In the comical play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, the author conveys a theme of the nonexistence of true love. Throughout his play, he uses two couples to illustrate his satire on his view of love by showing that they “love” each other dearly, to the point that they are engaged. One thing as small as a name is able to break these relationships. Both of the men in this illustration are incognito under the identity of “Earnest”. Both of the women see their name as a deal breaker in the relationship, which the author used as support in conveying his theme.
First, Wilde shows how “true love” fails the test of simple things like a name. A name should not be a deal-breaker for true love. He uses two key examples to illustrate how it fails: in Gwendolyn and Jack’s relationship and Cecily and Algernon’s relationship. Gwendolyn says “There is little music in the name of Jack, if any at all, indeed” (2230). This causes Jack to hesitate to come forth with the truth in the matter of his name and risk what he thinks is true love. Also, a much similar event occurs between Algernon and Cecily. Cecily seemed to have scared off Algernon with saying, “But I don’t like the name of Algernon” (2247). This causes both Jack and Algernon to lie in order to save the relationships. This is no way …show more content…
Gwendolyn was ready to commit to Ernest as a wife, but Lady Bracknell did not know of Ernest, and he was not on the list of men she had intended for Gwendolyn to marry. This is upsetting because it shows that parents cannot put true love together for their children and that it needs to be found by the one seeking it. Ernest had to go through a discerning process and was interviewed before seeing Gwendolyn again so Lady Bracknell could be sure that her daughter would marry into wealth and a good family name. True love should show no boundaries such as lack of
First, Wilde shows how “true love” fails the test of simple things like a name. A name should not be a deal-breaker for true love. He uses two key examples to illustrate how it fails: in Gwendolyn and Jack’s relationship and Cecily and Algernon’s relationship. Gwendolyn says “There is little music in the name of Jack, if any at all, indeed” (2230). This causes Jack to hesitate to come forth with the truth in the matter of his name and risk what he thinks is true love. Also, a much similar event occurs between Algernon and Cecily. Cecily seemed to have scared off Algernon with saying, “But I don’t like the name of Algernon” (2247). This causes both Jack and Algernon to lie in order to save the relationships. This is no way …show more content…
Gwendolyn was ready to commit to Ernest as a wife, but Lady Bracknell did not know of Ernest, and he was not on the list of men she had intended for Gwendolyn to marry. This is upsetting because it shows that parents cannot put true love together for their children and that it needs to be found by the one seeking it. Ernest had to go through a discerning process and was interviewed before seeing Gwendolyn again so Lady Bracknell could be sure that her daughter would marry into wealth and a good family name. True love should show no boundaries such as lack of