The great play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, can be described as a timeless play because many of its context can be related to today's world. People these days are not saints, they lie about things and make stupid excuses. They also make many stupid and selfish acts that they hope no one will notice. The three main themes associated with this play are selfishness, marriage, and society. These three themes can also be looked at one hundred plus years later and see that not a lot has changed.
One of the holiest acts two people can be involved in is being married. Marriage is suppose to be a sacrosanct institution, in which the bride and the groom will always cherish the anniversary of their holy union. Although that is how people should see this day, they often do not. In the play, the two main characters, Jack and Algernon, are trying to get married to Gwendolen and Cecily. The two young ladies do want to marry their sweet hearts but all for the wrong reasons. Gwendolen falls in love with Jack only because she finds out that Jack is an orphan, which in some way fascinates her. Algernon's fiancée falls in love with him, because she hears a lot about his supposedly wild life. Both women also are very intrigued by the name Ernest. What makes this play funny is that both of the men do not see this. For example, Algernon asks Cecily to marry him after they just met. Those two characters weren't the only ones who made foolish decisions. Although, if Algernon does get married, he will try his hardest to forget about it, showing how he does not really care about marriage, "I really don't see anything romantic in proposing. It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal. Why, one may be accepted. One usually is, I believe. Then the excitement is all over. The very essence of romance is uncertainty. If ever I get married, I'll certainly try to forget the fact.
