"The Importance of being Ernest"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the comical and farcical nature of Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest." The paper suggests that the interpretation of the play may itself often be as ambiguous as the play since there are many ways to look at it. It then goes on to describe many instances in the play when this multiplicity is evident. The paper concludes that not only the characters exist on many different levels, but the entire plot appears to be surrounded by plurality of meaning.

From the Paper:

"It is highly enthralling to see the various forms and images of Ernest and how each character attaches certain significance of the character. In give great importance to someone being Ernest yet they have no clear idea who or how the person really is. For Algernon Moncrieff, Ernest is no one else but his friend Jack Worthing: "You have always told me that [your name] was Ernest. I have introduced you to every one as Ernest. You answer to the name of Ernest. You look as if your name was Ernest. You are the most earnest-looking person I ever saw in my life. It is perfectly absurd your saying that you name isn't Ernest. It's on your cards" (Writings, 484). However for Jack Worthing, Ernest is an imaginary adventurous figure possibly, "a younger brother . . . who lives in the Albany, and gets into the most dreadful scrapes" (Writings, 485). For Gwendolen Fairfax, Ernest is a moralist, "a strong upright Nature. He is the very soul of truth and honour. Disloyalty would be as impossible to him as deception" (Writings, 517). And for Cecily Cardew, Ernest is her romantic partner: "And of course a man who is much talked about is always very attractive" (Writings, 513)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Ellmann Richard. Oscar Wilde. New York: Knopf, 1988.
• The Writings of Oscar Wilde. Edited by Isobel Murray. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.
• Barthes Roland. The Pleasure of the Text. Translated by Richard Miller. New York: Noonday, 1975.
• H. G. Wells on The Importance of Being Earnest. Review in the Pall Mall Gazette, 15 February 1895, p.4

More papers on "The Importance of being Ernest":

• Analytical Essay # 4125 : "The Importance of Being Ernest"
• Analytical Essay # 121044 : "The Importance of Being Earnest"
• Analytical Essay # 120827 : "Hamlet" and "The Importance of Being Earnest"

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