Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest is a theatrical play that
emphasizes the hypocrisy of people who are forced to live between different
social classes. In the beginning, Oscar Wilde subtitled his play as “A serious comedy,
for trivial people”; however, he suddenly changed it, with no apparent reason,
for: “A trivial comedy, for serious people”. Here is where the question
appears, what did move him, in order change that subtitle? There can be vast
possibilities that explain this unusual phenomenon. Consequently, the objective
is to prove that the first subtitle is better and to expose objectively the
reasons why it is true, and why Oscar Wilde did change it. Before the
discussion starts, it is useful to know the background in which Oscar lived.
Because all his suffering, Oscar Wilde uses his skills to criticize the world
he lived in as a way to escape from reality and become a fiction.
Even though this play is a fiction, lying and being hypocrite, as natural features of human kind, are not too far of the reality in Oscar’s time. The main plot in the play spins around Jack’s lies and his fear of accepting his own reality and the conflicts that this complex web of deception produces when it is discovered. Jack’s mains motifs for his masquerade are to be accepted and to have a getaway of his entire common problems. It is justified in how Jack’s obsession for getting acceptation of others, and his beloved’s one, Gwendolyn Fairfax. This can be seen when he attempts to propose to Gwendolyn, and her mother, Lady Bracknell, interrogates him in order to evaluate the “future husband” of her daughter. Nevertheless, when he comes clean and tells her about his origin, she forbids their marriage. Also, it is said in the book that Gwendolyn has a fixation with the name Earnest and that she will never marry any man whose name is not Earnest.
Even though this play is a fiction, lying and being hypocrite, as natural features of human kind, are not too far of the reality in Oscar’s time. The main plot in the play spins around Jack’s lies and his fear of accepting his own reality and the conflicts that this complex web of deception produces when it is discovered. Jack’s mains motifs for his masquerade are to be accepted and to have a getaway of his entire common problems. It is justified in how Jack’s obsession for getting acceptation of others, and his beloved’s one, Gwendolyn Fairfax. This can be seen when he attempts to propose to Gwendolyn, and her mother, Lady Bracknell, interrogates him in order to evaluate the “future husband” of her daughter. Nevertheless, when he comes clean and tells her about his origin, she forbids their marriage. Also, it is said in the book that Gwendolyn has a fixation with the name Earnest and that she will never marry any man whose name is not Earnest.
