The Importance Of Being Earnest Identity Essay

In Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, Jack Worthing's mysterious past not only affects his personal life, but also his relationship with Gwendolen Fairfax. The protagonist had an unusual childhood, which is the basis of the events in the play. Jack was born into a respectable family that was not lacking in wealth. By an unfortunate event, he was misplaced in the most unlikely place. Not many can say that they are from a cloak room at the Victoria station. By a happy mistake, Jack wound up in the hands of Mr. Thomas Cardew. The wealthy gentleman adopted Jack and raised him like a son, even coming to entrust him with his daughter Cecily Cardew as his ward. At the present time in the play, Cecily is Jack's only known living family, and even that is by adoption. For a large percentage of the play, Jack's true origin is a unknown, one that influences the situations he finds

He seeks enlightenment, which would provide Jack with a foothold in the world. Jack doesn't know who he is at the most basic level. Jack reveals his internal sense of loss by stating, "the fact is Lady Bracknell, I said I had lost my parents. It would be nearer to the truth to say that my parents seem to have lost me." (Wilde 20). As a result of his lack of self, he creates new identities for himself. He uses this identity to live bachelor's life, and to get away from his usual responsibilities in the country. At a deeper level, Jack created this back-story for himself because he doesn't have one. "Ernest" is more than a cover-story, it is Jack's way of being a normal person, with a normal family and history. Finally, Jack's missing past is also what brings him into the Cardew estate, and have the money and status to assume his double life. The country estate he lives at would not be his without his adoption by Mr. Cardew. These factors lead up to the most central point of the plot, the parallel lives of Ernest and