The Importance Of Being Earnest

 ‘The Importance of being earnest.’A trivial comedy of serious people.

The title of the book from Oscar Wilde has many meanings and hidden messages which are easy to find, if studied carefully.  It many words the specific title can be broken up explaining the importance of the story and what message its giving out to the audience. I think ‘Being earnest’ would strongly mean that a person or people should have the initiative to become sincere or truthful within serious matters, in this case the story should revolve around a character(s) who becomes  earnest  and open towards the characters ,the play and maybe the audience. I also think that it could mean that a specific character has honesty within himself, which I find may be present in the play, as it also recommends ‘importance’. This might combine the general meaning of it and overall show that the author wants the reader to understand how passionate being earnest means to him personally, and his play. The sub-title is an introduction to what the play could symbolize after being read, which I find is a good way to prepare the reader for the oncoming plot. We would be able to understand the title after proper analysing of the story, however I slowly understood the meaning of the sentence after I read the first page of the play. I found it was supposed to be funny until I realised why but now I can finally recognize that the sub-title of this story is obvious to its meaning.

Moreover, connecting these titles, I also found a link with the cast list which Oscar Wilde would have disguised many means onto the different names the characters have. Firstly, all the names seem to represent the different status the characters have throughout the story, which can possibly change. Some characters clearly have been analysed by the author and is shown in two different sections of society. A man called Algernon Moncrieff seems like he has a good history background, just by looking at the name. It is sophisticated and classy which I am sure would tell a lot about the character and his beliefs. Whereas, another characters name, Jon Worthing, may be seen as insignificant and unimportant because of the sound and type of name which may also distinguish the characters personality and background, although sometimes this may not be the case. However, I also saw that he was a member of the Justice of peace, which can ultimately change the judgement of the name. We can now easily understand that this man is somewhat respected and important to a number of people, which is hard to believe with such an irrelevant name. This may go to show that the author might have done this to express that you don’t have to be fancy to be respected. Other such names including Merriman and Lane have a hidden meaning which I find strange when it has to relate to a butler and manservant. I found that both don’t have a maiden name established which is important if you want to understand their background. This could show the lower status class that they would have been familiar with and how people would perceive them.  

Lady Bracknell’s title expresses the importance and position she might have been in, in the story. It shows that she might have been rich and noble as she is named ‘Lady’ rather than Mrs. This also connects with the character ‘Miss Prism’, she seems like she isn’t married yet, which would have not been ideal at this time, many would have had to marry to survive and have a fortune and in the cast list she is also a governess. I know they wouldn’t have had a lot of money to spend as governess had minimum wage. Even so she would have been helping out with the children; this would give reason to be respected. In addition her surname could also represent how she is throughout the play. ‘Prism’ in her circumstances might symbolize dignity as prisms are closed and secret, or how playful and good-natured she might be throughout the play because of how thought of prism could be turned into toys. This is a good technique the author put inside the story as it could be a form of foreshadowing which can easily be assessed and beneficial.

In the opening of the text, two men characters are situated in the dining room where one we find is clearly a servant and the other is an owner. This is easily distinguished by the first character finishing their sentence with ‘Sir’, and it’s a clear indication that he is the manservant. I realised that having a manservant could say something about the loyal household as I haven’t come across a lady servant in the house by the beginning.