The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest was in actuality a very well-written book and I greatly enjoyed it. I didn’t realize the underlying connotations within it though, until Ms. Clinch pointed them out to the class. Oscar Wilde was writing to the homosexual society and looking over the play once again reveals this.

The concept of marriage is despised within this play. Algernon consistently bashes it and believes that once one is married, the wine becomes duller and the person becomes less active. The bachelor life is far better for an individual. In Wilde’s sense, being married to a female was against the question, and that is why it was so critiqued throughout the entire play. The life of a bachelor also signifies the hidden life that a homosexual individual would have to live by. Because being gay was illegal in these times, homosexuals would have to pretend to be bachelors, and see their partner in a secret manner. Marriage was not allowed for them in this time period, and so Wilde criticizes society for a married couple.

Also all of the eating imagery is very prominent in this play. Algernon, Jack, Cecily, and Gwendolyn all eat significant amounts of food over the course of the play; and many of the sources of conflict come over eating (Algernon eating the muffins and cucumber sandwiches, and then Cecily’s and Gwendolyn’s spat over cake and coffee). This signifies the tension that is between many of the characters, but in a sexual tone. It suggests that they have other appetites and indulgences that cannot be fulfilled, yet they continually wish for them too (and they fight for them, which is why many of the major peaks of climax usually occur when the characters are eating some sort of meal.

Both the MALE characters also have alternate identities, showing how they cannot live one life perfectly without having the other life to make mistakes in. In Wilde’s society, people of the higher class were expected to be perfect in every way, and because of this continuous strain on the individual, a different life was created so the person could do wrong deeds without being punished by the harsh society. This alternate life though signifies the life between homosexuality and heterosexuality. Wilde had one life that he shared with his wife and children, which was considered his perfect life. The other life that he would call Bunburying, was his life with his partner Lord Alfred Douglas.

The gender roles were also switched in this play. Cecily and Gwendolyn constantly joke about how they run everything and how the males should know better. They place themselves above the males, and the males become subservient to them in return. This society deems that men are higher than women because they make money for the family and are stronger than women. Wilde opposes this though because in his homosexual life, the males are the weaker individuals. He makes fun of the male role and makes the women in this play appear stronger.