The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde, Discuss the play as a comedy: Part One
"Importance of Being Earnest" is a farcical comedy of the two protagonists that put on artificial personae just to escape certain social obligations as well as to engage into activities which are either immoral or are considered impossible with their current identities. This satirizes and puns the prevalent double standards of Victorian society regarding hypocrisy, morality, double lives, repute, marriage and "earnestness". Moving with clear irony and humor the climax exposes the double but innocent identities. All arising issues are resolved in a rather funny manner when both the men change their names to "Ernest". For Wilde "we should treat all trivial things in life very seriously, and all serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality". It means we must not take life too seriously. We must enjoy the trivial things and serious things be given importance without being dissolved by it. "One has to be serious about something" for "amusement in life" but not "serious about everything".
Though leading double life is a real bad thing, yet the author has presented it in a comic and trivial manner; however, the underlying message is very acute because the play is "a trivial comedy for serious people". There are dialogues, situations and conflicts which hint at the "earnestness" without letting us being dissolved by the seriousness of the message. All the tensions regarding two-faced lives are hinted at with harmless outcomes. Algernon's remarks are notable yet funny: "If you ever get married...you will be very glad to know Bunbury". Though Jack is adamant of his stance that "Cecily happens to be my aunt" while Algernon enjoys the statement and teases him by asking why she writes "with fondest love for her dear uncle Jack". He poses with clear irony and amusement that an aunt may be small or large but why an aunt should "call her own nephew her uncle". This forces Jack to admit "my name is Ernest in town and Jack in the country".
Wilde has created strong farcical figures and puns on the hypocritical attitude and mannerisms of Victorian society. The playwright has portrayed such characters which highlight the hypocritical behavior of the society they live in. The characters of Lady Bracknell and Jack are perfect examples of this. Both of them are proud of their character and social esteem. They are the persons much concerned about society. They seem to move with a veil over their actual identity. Lady Bracknell is proud of her status and refuses Jack of her daughter's hand. She also seems to refuse the marriage between her nephew and Cecily but when Jack reveals the estate of Cecily amount to " a hundred and thirty thousand pounds", she readily agrees to marry the two couples. Well, this is comic but this carries food for thought for Victorian society and its hypocrisy.
The playwright has carved out scenes of comedy even while discussing the grave concerns and social debate on marriage from different angles. Different characters give vent to the prevalent ideas and ideals of marriage and its relevance to one's status and characters. And in doing so, they are exposed and negate their own statement and wisdom. Lady Bracknell does not approve of love marriages. She believes "an engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant, as the case may be. It is hardly a matter that she could hardly be allowed to arrange for herself". But this makes us laugh when the ice melts over the inheritance money of Cecily and Lady Bracknell reverses all her stances. Algernon believes marriage is a non-serious thing, a stupidity. He says: "It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal". But he does exactly opposite after meeting Cecily in the disguise of Ernest.
