![]() ![]() Much of the action of the play turns on whether Jack Worthington's first name is Jack, or Ernest. Many of the characters in the play spend their time trying to convince each other, and themselves, that they are high-minded people with strong morals and are admired in society.īut Oscar Wilde presents them all in such a way that their interests and ethical ideas will seem ridiculous and trivial to most of the audience. ![]() Earnest - means serious or non-frivolous. In embodying a man who is initially neither “earnest” nor “Ernest,” and who, through forces beyond his control, subsequently becomes both “earnest” and “Ernest,” Jack is a walking, breathing paradox and a complex symbol of Victorian hypocrisy. She is, after all, quick to forgive Jack’s deception. Gwendolen wants to marry a man called Ernest, and she doesn’t care whether the man actually possesses the qualities that comprise earnestness. ![]() The earnest/Ernest joke strikes at the very heart of Victorian notions of respectability and duty. The title, -The Importance of Being Earnest,- insinuates the importance of being honest and truthful, while playing on the male name, Ernest. In The Importance of Being Earnest, the pun, widely considered to be the lowest form of verbal wit, is rarely just a play on words. Wilde uses puns throughout this play, but the major pun is found within the title. ![]()
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