnest that means “serious” or “sincere” or „moral‟ while asserting to be so. The characters who adopt triviality and wickedness are the ones who may have the chance of attaining gravity and virtue.

Symbols in „The Importance of Being Earnest‟-

The Double Life

The double life is the central metaphor in the play. „Bunburying‟ meaning avoiding one‟s duties and responsibilities by claiming to see a fictitious person is the reflection of double life here. It is defined by Algernon in the play. Jack creates an image of his wayward brother Ernest which is a device for escaping social and moral responsibilities. Besides it allows Jack to appear far more moral and responsible than he actually is. In the same way, Algernon creates an image of his invalid friend Bunbury that allows Algernon to escape to the country. The practice of visiting the poor and the sick was an activity among the Victorian upper class that was considered a public duty. Jack‟s deception is far more serious as he tries to be what he is not and shows the profound degree of hypocrisy. Through these of double lives, Wilde points out at the general duplicity of the Victorian society.

Food

Scenes of eating food recur in „The Importance of Being Earnest‟ and they are constantly sources of conflict too. Act-1 presents the extended cucumber sandwich joke where Algernon eats all the sandwiches greedily without realizing it. In Act-2, Gwendolen and Cecily argue on who is really engaged to Ernest Worthing is portrayed. Gwendolen tells Cecily that sugar is “not fashionable any more” and “Cake is rarely seen at the best houses nowadays” because Cecily has just offered her sugar and cake. Cecily reacts by filling Gwendolen‟s tea with sugar and a plate with cake. In fact the jokes about food provide a kind of low comedy. On another level, food appears to be a stand-in for sex. When Jack places into the bread and butter with too much passion, Algernon accuses him of behaving as if he were already married to Gwendolen. Food and gluttony are symbols of other appetites and extravagance.

Fiction and Writing

Other recurrent symbols in the play are writing and the concept of fiction. In the beginning of the play, Algernon begins to suppose that life of Jack is at least partly a fiction. Bunbury is also a fiction. When Algernon utters in Act-1, “more than half of modern culture depends on what one shouldn‟t read,” he might be making an indirect reference to fiction. In Act-2, the symbol of fiction develops further. Cecily speaks of “three-volume novels”. Miss Prism tells her that she too once wrote a novel. In fact it suggests about her past life. Diary of Cecily is also a kind of fiction. She has noted down all her imaginary romantic experiences. Cecily and Gwendolen look for establishing their personal claims on Ernest Worthing. Each of them appeals to the diary in which she recorded the date of her engagement. Eventually fiction symbolises the notion of life as an art form. Some characters try to create a fictional life for themselves that becomes real to some extent.

Form, Structure and language in „The Importance of Being Earnest‟

Oscar Wilde is a witty writer. Wilde’s humor in „The Importance of Being Earnest‟ depends on creating absurd situations and characters. These characters lack insight that causes them to respond to these situations in absurd manner. For example, Lady Bracknell‟s obsession with her own parties and complete lack of sympathy for invalids makes her react to the news of the illness of Bunbury in a preposterous manner. She says, “I think it is high time that Mr. Bunbury made up his mind whether he was going to live or to die. This shilly-shallying with the question is absurd… I would be much obliged if you would ask Mr. Bunbury, from me, to be kind enough not to have a relapse on Saturday, for I rely on you to arrange my music for me.”

Most of us believe that death by illness is not a matter of choice and would take pity on the dying Bunbury. This overstatement gives the play its unique brand of Wildean comedy.

Wilde became famous for dialogue and his use of language in the play. His earlier plays suffered from an unevenness of the thematic clash between the trivial and the serious. „The Importance of Being Earnest‟ achieves a perfect style that allows these to dissolve. Despite portraying characters that were quite familiar with the society like the dandy lord, the woman with a past, the puritan young lady, Wilde‟s treatment is subtler than in his previous comedies.

A critic argues that Wilde made himself free by abandoning the melodrama. He based the story entirely on the Earnest/Ernest verbal conceit. The genre of „the Importance of Being Earnest‟ has been deeply debated. It has been put in a wide variety of genres, from parody to satire. Foster believes that the play builds a world where “real values are inverted, reason and unreason are interchanged”. Use of dialogue mocking the upper class of the Victorian England gives the play a satirical tone. Wilde uses original self created epigrams—concise, witty sayings. They are often general reflections on life. For example: “All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his.” Dialogues of the play are interesting and eye-catching. Wilde himself said, “the real charm of the play, if it is to have charm, must be in the dialogue”

Quotes from „The Importance of Being Earnest‟

1. Algernon: Yes; but this isn’t your cigarette case. This cigarette case is a present from some one of the name of Cecily, and you said you didn’t know any one of that name.
2. Algernon: Why is it that at a bachelor’s establishment the servants invariably drink the champagne? I ask merely for information. Lane: I attribute it to the superior quality of the wine, sir
3. Algernon: My dear fellow, the way you flirt with Gwendolen is perfectly disgraceful. It is almost as bad as the way Gwendolen flirts with you.
4. Algernon: Lane’s views on marriage seem somewhat lax. Really, if the lower orders don’t set us a good example, what on earth is the use of them?
5. Lady Bracknell: Pardon me, you are not engaged to any one. When you do become engaged to someone, I, or your father, should his health permit him, will inform you of the fact.
6. Gwendolen: For me you have always had an irresistible fascination. Even before I met you I was far from indifferent to you.
7. Algernon: I really don’t see anything romantic in proposing. It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal. Why, one may be accepted.

Summing up-

The Importance of Being Earnest‟ is a lovely unify of classical romantic comedy and hilarious social satire. Wilde gave the play the subtitle „A Trivial Comedy for Serious People‟. He described it as “exquisitely trivial, a delicate bubble of fancy, and it has a philosophy…. that we should treat all the trivial things of life seriously, and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality.” Audiences liked the play even despite the fact that it mocked the upper class to which that audience belonged to at that time. Early critics found it to be witty but without moral substance and value.

Reference

• Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest.Penguin Classics: London, 1995.
• Joseph Donohue and Ruth Berggren, eds, Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’: a Reconstructive Critical Edition of the Text of the First Production. Gerrards Cross, 1995.
• Ian Fletcher and John Stokes. ‘Oscar Wilde’ in Anglo-Irish Literature, A Review of Research, ed. R. J. Finneran .New York, 1976.
• Ian Small, Oscar Wilde Revalued. An Essay on New Materials and Methods of Research .Greensboro: N.C., 1993.
• Ellmann, Richard (ed). Critical Writings of Oscar Wilde. University of Chicago Press:Chicago, 1982.
• Freedman, Jonathan. Oscar Wilde: A Collection of Critical Essays. Prentice Hall: London, 1996.
• Beckson, Karl E (1970). Oscar Wilde: The Critical Heritage. London: Routledge.
• Beerbohm, Max (1970). Last Theatres 1904–1910. London: Rupert Hart-Davis.
• Bloom, Harold (2008). Oscar Wilde. Bloom’s Literary Criticism. New York: Infobase.
• Raby, Peter (1995). The Importance of Being Earnest—A Reader’s Companion. New York:Twayne.