Hamlet 'And The Importance Of Being Ernest'

Consequences of Appearance Versus Reality

All stories contain the same basic vital elements, such as plot, characters, and structure, but they would not have purpose if they did not have a theme. These messages allow individuals to reach beyond the basic entertainment of literature to seek a universal message that they can apply to their lives. In Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet and Wilde’s comedy The Importance of Being Earnest, revealing themes are expressed through their contrasting genres. Even though both of these works utilize the universal theme of appearance versus reality to display that individuals choose to not question what is before them, comedy does not demonstrate that this is a mistake, while tragedy exposes its negative consequences.

In The Importance of Being Earnest, characters frivolously accept the appearance of what is shown to them, but like many comedies it does not show the negative effects that it can bring. Gwendolen, one of the main characters in the comedy,

But they both have their own ways of being similar with each other in different ways. Although they are similar in the gradual nature of the character’s progression, comedy is obsessed with exploiting someone 's flaws for the other people in the novel, while tragedy can express the exploits of a character from his own thoughts. Both these books talk about different types of society in different times, in “The Importance of Being Ernest” it 's the Victorian era and people are being met with a certain standard at this time, how they get married, how they act, and how they dress themselves and in this book it does go through these topics a lot. In “Hamlet” more of these topics are fleshed out but in different ways. There is a higher standard in Hamlet. They are true royalty, Hamlet and his family are pure a royalty