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What are two main conflicts in The Importance of Being Earnest and how do they complement each other?
Quick answer:
The two main conflicts involve Jack and Algernon's deceptions and the women's insistence on marrying men named Ernest. Jack wants to marry Gwendolyn, but faces opposition due to his uncertain parentage and false identity. Similarly, Algernon's pursuit of Cecily is complicated by his deception. These conflicts highlight the absurdity of upper-class values, as both revolve around superficial concerns like names and social status, ultimately providing comedic commentary on societal norms.
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde is a light comedy in which the conflicts or obstacles to the characters achieving their goals are relatively minor and intended to form the basis for clever dialogue rather than deep emotional reactions.
The first conflict involves Jack wishing to marry Gwendolyn. Although Jack is a good friend of Algernon, Gwendolyn's brother, and Gwendolyn wishes to marry him, both Algernon and his mother Lady Bracknell are initially reluctant to approve of the marriage, Algernon due to the mysterious "Cecily" and Lady Bracknell due to Jack's uncertain parentage. An additional complication is that Gwendolyn herself becomes reluctant to accept Jack when it is revealed that his name is Jack rather than Ernest.
The parallel conflict is Jack's refusal to let Algernon marry Cecily initially and Cecily's insistence that Algernon must be named Ernest. It serves as a mirror image of the first conflict,...
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as Jack lives in the country and is visiting the city under a false name and Algernon lives in London and is visiting the country under a false name.
One conflict exists between Jack and Algernon when Algernon shows up at his country estate pretending to be Jack's fictional brother, Ernest. Another conflict is created between Gwendolen and Cecily with Jack and Algernon, respectively, when the women learn that their beaus are not really named Ernest, as they'd always dreamed of marrying men named Ernest. Both of these conflicts complement one another because they each provide evidence that the upper class has values that are absolutely skewed. If Jack had not created this fictional brother so that he would have an excuse to go to town (and behave with less moral rigor than he feels compelled to do in the country), then Algernon never could have capitalized on it. If Algernon had more scruples, he would never have pretended to be Jack's fictional brother in order to gain admittance to Jack's country home to meet Jack's "excessively pretty ward who is only just eighteen." If Gwendolen and Cecily weren't so shallow as to fall in love with men in large part because they believe those men are named Ernest— a ridiculous reason to love someone—then this conflict would never have been created, either. The skewed values of the upper class actually create these ridiculous and unnecessary conflicts.
One conflict was that Lady Bracknell would not allow Gwendolyn to marry Jack. He was adopted and never knew his real parents. Because of this "problem" of his, he was denied her parents' blessing.
Another conflict was that Gwendolyn thought that Jack's real name was Ernest, but it wasn't. She seems to love him for his name only, and he fears he cannot tell her the truth.
These two conflicts work together up to the very end. Jack doesn't know his background or his biological parents, but claims to be "Jack." Once he finds the truth, he is actually related to Gwendolyn--and because of that, Lady Bracknell accepts his proposal to Gwendolyn. These two conflicts work together to get the main character what he wants (marriage to the woman he loves.)