that servants of bachelorsalways drink their employers' champagne. Of course they do not; in fact, I would think it is rare for a servant to steal from his employer when he knows that his employer keeps good records of such things. Therefore, this is another example of hyperbole.

Hyperbole is a type of figurative language that uses exaggeration for emphasis or humor. Much of the humor in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest is either hyperbole, understatement, or irony. One way Wilde uses hyperbole as part of his satire is to make trivial things seem more important than they are. Here are some humorous uses of hyperbole from the play.

• When Lady Bracknell asks Jack if he smokes, he says he does, and she replies, "I am glad to hear it. A man should always have an occupation of some kind." To refer to smoking as an occupation is hyperbole.
• Lady Bracknell states, "Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone." To praise ignorance in this way is a ridiculous exaggeration.
• Lady Bracknell scolds Jack about his upbringing, saying that to be born or bred in a handbag "reminds one of the worst excesses of the French Revolution." This takes a case of a single person's birth which happens to not meet her approval and compares it to a revolution that toppled a monarchy.
• Dr. Chasuble praises Miss Prism by saying, "Were I fortunate enough to be Miss Prism's pupil, I would hang upon her lips." This is, of course, an impossible exaggeration and one that creates a humorous mental image.    
• Algernon states that good looks "are a snare that every sensible man would like to be caught in." Of course, no sensible man really wants to be caught in a snare, so this is an exaggeration.
• During the "tea wars," Gwendolyn tells Cecily that she, Gwendolyn, is "known for the gentleness of my disposition, and the extraordinary sweetness of my nature." She is significantly exaggerating her good character traits.      
• When Jack must tell Gwendolyn the truth about his name, he states, "It is very painful for me to be forced to speak the truth. It is the first time in my life I have ever been reduced to such a painful position, and I am really quite inexperienced in doing anything of the kind." He exaggerates his lack of relationship with the truth.
• When Algernon tells Lady Bracknell that Bunbury died after "the doctors found out that he could not live," Lady Bracknell states, "He seems to have had great confidence in the opinion of his physicians." That a man could die immediately because his physician said he could not live is a humorous exaggeration.
• Lady Bracknell tells Cecily that "style largely depends on the way the chin is worn." This exaggerates the importance of how women hold their heads.
• Lady Bracknell calls it "grotesque and irreligious" that the men want to be baptized so they can change their names. It is rather absurd, but "grotesque" is taking it too far.
• After Gwendolyn states that she never changes, "except in my affections," Jack responds by saying she has a "noble nature," which is an exaggeration of what her comment indicated about her.
• The play ends with Jack stating he now recognizes "the vital Importance of Being Earnest." It is fitting that a play filled with irony and hyperbole should go out reiterating the overblown importance of one of the trivialities emphasized in the play.                                                                                                                               

Hyperbole is one of the techniques Oscar Wilde uses most often in The Importance of Being Earnest. Hyperbole—exaggeration for effect—enables Wilde to satirize the ridiculous ideas and behaviors of the Victorian British upper class. There are many examples throughout, but I will list a few, one from each act of the play, and explain their effects.

In the play's first act, Jack visits Algernon at his house in London. It turns out Jack left his cigarette case at the house last time he visited. When Algernon reveals he has the case, Jack exclaims,

I wish to goodness you had let me know. I have been writing frantic letters to Scotland Yard about it. I was very nearly offering a large reward.

Here, Jack tells Algernon he has consulted the police to investigate his missing cigarette case. This is an obvious overreaction on Jack's part, which is made even more ridiculous when we find out he just carelessly left it behind at his friend's house. 

In act 2, Algernon meets Cecily for the first time at Jack's country home. Only minutes after meeting her, Algernon is kicked out by Jack. When Algernon has to part from Cecily, he rhapsodizes:

Cecily, ever since I first looked upon your wonderful and incomparable beauty, I have dared to love you wildly, passionately, devotedly, hopelessly.

This is exaggerated because they have just met, of course, and the adverbs Algernon uses to describe his love for a woman he just met are completely over-the-top. Algernon values style over substance, so talking in this way can substitute for true emotion or deep feeling. Cecily is equally superficial, so she is easily impressed by Algernon's rhetoric.

In act 3, when the men are about to be christened (to change their names to Ernest), Cecily asks Algernon, "To please me you are ready to face this fearful ordeal?" Calling baptism a "fearful ordeal" is a clear exaggeration. The process is simple and does not entail any physical danger. It is also hyperbolic that Cecily is so impressed by Algernon's "willingness" to go through with this "ordeal."

Hyperbole is one of the tools Wilde uses to satirize the upper class's frivolity and superficiality in The Importance of Being Earnest. His exaggerations allow the reader to see he is poking fun at the ridiculous priorities of the most privileged members of his society.