The Double Life In The Importa

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and defining human identity. The use of earnest and Earnest is a pun, which makes the title not only more comic, but also leads to a paradox. The farce in The Importance of Being Earnest consists in the trifle that it is important not only to be earnest by nature but to have the name Earnest too. Jack realizes "the vital Importance of Being Earnest"(53) not till the end of the play. Algernon calls the act of not being earnest Bunburying which gives the plot a moral significance. Bunburying means inventing a fictitious character by which one can escape the frustrating social norms. Algernon says to Jack:
"Well, one must be serious about something, if one wants to have any amusement in life. I happen to be serious about Bunburying. What on earth are you serious about I haven’t got the remotest idea. About everything, I should fancy. You have an absolutely trivial nature."(50)
To soothe a dying friend or to help a fallen brother is a respectable excuse to ...

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when Jack asks how she might feel if his name is not Earnest. "Ah, that is clearly a metaphysical speculation", she says, "and like all metaphysical speculation, has very little reference at all to the actual facts of real life, as we know them."(18) This remark of Gwendolen exactly fits the general theme of the play, but in fact the joke is directed to her. Yet at the end of the play, Gwendolen’s conviction that she will marry an Earnest and her faith in the name are justified- we understand that Jack’s true name is Earnest. The effect which Oscar Wilde achieves is to satirise faith in ideals with the help of absurdity.
The relationship between Algernon ...

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