The Double Life in the Importance of Being Earnest

A detailed Summary of The Double Life in the Importance of Being Earnest


The Double Life in The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest appears to be a conventional 19th century farce. False identities, prohibited engagements, domineering mothers, lost children are typical of almost every farce. However, this is only on the surface in Wilde's play. His parody works at two levels- on the one hand he ridicules the manners of the high society and on the other he satirises the human condition in general. The characters in The Importance of Being Earnest assume false identities in order to achieve their goals but do not interfere with the others' lives. The double life led by Algernon, Jack, and Cecily (through her diary) is simply another means by which they liberate themselves from the repressive norms of society. They have the freedom to create themselves and use their double identities to give themselves the opportunity to show opposite sides of their characters. They mock every custom of the society and challenge its values. This creates not only the comic effect of the play but also makes the audience think of the serious things of life.

Oscar Wilde begins with a joke in the title that is not only a piece of frivolity. It concerns the problem of recogni


The relationship between Algernon and Cecily undergoes an irony too. At the first meeting between them Algernon begs her not to think him wicked, and she replies:

This speech upsets even Algernon. It epitomises the central irony of the play because Algernon in his ambition to escape the hypocrisy of convention becomes a hypocrite himself by pretending to be somebody he is not in fact.

In comparison with their suitors Gwendolen and Cecily do not deceive society by the means of imposture. They try to escape in a world of fantasy. They adopt identities which suit a particular occasion. For example, they invent lovers who they want to marry to. Gwendolen explains her attitude to love and she is very firm about it:

In Wilde's world truth itself is of little importance. When Jack is charged with being named John, he declares:"I could deny it if I liked. I could deny anything if I liked."(49) And he is very confused and feels uneasy when he has to tell the truth:



Some common words found in the essay are:
Algernon Cecily, Gwendolen Cecily, Bunburying Bunburyist, Importance Earnest, Earnest Ah, Algernon Jack, Earnest Algy, Jack Cecily, Oscar Wilde, Importance Earnest53, importance earnest, double life, name earnest, oscar wilde, false identities, gwendolen cecily, serious serious, play algernon, hypocrisy convention, undergoes parody,

Approximate Word count = 1706
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels

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