The Importance of Being Earnest is a play written by Oscar Wilde and published in 1895 for the first time. This is the story of two friends, each of whom uses a fake personality to be able to pursue a life that they cannot live under their real names. The main protagonist of the play is Jack Worthing, who pretends to be ‘Ernest’ in order to marry his beloved Gwendolen Fairfax and exist more frivolously. At the same time, his friend – Algernon Moncrieff, uses that name as well while building a romantic relationship with Cecily Cardew. At the end of the story, the deception of both gentlemen is uncovered; they embrace their true personalities and live their life happily. At least, this is what lies on the surface since, in reality, the final of this play may not be a classical happy ending at all. In this play, the author obviously mocks Victorian society with its puritanical, closed-minded, and sometimes even nonsensical traditions. According to the analyzed sources and the original play, Oscar Wilde shows that the set of rules defined by Victorian society was hypocritical, absurd, and suppressed one’s identity, making him correspond to societal standards.
One of the thoughts displayed by the author in the play is that one’s authentic way of life leads to the cognition of his identity; however, people are not able to act how they want. A good depiction of a person striving to reach his true inner self is Algernon Moncrieff – the second protagonist of the play. In his article, Ibrahim Khalil states that in Algernon’s opinion, obtaining his true personality cannot be perceived as a ‘good’ or ‘evil’ deed (256). Thus, Oscar Wilde depicts the character as one who sees the world in shades of gray. “The truth is rarely pure and never simple” – that is what he says, contrary to Jack’s belief (Wilde 13). These words can be interpreted as a statement that no real personality can consist only of positive or negative traits, an opinion that was not so widely accepted in the Victorian era. Khalil also states that although Algernon uses a fake name to “execute his desires and wishes,” he does it for his pleasure (257). Thus, the ability to act and think freely, without regard to conservative traditions, is critical for better knowledge of the true inner self.
The traditions themselves were often authoritarian, meaningless, and cruel; the aristocracy of Victorian society rarely perceived someone as equal and obsessed with moral purity and material goods. Junaid Shabir stresses that instead of assessing a person according to his personality, people make their judgment based on a person’s outfit, social status, or “manners” (81). Thus, they implemented quite a superficial method to assess others. Another good example, portrayed by Wilde, is the fact that Gwendolen only wants to marry a man whose name is Ernest because it “thrills” and “produces vibrations” instead of appreciating a man’s personality (21). This is the author’s way of mocking such a primitive approach to identity. Oscar Wilde shows the passive-aggressive conversation between two women: “I like you already more than I can say. My first impressions of people are never wrong,” – says Gwendolen to Cecily (77). The women’s conversation uncovers another aspect, which was present among all echelons of society during this era – hypocrisy and lack of one’s ability to speak their mind freely. Therefore, strict and meaningless social norms of the Victorian era forced people to pretend to be someone else to avoid criticism and to be accepted.
The mentioned aspects of Victorian society led to the decay of one’s personality; the plot of the play shows how these standards distorted one’s perception of the inner self. As Ibrahim Khalil stresses, at the beginning of the story, Jack Worthing regards the name ‘Ernest’ as not fitting (Khalil 258). However, at the end of the play, when he finds out that his real name is Ernest, he says, “It is Ernest after all. I mean it naturally is Ernest” (Wilde 76). The circumstances, which he had to deal with, and the set of rules of his contemporaries’ society, made him redefine his true inner self. Moreover, Khalil says that the fact that at the end of the story, Jack stays with a woman, who loves him primarily because of his name, makes this ending not as happy as it seems (260). Jack accepted the things he firstly rejected since this was the path of least resistance; the pressure of society was too heavy, and the young man’s worldview was replaced with an opposite one.
Although both Algernon and Jack were on their way to obtaining their authentic personality, the young men failed. The strict set of rules of Victorian society left them barely any chance to sustain their worldviews, which were crucial factors in forming their own identity. All their attempts to live life the way they wanted were hidden under fake names and fake personalities because the young men were afraid of public condemnation and criticism. On the other hand, society itself consisted of hypocrisy and emotionless behavior, mostly defined by etiquette. The people preferred to ignore something they considered unsettling or unpleasant. Instead, they would find a reasonable explanation for the situation or draw a different picture in their heads. Even the main protagonist preferred to believe that the name Ernest manifested his identity than to accept the fact that the woman he admires loves him because of his charming name. Superficial judgments and hidden contempt, unfortunately, played a major role in forming the societal worldview during the Victorian era. As a result, many people acted against their will or convictions since they wanted to remain in the system with an unharmed reputation, which negatively affected their personalities.
Works Cited
Khalil, Ibrahim. “Authenticity vs. Inauthenticity in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest.” International Journal of Language and Literary Studies, vol.3, no.2, 2021, pp. 254–261.
Shabir, Junaid S. “Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest as a Caricature of Victorian England.” Contemporary Literary Review India, vol. 7, no. 3, 2020, pp. 80-90.
Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest. Samuel French, 1986.