"It is exquisitely trivial, a delicate bubble of fancy, and it has philosophy.that we should treat all the trivial things of life very seriously, and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality.".
Oscar Wilde1.
While it is possible to declare Oscar Wilde's play "The Importance of being Earnest" as pure nonsense with the only aim to entertain, a closer look reveals its sobriety. .
Oscar Wilde wrote a comedy of manners, mistaken identity and social conventions.2 The story is set in the English society of the 1890's, the society against whose aristocracy, artificiality and clinging to social standards this play is aimed at. His sarcastic but joyful presentation of the upper class with all its dishonesty and the improbability of the topic of the play provide enough distance for the upper-class audience to laugh at the situation and. At the same time they are unconsciously laughing at themselves, as the conventions and values mocked are exactly the ones they cherish. .
The plot revolves mainly around two topics, through which Wilde expresses his criticism with respect to the interplay of triviality and solemnity. The first is the pun built upon the double meaning behind the word "earnest", it functions here both as a male name and the trait of being high-minded, serious and dutiful. The second is the issue of marriage and how the different characters perceive that institution. .
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The question of who is "earnest" can be equated with the question of who is "Ernest". Wilde developed his pun by using the word as a very superficial trait; it means here simply having the name "Ernest" and therefore possessing the characteristics that are supposed to go along with that name. Wilde mocks the contemporary attitude that names actually exert some weight on the determination of one's character when letting Algernon assure Jack: "You look as if your name was Ernest. You are the most earnest looking person I ever saw in my life.