When I began reading “The Importance of Being Earnest” my
head began to spin a little bit. All the names and love triangles were a bit
hard to follow in the beginning but after going over them (quite a few times I
may add) I think I finally got a handle on who loves who and who wishes to
marry the other. With that, the couple that intrigued me the most was between
Jack (John/Ernest) and Gwendolen Fairfax.
Jack (or Ernest) is the plays protagonist. He is a man
leading a double life—in Hertfordshire, in the country, he is known as Jack
whereas in London he is known as Ernest. When Jack is in London posing as
Ernest, he finds himself falling in love and proposing marriage to Gwendolen,
his friend Algeron’s cousin.
Gwendolen is in love with Jack, whom she has come to know as
Ernest. Through the play, Gwendolen presents herself as an intellectual, mature,
and ostentatious woman. Believing that Jack is in fact Ernest, she becomes
fixated on the idea of marrying a man with this name because it “is a divine
name. It has a music of its own. It produces vibrations” (1742)
I find it very ironic that Gwendolen becomes obsessed with
the name Ernest in that it evokes thoughts of “earnest,” or the quality of
being serious or sincere. Within this text, the idea of being “earnest” is
definitely put into question, for there is little sincerity between characters
(especially in a relationship as serious as proposed marriage). Now, as I
mentioned, I am most interested in Jack and Gwendolen’s relationship because I
feel these two characters are the most twisted in personality.
Jack is not remotely sincere or serious in that he is not
entirely who he says he is. Gwendolen presents herself as this all mighty type
of woman and yet this is not entirely so.
Gwendolen shows a little bit of fight when she and Cecily come
to realize there is some type of deception going on. At first she attacks
Cecily’s character, telling her that she does not trust her and calling her out
on her claims. When the two women realize that they are both being deceived
however, Gwendelon shows some strength and turns her back on Jack and calls
Cecily “sister” (1764). This is short lived though because she is eager to take
him back. When everything is finally out on the table, Jack asks Gwendelon if
she can forgive him and she responds, “I can. For I feel that you are sure to
change.” (1777).
So, it is clear that neither character is entirely
“earnest,” though in the end it does not seem to matter because they end up
together. I suppose sincerity isn’t of much importance in their relationship?
Let’s see how well that works out…
I agree that it was a bit confusing in the beginning to piece together who was who, but I felt it was a relaxing ordeal compared to the dreaded character deciphering of The Way of the World… I really enjoyed the irony in the play, but further enjoyed the ridiculous satire. I would love to see how funny this would be in person. It seems ridiculous that everything works out in the end, but I think this was to critique how people in society figure that if they follow all of the rules of “proper” society, then in the end it will all work out okay or be “suitable” for a good life. I especially loved how the romances seemed extremely superficial and based on societal dynamics or solely the NAMES that people have, and the comments that were made about these romances were extremely funny yet satirical and somewhat sad to think about. You can tell these “romances” are doomed when Lady Bracknell says things such as, “(Long engagements) give people the opportunity of finding out each other’s character before marriage, which I think is never advisable,” (308). This is a sad yet somewhat true statement for this time period, and even for today, yet we view it a bit differently today (thankfully). Fake, superficial love and trust can also be seen in the back-and-forth of people saying “I knew from the first time I saw you…” because at first they will be saying that they knew that they could trust them, and soon after are saying that they knew that they were a terrible person. First impressions of people throughout this novel are shown to be not very showing of what a person is truly like. It shows how stupid it is to base someone off of their appearance at first glance. This is further exemplified with the allusion to a Jane-Eyre esc. approach to reading the face, especially the profile, on page 308 when Lady Bracknell judges Cecily based solely on her profile. Overall I found the satire to really resonate, and think it would be even more hyperbolic of a play as an audience member!
ReplyDeleteIn your mentioning of the topic of being "earnest" throughout the play, the title is obviously ridden with satire. It's as if "the importance of being earnest" was an after-thought statement made by Jack (at least that is how I read it). If this is true, it's so ironic. There is a pun in that Jack realized just how important is was to be named Earnest, the only way he could get Gwenny Gwen Gwen to love him. It's so vital he and Algy decide it's best to get christened with the name. It's also ironic that the two want to hold this name, because neither of them was overall serious or sincere. Perhaps Jack was more serious than his friend in knowing that he wanted Gwenny and constantly kind of pulling their conversation back in check (when it would divert to talking about Algy engorging himself with cucumber sandwiches and muffins). It seemed like Algy took the entire marriage thing as a joke and went for Cecily out of...keeping up with his friend? Neither of them in the end were genuinely sincere (the two women take note that instead of chasing after them when they left, the friends remained eating muffins). Though, strangely enough, they longed for that identity...
ReplyDeleteI think it's also important in this play to think about how marriage is depicted (there are a lot of good quotes about this). I find it interesting that the older women seem more skeptical of marriage and of the character of men while the younger women long for it dearly (is it Cecily who is willing to wait until she is 35 just so she can marry Earnest? Yes, it is). There seems to be this underlying tone in the men that portrays they couldn't care less if they were married or not, while for the women its absolutely imperative. I feel like this is a theme throughout many pieces of literature.
Also, I think it's absolutely hysterical when Lady Bracknell is interviewing the men about themselves, in essence to prove their worthiness to marry the women. It's no surprise that when Algy brings up his lineage (family name) and then how much money he has, he is immediately (where as not at all before) most qualified...
Gwendolen's fixation on the name Ernest and on being viewed as lovable to the rest of society reminds me of "Fantomina", in that, here, again, we see a theme of appearance versus reality, and Gwendolen is much more concerned with how society sees her, and her Jack's (Ernest's) superficial traits.
ReplyDeleteI've read The Importance of Being Earnest only a half a million times and I still think its fantastic. Mostly I like it for the really deep one-liners (theres a technical name for them, I can't remember what the heck it is right now). My personal favorite is "The very essence of romance is uncertainty."
ReplyDeleteUgh. Chills.
But to add to that, I also love the irony of the play. The whole time, Jack lies about being Ernest, and then in the end, he actually ends up being Ernest. Who woulda thought? But rereading this story after going through this class, it gives me a whole new perspective on this idea. Jack goes through the whole story living a lie. He gives a personna of being someone who he is not, which we know happens so much in British Literature. He and Gwendolen are both obsessed with the idea of their class and their reputation. Even with names, Gwendolen wants everything to sound perfect., She wants the name Earnest because she thinks is a divine name, like you said.
But I think its saying something that although Jack spends the whole thing lying, he ends up with a happy ending anyway. He pretends to be rich and pretends to be earnest, and in the end, everything ends up happy for him anyway! It promotes the idea of caring about reputation and it shows that people who lie to gain can end up happy anyway. So I totally agree with you. None of the characters are entirely earnest at all, and yet they all end up happily.
The dissonance that you describe between appearance and actuality, or persona and personality, can be found throughout the play. Personally I found the title of the play to be the most comical of them all. The ambiguity of the use of the title leads to opposing interpretations. Either, it is important to be named Earnest, i.e., it is important to the women of the play. Or, as I took it, Wilde is saying that there is no importance earnest in society, i.e., one gets what one wants through deception and manipulation.
ReplyDelete