Essay on Importance of Being Earnest | Essays for Class 7 PDF Download

Introduction

The importance of being earnest is a trivial comedy written by Oscar Wilde. It is a satire of victorian social hypocrisy. The play is genuinely wittiest production of the author. It is so fresh that even modern era society can relate to its trivialities. The concept of being morally right to yourself is more important than being immoral to the community.

Summary of the story

Jack Worthing is the play’s protagonist. From years he has been pretending to have an irresponsible brother named Ernest who leads a scandalous life.

• The story’s twist is his brother’s presence, which is just an alibi for himself to disappear for days and does as likes. Ernest is the name, Jack goes by the name Ernest in London and behaves the same way as he disapproves of his imaginary brother. The story further revolves around Jack’s friend Algernon and Gwendolen Fairfax, who is Jacks lover. Upon confrontation by his friend Algernon Jack decides to finish the character of Ernest forever. Fate had different plans for him.
• His proposal to his love met with a strange request that Gwendolen will marry only Ernest and nobody else. Algernon also falls in love with Cecily Cardew while pretending to be Ernest. Another act of the play shows the meeting between both the ladies who are in love with Ernest. In the play’s climax, they all realise the truth behind Ernest’s identity and that their lovers were ready to change their names to Ernest to win their lady’s love. Gwendolen aunt is not in favour of the match between Jack and Gwendolen.
• The mystery behind the birth of Jack comes to light. She clears the air about Jacks birth by telling everybody about taking Lady Bracknell‘s sister’s baby with her by mistake. Jack comes to know that he is a brother to an unprincipled younger one. His christened name was Earnest. A lie he told everyone was the truth of his life. Let us see the central theme of the story.

Main theme

The main idea in the whole story is marriage—a primary factor which keeps the plot running. All the actors in the play have a different notion for marriage. Algernon is not sure whether the marriage is business or pleasure. Lady Bracknell is very confident that marriage for a young girl should be to climb society’s ladder. In the end, Gwendon also has a cynical view about marriage, that someday Jack will change.

The other theme running throughout the story is morality and its constraints. Characters of the story have different viewpoints on the moral behaviour they have towards society.  Jack wanted to live the life of his fictitious brother “Earnest “ in the play. The play’s irony is the trickiest use of the word” Earnest “by the author in its right light. A sincere person cannot live immorally. But a person who is earnest can also depict boredom, self-righteousness and arrogance. The storyline is a mockery of the values of the victorian society.
Hypocrisy and inventiveness is a trait in all the characters of the story. Algernon and Jack bot of them create a character to deceive people. Most of the time, their lies do not hurt people but are for the deception of people. Algernon’s character reasonably resembles Wilde’s name in reality in terms of wit and even his fantasies in the story resemble an artist. For Wilde, the word earnest is shown under two lights a notion of false truth and another a notion of false morality.

Other literary devices

The lowest form of verbal wit is a pun is cleverly used in the title of the story.

“ The importance of being earnest”. The word earnest is a satire to the victorian society. The twisted end of the story makes the protagonist of the story realise that forces beyond his control have made him earnest in its real sense. A lie he was living became the truth. The hero is a complex symbol of victorian hypocrisy. The quote said by Lady Bracknell” whose origin was a Terminus” is also an intended pun on the source of Jack.
Inversions is another technique used in the storyline. The play uses inversion of thoughts, situations and character. As quoted by Algernon “Divorces are made in heaven”. The inversion to the famous saying on marriages. Jokes about death is a part of the entire story. Lady Bracknell mentions that her friend Lady Harbury looks twenty years younger since her husband’s death is another example of inversion.

Conclusion

This story is one of Oscar Wilde’s masterpieces, which is still relatable to the readers because of society’s moral. The central theme was indeed a satire to the victorian society, but it depicts the morals of people of our modern society.