The Importance of Not Being “Earnest
...lgernon, marriage means the end of freedom, pleasure, wickedness, and the beginning of duty and doing what is expected. Algernon then humorously explains that to be in love is romantic, but a proposal is never romantic because “one may be accepted (1429)”. Marriage brings about an end to the romantic excitement of flirting: “...girls never marry the men they flirt with. Girls don’t think it right (1429).” Each of these references to marriage or courtship trivializes a serious subject and reverses accepted values. Wilde is pointing out, with some contempt, that marriage in Victorian society had become nothing more than a business deal where wealth and family status were the only valuable assets to bring to the table. When Algernon explains that he plans to become engaged to Jack’s ward, Cecily, Lady Bracknell decides, “I think some preliminary enquiry on my part would not be out of place” (1464). Lady Bracknell then pummels Jack with questions about parents, politics, fortune, addresses, family solicitors, etc. His answers must be proper and appropriate for marriage between the two families to be approved. Fortune is especially important, and when Jack and Cecily’s fortunes are both appropriate, the next problem is family background. When she discovers Jack does not know his parents, Lady Bracknell is aghast and suggests he “try and acquire some relations as soon as possible” and that he “make a definite effort to produce…one parent, of either sex before the season is quite over” (1439). Lady Bracknell represents the stereotypical Victorian matron who places great value in social influence, and appearance, it seems, is everything. Wilde also stresses how duty (not joy, love or passion) is important, and Algernon asserts that marriage is a loveless duty: “A man who marries without knowing Bunbury” (or an excuse for pleasure) “has a very tedious time of it” (1438). When Jack and Algernon realize their marriages will end their pursuit of pleasure, they both admit rather miserably, “You won’t be able to run down to the country quite so often as you used to do, dear Algy” and “You won’t be able to disappear to London quite so frequently as your wicked custom was (1460).” Wilde is fully aware that the strict Victorian class system, in which members of the same class marry each other, perpetuates the gulf between the upper, middle and lower classes. He satirizes the shallow, aristocratic attitudes that further preserve the distance between these groups. For example, in the play he implies that society views education as a way of training people to mindlessly follow convention. Lady Bracknell approves of ignorance. In fact, she explains, “The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square (1437).” Thinking causes discontent, and discontent leads to revolution. Wilde uses the name Earnest to point out he shallowness of Victorian women. He seems to have been toying with audiences by giving the play a title with more than one meaning. The play’s title can be deceptive. Rather than a form of the name Earnest, the title implies earnestness as a quality one should seek to acquire, as in being honest, sincere, sober, and serious. Gwendolen says, “We live in an age of ideals . . . and my ideal has always been to love some one of the name of Earnest. The only really safe name is Earnest ” (1435). Throughout the play, Earnest is a name that encompasses qualities of the ideal man: trustworthy, honorable and absolutely sincere. Earnest also represents Jack and Algernon’s alter egos, which is ironic as they are obviously not being dutiful—earnest—in living a secret life. Gwendolen is in love with Jack, whom she knows as Earnest, and she is fixated on this name. This preoccupation serves as a metaphor for the preoccupation of the Victorian upper class with the appearance of virtue and honor. That both Gwendolen and Cecily dream of marrying a man named Earnest seems more than a coincidence. Cecily admits, “It had always been a girlish dream of mine to love some one whose name was Earnest. There is something in that name that seems to inspire absolute confidence”(1435). Gwendolen is so caught up in finding a husband named Earnest that she can’t even see that the man calling himself Earnest is deceiving her. In this way, Wilde is pointing out how society’s image consciousness ...