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

The conflicts in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest

Summary:

The main conflicts in The Importance of Being Earnest revolve around mistaken identities and the pursuit of marriage. Jack and Algernon both use the name "Ernest" to win the affection of Gwendolen and Cecily, leading to confusion and comedic situations. Additionally, societal expectations and the characters' deceptions create further tension until the truth is revealed.

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Discuss the "conflict" in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde.

The play The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde, is a comedy of manners which intends to satirize the oddities that were resounding among members of the middle and upper classes of Victorian England. These oddities manifest themselves mostly in the behavior and demeanor of these social classes and are often quite ridiculous and useless. It is precisely those qualities which Wilde aims to target with this play.

Conflict is an essential part of a comedy of manners, because the situations that are present in them are often contradictory, ironic, and senseless. In The Importance of Being Earnest we find a myriad of conflicting situations which bring out those behaviors of the upper classes that Wilde wanted to mock.

The first conflict we see in Act I is social. Lady Bracknell seeks a husband for her daughter, Gwendolen, but only a rich man with a title will do. Although Jack Worthing clearly has money he lacks a "name", that is, a respectable family name to which Lady Bracknell can connect her daughter for social purposes. Since Jack is a foundling and grew up adopted, he is unable to locate a family member to be able to satisfy Lady Bracknell. This is when we see the ridiculous (but funny) retort that she gives Jack advising him to acquire a family:

I would strongly advise you, Mr. Worthing, to try and acquire some relations as soon as possible, and to make a definite effort to produce at any rate one parent, of either sex, before the season is quite over.

Therefore, until Jack finds some relations, Lady Bracknell will feel entitled to treat him badly since, in her mind, he is beneath her in social status. Therefore, he is not worthy of much. This is the actual conflict of class consciousness and class separation.

The second conflict is moral. Algernon lacks morals of any kind but, since he lacks them, does that make him immoral, or merely, amoral? His Bunburying is his way to escape responsibility from family, creditors, and events that he despises. Similarly, Jack creates this ill brother called Ernest whom he uses to also escape responsibility. The topic of double lives is everywhere in the play, and tells us about the hypocritical nature of the prudish Victorians. It is a conflict of truth versus lies; morality vs. immorality. It is just like Algernon tells Jack, when he expressed how foolish Jack would be for "getting rid" of his fake brother Ernest:

You don't seem to realize, that in married life three is company and two is none.

In all, The Importance of Being Earnest, presents conflict by exposing the ironic situations that occur in households where there are no real rules of decorum to be followed, and where everything is superficial. Wilde is effective in describing the concept of conflict under the perspective of the hypocritical and snobbish nature of the upper classes.

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Discuss the "conflict" in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde.

I think the main conflict of the play is of the character versus society variety. Jack Worthing certainly has a number smaller conflicts with Algernon, with Gwendolen's aunt Augusta, and even, eventually, with Gwendolen herself, but these are often only the result of some overarching conflict that he has with society's standards and mores. Jack invents a fictitious and badly behaved brother called Ernest so that he can escape the restrictive Victorian world of unpleasant social obligations and rigid moral standards. (Algernon invents a fictitious invalid friend named Bunbury for the same reasons.) Jack conflicts with Algernon as a result of Algernon's discovery of Jack's alter-ego, Ernest, as well as Algernon's exploitation of that alter-ego. Jack conflicts with Aunt Augusta because he does not have the appropriate family status or connections that society expects in a match for such an upper-class woman. He eventually conflicts with Gwendolen as a result of his creation of this fictitious brother Ernest, with whom she falls in love because she's always wanted to love someone named Ernest, and she is displeased with him when he finds out about the lies he told to escape society's strict expectations for right behavior.

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What types of conflicts are in the second act of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest?

The second act of Wilde's play The Importance of Being Earnest presents the setting and people from Jack's life in the country. Everything that was discussed between Algy and Jack in the first act are now put into play and tested. For example, Algy disagreed with Jack in the first act that married life was the optimal way to live one's life. In fact, Algy vowed that the life of a bachelor was the only life he would pursue; but then he meets Cecily and he all of a sudden changes his mind! As far as Algy is concerned, his conflict is definitely with himself and not necessarily other people. He disagreed with marriage, but changes his mind; that would lead one to determine that the conflict there is man vs. himself.

On the other hand, Jack has a different conflict--his future mother in law! Jack's conflict is certainly man vs. [wo]man because he has to convince her of his honorable lineage before he can obtain permission to marry Gwendolen. Jack is not fighting an inner conflict within himself; therefore, Jack's conflict is not man vs. self. In fact, Jack must also fight his past--something of which he has no pieces of memory to his personal history's puzzle. That puzzle is only solved when past secrets come to light.

The other conflict that may be pointed out in Act 2 is the one that encompasses the battle of the sexes. In this case, where the men are caught lying to the women about their identities, the conflict is most certainly man vs. [wo]man. The battle is declared open when Gwendolen announces, "I am afraid it is quite clear, Cecily, that neither of us is engaged to be married to anyone." The women then walk away from the men in perfect lover's-quarrel fashion and the war is on! It is then up to the men to decide if they will go after the women and fight for them, or to give up and surrender.

Craftily, Wilde choreographs all three conflicts to converge on stage at one time, creating one of the best comedies of the twentieth century to ever grace a stage.

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