Earnest: Double Life

Certain behaviors and certain attitudes that a person displays are not necessarily a reflection of that person’s personality. That person will behave in a particular way to fulfill what they call their social expectations. John ‘Jack’ Worthing lives a double life. He lives a life of deception. Jack, is what he calls himself in the countryside, while in town he is known as Earnest. While Earnst is actually his real name, he knew that he had been lying all along, until when he discovered that his father went by the same name. Wilde explains how double standard Earnst’s life and also shows how it is written out by his expectations and goals. The name ‘Earnest’ in the Victorian era of England, is known is very well known and a person bearing such a name was considered to be outstanding, and well mannered. From a psychological point of view, Earnest seeks to survive. As such a person who needs to survive, he …show more content…
which is the main reason why Jack had to change his name when he got in the city. He had to fit into the society and be accepted, especially among the upper-class society (Eltis, pg. 89). He was forced to smoke and do anything else that was required of him in order to make him look like one of the wealthy members, even though, sometimes he really didn’t want to. Without living such a deceiving life, it was almost impossible for him to get to Gwendolen. He would have been treated as an outsider or an outcast. Multiple class issues are still very common in society. In the Victorian era of England, the class issues were caused by the unequal distribution of resources. The lower-class members of the society always received low wages. They were put down and treated like slaves, while the wealthy people continued to find more and more resources, which is important in maintaining social status (Ellmann pg. 54). Wilde demonstrates that the problem of social economic differences has been a huge part