In The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde describes the satire of Victorian attitudes about marriage. Lady Bracknell, a foremost symbol of Victorian society, wants to marry her daughter Gwendolen to a good family with a respectable and noble pedigree. Jack Worthing, the protagonist, wants to marry Gwendolen, the love of his life. The Cross- examination of Jack by Lady Bracknell depicts some of the foibles and hypocrisies of late Victorian society, in which the relationships were not based on love but on the wealth one possess or the social status and the family one belongs to. Set in England, during the late Victorian era, the play's humor derives from its character's maintenance of fictitious identities to escape unwelcome social obligations.
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Jack often visits town, where he is known as Earnest, does not to follow social obligations; rather he can freely live his life. As Jack says," When one is in the town, one amuses himself and when one is in the country one amuses other people" (Wilde, 439). Jack Worthing, a rich and refined young man, lives in the country but when he visits town, he changes his name to Ernest. Algernon achieves similar results by inventing an invalid name, Bunbury, who constantly requires his attentions. An attempt to live socially and satisfy their personal needs, forces Algernon and Jack to live double lives. Jack leads a very tedious life in the country working as a magistrate and taking care of Cecily, Jack's ward, the granddaughter of the old gentlemen who found and adopted Jack when he was a baby. Jack lives his dual life as Ernest in the town to get rid of his social responsibilities, to live his personal life, and to marry the love of his life, Gwendolen. Algernon also lives a dual life as Bunbury, to escape from attending boring dinner parties and to get rid of his narrow social ties. Both Jack and Algernon has to follow social obligations of Victorian Society, which does not value honesty, responsibility or compassion but only money and aristocracy. To live his life completely and to find the love in his life, Jack acts as Ernest in the town …show more content…
Cecily states the theme of double life when she meets Algernon pretended as Ernest and tells him,” I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time. That would be hypocrisy” (Wilde 491). Similarly, Cecily adores the name, Ernest like Gwendolen. Her curiosity makes her fall in love with him in her imagination. She in herself lives a life with Ernest writing about him in her diary thinking about him all the time. Since she neglects freedom like the men to come and go as she pleases, she becomes satisfied with the fictitious identity that she creates in her mind. She becomes excited and curious to see Ernest in her home. Cecily’s double life becomes apparent in Act II, when Algernon comes to Cecily in the garden and asks her to marry him. However, when she learns from Gwendolen that her fiancé is also Ernest Worthing, Cecily and Gwendolen point out that they have been deceived. Thus, Jack becomes forced to admit that he has no brother and that Ernest remains complete fiction, which resolved their confusion regarding dual settings with the name Ernest. “It is very painful for me to be forced to speak the truth. It is the first time in my life that I have ever been reduced to such a painful position, and I am really quite inexperienced in doing anything of the kind. However, I will
Jack often visits town, where he is known as Earnest, does not to follow social obligations; rather he can freely live his life. As Jack says," When one is in the town, one amuses himself and when one is in the country one amuses other people" (Wilde, 439). Jack Worthing, a rich and refined young man, lives in the country but when he visits town, he changes his name to Ernest. Algernon achieves similar results by inventing an invalid name, Bunbury, who constantly requires his attentions. An attempt to live socially and satisfy their personal needs, forces Algernon and Jack to live double lives. Jack leads a very tedious life in the country working as a magistrate and taking care of Cecily, Jack's ward, the granddaughter of the old gentlemen who found and adopted Jack when he was a baby. Jack lives his dual life as Ernest in the town to get rid of his social responsibilities, to live his personal life, and to marry the love of his life, Gwendolen. Algernon also lives a dual life as Bunbury, to escape from attending boring dinner parties and to get rid of his narrow social ties. Both Jack and Algernon has to follow social obligations of Victorian Society, which does not value honesty, responsibility or compassion but only money and aristocracy. To live his life completely and to find the love in his life, Jack acts as Ernest in the town …show more content…
Cecily states the theme of double life when she meets Algernon pretended as Ernest and tells him,” I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time. That would be hypocrisy” (Wilde 491). Similarly, Cecily adores the name, Ernest like Gwendolen. Her curiosity makes her fall in love with him in her imagination. She in herself lives a life with Ernest writing about him in her diary thinking about him all the time. Since she neglects freedom like the men to come and go as she pleases, she becomes satisfied with the fictitious identity that she creates in her mind. She becomes excited and curious to see Ernest in her home. Cecily’s double life becomes apparent in Act II, when Algernon comes to Cecily in the garden and asks her to marry him. However, when she learns from Gwendolen that her fiancé is also Ernest Worthing, Cecily and Gwendolen point out that they have been deceived. Thus, Jack becomes forced to admit that he has no brother and that Ernest remains complete fiction, which resolved their confusion regarding dual settings with the name Ernest. “It is very painful for me to be forced to speak the truth. It is the first time in my life that I have ever been reduced to such a painful position, and I am really quite inexperienced in doing anything of the kind. However, I will