A long lasting comedy

A detailed Summary of A long lasting comedy

In today's world we are all exposed to comedy. We see comedy in a variety of ways. These ways include: movies, plays, situational comedies on television, and stand up comedians. However, there is something very different about the typical comedy today compared to the play "The Importance of Being Earnest" written by Oscar Wilde. The modern comedy usually uses characters that are funny or actors that are known to be great comedians. What I mean by this is that the characters are not usually serious or doing anything of the serious nature. In "The Importance of Being Earnest", Oscar Wilde uses paradox, pun, and paralleled irony to make characters that are in a serious type environment become comic.

Most commonly, when we think of a paradox, we think of a statement that is contradictory or "far fetched" but somehow is true. But in "The Importance of Being Earnest" it is somewhat different. For example, when Jack returns from London and is pretending to mourn the death of his brother he is confronted by Cecily with the news that his brother was there. Jack then states "What nonsense! I haven't got a brother."(Wilde 68) This statement was true, but only true to Jack because he had led everyone t

Irony is the element that Wilde uses to make everything so unbelievable that it is funny. Other than the obvious irony that Jack is really Earnest after all, the fact that there are so many parallels in the story is very ironic. One irony is that Jack's trips to London are like Algernon's Bunbury, but they both disapprove of each others doing. There is even a parallel in that Jack prevents Algernon from Cecily and Lady Bracknell prevents Jack from Gwendolen. The irony being that both will get their woman regardless because both women parallel in the fact that are competing for the name "Earnest". This would also leave you to believe that both Jack and Algernon will be "Earnest".

Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest. Ed. Henry Popkin. New York: Avon,

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 814
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous

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A long lasting comedy

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