Bunburying In The Importance Of Being Earnest Essay

The play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde was one of Wilde’s bestselling plays. Oscar Wilde’s play is about a group of upper class friends named Algernon and Jack who imitate a made up character named “Earnest”. Throughout the play, not only does Wilde include many examples of irony, but he also criticizes the upper class. In The Importance of Being Earnest Wilde exposes the lack of responsibility in the upper class through the use of bunburying and petty arguments about unnecessary goods. In The Importance of Being Earnest Wilde uses bunburying as one of the main examples of how the upper class escaped their responsibilities. Bunburrying is the act of Bunbury is a character that Algernon creates that helps him escape his responsibilities. “I have invented an invaluable permanent invalid called Bunbury, in order that I may be able to go down into the country whenever I choose (Wilde 16).” …show more content…
“It is a great bore, and, I need hardly say, a terrible disappointment to me, but the fact is I have just had a telegram to say that my poor friend Bunbury is very ill again.” (23) Even though Lady Bracknell seems to call Algernon out on his friend Bunbury, he (Algernon) still sticks to his story, explaining that if his friend is healthy, he would review the “programme” he had created for an event that Lady Bracknell was hosting. Bunburrying was a method used mostly by the character Algernon, but another character like Jack would use the idea of Bunbury. For an example, Jack had made up his younger brother, Earnest, escape his responsibilities. ”When one is placed in the position of guardian, one has to adopt a very high moral tone on all subjects. It's one's duty to do so. And