Illustration of Jack Worthing in a top hat and formal attire, and a concerned expression on his face

The Importance of Being Earnest

by Oscar Wilde

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Discussion Topic

Satire and irony in The Importance of Being Earnest

Summary:

The Importance of Being Earnest employs satire and irony to critique societal norms and behaviors. Wilde uses witty dialogue and absurd situations to expose the superficiality and hypocrisy of the Victorian upper class. Characters engage in trivial pursuits and deceit, highlighting the absurdity of rigid social expectations and the emphasis on appearances over genuine values.

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What is the purpose of irony in The Importance of Being Earnest?

Oscar Wilde, like many writers of the late 1800s, was an iconoclast bent on the deconstruction of Victorian values. Much of the irony in The Importance of Being Earnest serves this purpose. Wilde said that the philosophy of the play was to "treat all the trivial things of life seriously, and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality." This irony had the effect of satirizing the things that the Victorians held dear.

It's ironic when Gwendolen speaks of the "age of ideals" that they live in and follows that up with her personal ideal "to love someone of the name of Ernest." Much of Lady Bracknell's interview with Jack is ironic: things she should find inappropriate she embraces, and things that shouldn't really matter are deal-breakers for her. She approves of his smoking and the fact that he acknowledges his "natural ignorance," but she heartlessly...

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condemns him for having lost both his parents. This is a way of mocking the high-society method of seeking favorable marriage matches for children.

Wilde doesn't only poke fun at parents. Cecily represents youth, and her ironic fascination with the wayward "Ernest" is a critique of the fickleness of women who should value integrity in men but often don't. Wilde isn't above ridiculing his own profession: Miss Prism switched her three-volume novel with the baby in her care, and both Cecily and Gwendolen keep diaries since "one should always have something sensational to read in the train." The madcap ironies of the false identities of Ernest and Bunbury are a way of exposing the hypocrisy of polite British society.

Wilde uses irony expertly to expose the faults of his society and to question the values of Victorian England.

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Irony is created when what one expects is different from what happens in reality. It can be dramatic (when the reader knows more than the character/s), verbal (when someone says the opposite of what they mean), or situational (when what actually happens is different from what we expect to happen). Irony is used in the play in order to create humor and draw attention to the vagaries of the upper class. For example, we know, while Aunt Augusta does not, that Algernon has created his invalid friend, Bunbury, in order to escape precisely the kind of social obligations to which she invites him. We know, while she does not, that Algernon has actually eaten all of the cucumber sandwiches that were prepared for her. It's even ironic that he prevents Jack from enjoying them while Algernon eats them all himself, saying that they were ordered for Aunt Augusta (who never actually gets to have one because Algy eats them all!). These ironies are comedic, certainly, but they also show how, for the upper classes, it is more important to keep up appearances than it is to actually develop relationships that feel meaningful. Lying is preferable to honesty when it permits one to appear proper.

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Can you provide two examples of satire from The Importance of Being Earnest?

There are four main techniques used in satire:

  • exaggeration
  • reversal
  • incongruity
  • parody

If you look for these, you will see the satire more clearly.

For example: there are many examples of reversal. Here is one: when Algy (as Ernest) is explaining to Cecily why he has to leave before Jack returns, he says he has a business appointment he is anxious to miss. She asks him why he can't miss it there - why he has to go back to London. He says it's because the appointment is in London. This of course is nonsense - it's a reversal of the usual situation - and it satirises the upper classes of the time and their scornful attitude towards business, or 'trade' as they would call it. They were far too good for sordid things like money or business.

Another example of satire occurs during Lady Bracknell's interrogation of Jack: she asks him if he smokes. He says he does.At this point we would expect her to disapprove (she seems to disapprove of everything else). Instead she says, 'I am glad to hear it. A man should always have an occupation. There are too many idle men in London as it is.' Here Wilde is satirising two things: the idleness of the upper classes - so that even smoking could be seen as an improvement - and also the silliness of their ideas about what constitutes a suitable husband.

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Here on Enotes you can read up on satire and how Wilde uses it as a literary device by going to The Importance of Being Earnest study guide and selecting "style".

A satire is the mockery of something serious. In Wilde's plays, the satire is often targeted to social conventions such as marriage, virtuous behavior, and courtship. Wilde is particularly enthusiastic about mocking the aristocrats, the upper classes, and their puritanical rules of social conduct which, to Wilde and many others, are utterly hypocritical.

Two important satires in the story are Wilde's attack on religious fanaticism in the character of Dr. Chausible, and his attack on virtuosity in the character of Miss Prism. These secondary characters are not often analyzed as thoroughly as Jack and Algernon, but their do reflect in full throttle Wilde's wish to completely ridicule the prudish Victorians.

Dr. Chausible is a kind but absent-minded man who is in charge of the parsonage of Jack Worthing's town. This would be the equivalent of a dioceses. The satirical aspect of Dr. Chausible is that, although he is a man of God and a leader of people, he is not at all very bright and fails to "get the point" in most of the observations that are made. He seems to be paying courtship to the very proper Miss Prism, who is the embodiment of concealed passions disguised as virtuosity. In Chausible, Wilde mocks the very people whom Victorians would look up to for advice and spiritual healing. If society were to depend on a man like Chausible, they would be in real trouble:  How could you trust your fate to a man who can barely follow a conversation without missing the point?

Miss Prism, on the other hand, represents that Victorian righteous behavior that Wilde detests. She, a single and elder woman, is the governess of Cecily Cardew of whom Jack is guardian. Underneath her simple image we find a woman with an interesting past: She is not your average lady , for she confesses to be the author of a three-volume novel; she used to be Jacks's mother's governess and she is the person responsible of the loss of Jack, as a baby. She is the person who confuses the baby with her three-volume novel and places the baby inside her handbag while she places the novel in the perambulator!

Miss Prism is also overly judgemental, critical, mean, and somewhat vindictive when it comes to the actions of others. Her favorite phrase is "As they show, so shall they reap", which she says over and over to the amazement of Dr. Chausible. Yet, we also see a flirty streak when she speaks to Chausible and, in the end, is obvious that she has always had feelings for him.

Therefore, Wilde satirizes the Victorian insistence in being prudish and religious in two characters who, deep inside, are just as regular as anybody else, and maybe even less virtuous.

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