Honesty In The Importance Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde

Honesty, lying, marriage and the real meaning of being Earnest all in one. Oscar Wilde, the author of The Importance of Being Earnest presents a strong argument of morality, honesty, and a range of higher social status in marriage through the uses of the significance of the name earnest, and contrasts throughout the play. Oscar Wilde was an Irish writer and a poet. In the late eighteen hundreds, Wilde moved to London, which meant he lived and wrote during the Victorian Era; this made him creditable for the audience. Wilde died November 30 1990, at the age of 46. The importance of Being Earnest was the last play that Wilde wrote before he died. The Victorian Era, the setting of the play, consequently has impacted the humorous play greatly.

For example Algernon catches Jack in a little white lie. Algernon says “ Yes, but this isn't your cigarette case. This cigarette case is a present from someone of the name of Cecily, and you didn't know any one of that name.” and Jack replies “Well, if you want to know Cecily happens to be my aunt.” (62). This was only the beginning of the lies that were being told throughout this play. Jack lies to cover up his double life because he really doesn't know anyone named “Cecily”. But what Jack didn’t know is what would come out of this little white lie. Algernon was persistent with questioning Jack until he broke and confessed. The most shocking thing was to think that Jack has no shame whats so ever about the lies that he has been telling Algernon for years. This is where morality comes into play, the principle of choosing right from wrong. Jack says “When one is placed in the position of guardian, one has to adopt a very high moral tone on all subjects. It’s one's duty to do so. and as a high moral tone can hardly be said to conduce very much to either one’s health one's happiness, in order to get up to town I have always pretended to have a younger brother of the name Earnest, who lives in the Albany, and get into the most dreadful scraps” (83) At this point Jack reveals the reasoning behind his deceit. He describes his life torn between duty and

This play mocks the people of the Victorian Age. Life was very conservative and sometimes people wanted a break from the strict lifestyles. Wilde uses the rhetorical appeal of ethos when he shares his thoughts of being Earnest. In this play, it is set up being Earnest is someone that has power and is noble, but in reality, it means to be generous and truthful. How the characters are in the play is the complete opposite of what Earnest really means. The name Earnest and an earnest personality should normally be linked, but in this play they are complete opposites. Logos was used in this play to mock the people of the Victorian Age. Life was very conservative and sometimes people wanted a break from the strict lifestyles. In the play the characters made up their own separate identities to escape the Victorian way of life. The reader will also see lgos when people think of what it really means to be nobel. It is logic that being earnest is to be sincere in one's actions, but Wilde sets it up in a different way to get his point of morality across. In the play the characters made up their own separate identities to escape the Victorian way of life. The only way to live is to live an earnest lifestyle. Earnest is defined as resulting from or showing sincere and intense conviction. For example of strict lifestyles in the play would be when Algernon said, “My dear fellow, the way you flirt with