Importance of Being Earnest — Oscar Wilde: Earnest’s Symbolism
Oscar Wilde was a famous Irish writer. He was well-known in the novel named The Picture of Dorian Gray and the play named the Importance of Being Earnest. He was also infamous imprisonment for homosexuality in Victorian Era. A genre of The Importance of Being Earnest is melodrama. A symbol, a theme and how the theme reflects the Victorian Era society will be discussed.
A name of “Ernest” is a symbol of The Importance of Being Earnest. This symbol refers to suppression from social expectation because Victorian society only care about the outside of people not inside of people such as they know each other by classes, properties and powers even a name too. The word of “suppression” is being used because people have to hide their true identity because the true identity of some people might not be able to be accepted from the Victorian society such as being gay or homosexual and being the lower class. The name of “Ernest” becomes the symbol of this play because main characters including Jack and Algernon manipulate this name to get what they want. According to Act I in lines of 228 to 238 and lines of 337 and 338 ,Jack fakes that his name is Ernest because he wants to get up in a town, meet with Gwendolen and to be loved by Gwendolen. In addition, according to act III in lines of 1144 and 1146, he also wants to be christened in order to change his name because Gwendolen only wants to marry with a man whose name is Ernest not a normal name like Jack as she told this in act I in lines of 461 to 467. As the same time in Act II since a line of 978, Algernon also fakes that his name is Ernest so that he can pretend to be Jack’s brother to meet Cecily. The same as Jack’s wish, Algernon also wants to change his name to be Ernest too through being christened in Act II in lines of 1825 to 1827. Audience can sense that actually both of Jack and Algernon do not want to lie to their lovers at all but they do not have a choice because all of their lovers both fall for them because their names not their true identities as this occur in Act I in lines of and Act II in lines of 1432 to 1439. Cecily and Gwendolen can also refer to social expectation of the Victorian Era too. Audience can see that both of them always expect to marry with a man whose name Ernest because there is something great of this name. Sometimes this name could also mean a personality or status that society in the Victorian Era expected too from Gwendolen and Cecily’s thought in Act I in lines of 461 to 467 and Act II in lines of 1429 to 1432 and lines of 1446 to 1448. On other words, it could be interpreted that both of Jack and Algernon want to change their name to be Ernest because they want to be accepted and they want to achieve what they want. Besides, being “Ernest” represents to a border of norm and morality that the Victorian society expected. Therefore, the name of “Ernest” is the suppression from the social expectation that both of Jack and Algernon have to pretend to be through this name. As the explanation above, it could be concluded that the name of “Ernest” is the symbol of this play which refer to the suppression from the social expectation.
Hypocrisy is a theme of The Importance of Being Earnest. It becomes this theme because of the symbol of this play which is the name of “Ernest”. Since the symbol of the name of Ernest refers to the suppression from the the social expectation; therefore, the name “Ernest” can also represent to ideas and expectations from the Victorian society that expects people to be a kind of Ernest. Audience can see that both of Gwendolen and Cecily always wish and want to be loved and get married for the only man whose name Ernest in Act I in lines of 461 to 467 and Act II in lines of 1429 to 1432.They said that the name of Ernest has something that inspires them and this name has something more special than other names. The audience can even see obviously that both of Gwendolen and Cecily switch their feelings immediately toward Jack and Algernon after knowing the truth that both of them are not Ernest through Act II in lines of 1737 to 1747. It demonstrates how people react differently toward of this name because of their expectation. Besides, even in the end of the story occurring in Act III in lines of 2391 to 2392, Jack is still lying to Gwedolen that his name is Ernest because he is afraid that he will not be able to marry with Gwedolen because Gwedolen always said that she is always in love with the name of Ernest. In Jack’s case is also showing the hypocrisy because he is insincere to tell who he really is to Gwendolen. Even though he loves Gwendolen so much, he still could not tell the truth to Gwendolen. This means in the end Jack is still keep lying about his true name to everyone and himself to achieve what he wants and to be accepted from the society. It can be concluded from these pieces of evidence and explanations that the theme of The Importance of Being Earnest is the hypocrisy.
The hypocrisy reflects the Victorian Era society through the symbol of this play which is the name of “Ernest”. People in the Victorian Era followed strict cultural rules which affected their speech, manner, clothing, etc. People in this era especially on the lower classes would try to act like the higher one because the lower classes were treated in a bad manner because the higher classes thought that the lower classes were a danger and something disgusting to the society. Even Jack is not the lower class in this play, he still has to pretend to be somebody else (hypocrisy) in order to be accepted from the society when he stays at the town and in order to be able to meet and marry with Gwendolen. It was because people in the Victorian Era treated other people differently through the classes and what people have, so it also means that they just love and have a relationship whenever each of them can give benefits to each other. For example, both of Gwendolen and Cecily are in love with Jack and Algernon because of just their names which are “Ernest”. Besides, audience can see how people treat each other differently through Act I in lines of 531 to 658 that Lady Blacknell interviews Jack. Lady Blacknell keeps asking Jack’s background life and properties. At first, Lady Blacknell seems to interest in Jack because Jack is rich and own many rooms in his house. However, Lady Blacknell switches her interest to be racist about Jack immediately after Jack told her that he does not have parents and was found in the cloakroom which means his family can be from the rich and the poor family. The way Lady Blacknell react to Jack’s interview demonstrate the hypocrisy of the Victorian Era society very obviously.
In sum, the symbol of The Importance of Being Earnest is the name of “Earnest” which refers to suppression from social expectation which it can lead to the theme of this play which is hypocrisy. The hypocrisy reflects Victorian society in a way of they treated and reacted to the classes. In my opinion, I think the hypocrisy does not only occur just for Victorian society but it also occurs in the present day society in anywhere in this world because humans live together in this world. Of course, it has to have a social norm and social expectation follow later. Most of the times present day society pretend to be somebody else in order to be accepted in the society and sometimes in order to survive among the society with and without they notice that they wear a mask to each other. It can be said that wearing a mask or hypocrisy is sometimes a pure sin as someone pretend or fake to be something or someone else because they just want to be accepted in the society. It would be better if someday people can be who they really are without wearing the mask to others and they did not make any troubles into the society just to be themselves such as being homosexuality like Oscar Wilde.
