The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde | Characters

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Course Hero Literature Instructor Russell Jaffe explains the main characters in Oscar Wilde's play The Importance of Being Earnest.

Download the free study guide and infographic for The Importance of Being Earnest here: https://www.coursehero.com/lit/The-Im...

Oscar Wilde's scathing comedy of manners The Importance of Being Earnest satirizes the rigid social conventions of Victorian England through a tale of romantic entanglements and false identities.

Friends Algernon Moncrieff and Jack Worthing court each other's female relatives under the pseudonym "Ernest." This was both a reference to a popular name at the time and to the quality of being "earnest," or honest. Algernon also has an invented friend called "Bunbury," who is an invalid.

These deceptions, initially devised to allow them to escape stultifying social interactions and grant them the freedom to live as they wish, present complications when they employ them during courtship. As both characters propose to their love interests as “Ernest,” the truth is revealed that Jack and Algernon are long lost brothers, and both are given permission to marry as a result.

The Importance of Being Earnest, by Irish poet, playwright, critic, and novelist Oscar Wilde, was first performed in 1895. Filled with barbed observations about the constrictive mores of the era, the play is nonetheless a light-hearted comic romp and remains one of Wilde's best-loved plays. Today it is ranked 14th in The Drama 100: A Ranking of the Greatest Plays of All Time.

The play contains many enduring symbols, such as a handbag representing the arbitrary role of fate and the character Bunbury representing polite excuses and white lies. Themes include social conventions, language, and love.

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