Deception In The Importance Of Being Ernest

‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ draws on components of absurdity and melodrama in order to provide humour and hence conceal the darker meaning of concepts. Wilde’s use of frequent comedic features, in addition to witty paradoxes stated by characters allows forms of deception to appear as amusing and superficial while still holding much darker alternate meanings and subtexts which allows him to draw upon and mock the flaws of Victorian society.
The idea of deception through leading a double life is central to the play as it is personified by the idea of ‘Bunburying.’ By Wilde’s use of exposition, mainly during Algernon’s questioning of Jack, the audience learn that ‘Bunburying’ refers to leading a double life while still appearing to have
high standards of duty and responsibility. The tripartite structure, found in many comedic plays, allows this literary device to be more distinct as the role of each act is defined. It is fairly obvious that, although Algernon sees Bunburying as a game, there is an underlying notion that he needs to escape the moral image that society needs him to uphold. This notion is re-iterated through his frequent use of ‘invaluable’ where it can be implied that Algernon simply cannot live without Bunbury. During Algernon’s repartee with Jack, he states that ‘a man who marries without knowing Bunbury has a very tedious time of it.’ Although ostensibly this can be interpreted as another farcical comment pertaining to marriage, an alternative explanation may be that it has darker connotations as Algernon seems to be suggesting that all husbands in Victorian society lead a double life. It can be interpreted that deception has dark connotations associated with it, rather than being predominantly a humorous element to the play. This is emphasised through the use of dramatic irony, as the audience are informed of the men’s deception before the women. This point is interesting to feminists as it presents females as weaker and inferior to men as they are the last to discover the deception.
In contrast to this view, deception can be seen as just a superficial, comic element to the play, which is highlighted by the use of structural symmetry between both men’s deceit. In the opening scenes, Algernon, who has superiority over Jack due to withholding his cigarette case, is shown to question him about it. This humorous effect is created not only by the trivial topic they are supposedly arguing about, but by the abundance of stage directions which imply that they are in effect chasing each other around the sofa. It becomes increasingly apparent that Wilde uses stage directions to illuminate aspects of his characters. This is shown when Jack ‘follows Algernon around the room’ or Algernon ‘retreat[s] to the back of the sofa’ as it demoralises the Victorian upper class by way of breaking their façade of respectability and morality by portraying the key characters as childish and immature. This use of physical humour presents deception as amusing, as key comic features such as farce and slapstick humour contribute to a peculiar form of dramatic irony. Dramatic irony is created as although the audience are not aware of exactly what Algernon knows, they are conscious of Jack’s uneasiness, which becomes increasingly apparent as the scene progresses and Algernon slowly reads the complete inscription inside the cigarette case simultaneously creating rising action. The use of the cigarette case suggests ideas of a darker subtext as Wilde was notorious for presenting his lovers with silver cigarette cases. Despite the double meaning with the cigarette cases, it is seen that the men’s deception is more amusing than dark. While it can be said Wilde wrote the play so that it is entirely superficial, there are some elements that have a much darker meaning. Therefore deception is presented as dark rather than amusing as the idea of having a double life through ‘Bunburying’ and criticising Victorian society is much stronger than the comical notion of cigarette cases.
As rising action is built, the amusing side to deception is presented, through the female characters in the play in which they both have diaries.
This side to deception is very comical as, contrary to most diaries, they both contain more fiction than fact, according to Gwendolen, ‘one should always have something sensational to read on the train.’ The use of the hyperbole with ‘sensational’ reinforces the dramatic effect and presents Gwendolen as somewhat ignorant. Although it can be said that this is a reflection of the lives of females in Victorian times, it still may not make their deception dark as they are primarily deceiving themselves which does not greatly affect the people around them. It could be argued that, throughout the play, the men’s deception is presented as dark, and the females’ as amusing. Debatably, in a somewhat feminist move, Cecily uses her diary to gain independence and control over her romantic life. Her diary includes overly fantasised accounts of a non-existent relationship between her and ‘Ernest’ which reflects the farcical nature of the climactic play. This ‘perfect’ relationship, in Cecily’s mind, fits her clichéd idea of love among the upper classes as it even has to be ‘broken off at least once’ in order to gain the social acceptance and decorum needed. This is arguably the height of self-deception as it is apparent to the audience that Cecily is intimately wrapped up in her own love story. This type of deception appears to be dark rather
than amusing as she seems to be blurring the line between reality and fantasy. Wilde’s use of binary opposition, through ‘male’ and ‘female,’ ’amusing’ and ‘dark’, implies to structuralists that words are arbitrary as each binary pairing can be inverted. Binary oppositions also conjure ideas of power, where one half of a pair is more dominant or socially praised, which reflects social hierarchies in Victorian society. Ultimately, as the points previously addressed show that females embody both amusing and dark forms of deception, and the use of binary opposition shows that each binary pairing can be inverted, it is clear that there are two clear sides to deception; amusing and dark, where it can be argued that the dark side of deception is the more prominent of the two.
Throughout the play, it is frequently conveyed that these characters only exist superficially and are not concerned with being moral, just looking like it which is why they use deceit. It can be said that this is derived from Wilde’s insistence that his characters aren’t in fact characters, more ‘personalities’ as he states frequently that ‘It is personalities, not principles that move the age.’ [2] In Victorian times, one having character refers to a person being internally and externally moral. In contrast, personality can be seen as a form of disguise, where the personality is the side that is shown to the social world therefore masking a person’s true self. In this case, it can be said that Wilde is arguing that morality itself - or any other social requirements - are not important, as long as the façade of being ‘earnest’ is met in Victorian society. This is reinforced through Jack who believes ‘one has to adopt a very high moral tone on all subjects.’ This interpretation may imply that deception in the play is amusing rather than dark as Wilde’s ethos of ‘personality vs. character’ illuminates the lack of realism in the play. Wilde is arguably trying to portray to his audience that everyone in Victorian society has a good and bad side, the bad side they wish to hide from society, which surfaces ideas of duality. In support of this view, Robert Louis Stevenson, a writer who Wilde believes is the ‘master of delicate and fanciful prose,’ [3] used his famous book ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ to not only entertain, but to make criticisms about the hypocrisy and double standards of Victorian society. This is shown by his subtle double meaning with ‘man is not truly one, but truly two.’ These ideas present deception as dark rather than amusing.
As appropriate for a satirical comedy, Wilde creates deception in order to reveal the hypocrisy of Victorian society, particularly in relation to Jack.
Jack not only pretends to be something he is not; a man with high moral responsibility, but also someone who he is not as he creates a ‘false impression’ with all of the people around him. This type of deception allows Wilde to suggest the hypocrisy of Victorian society, as the plot ‘makes a fool out of respectability’ [1] while simultaneously illuminating the amusing aspect to deception as the play progresses. Perhaps Wilde is attacking Victorian society as he knew they would never accept his life style. It also presents reality as trivial as society is created and moulded by the very people who aim to escape it. Many contemporary critics have dismissed the play as being entirely trivial, and some say it is ‘inspired nonsense,’ [1] as it primarily consists of aspects of satire, farce and comedy of manners, in addition to the use of ‘deus ex machina’ as a plot resolution, but they fail to acknowledge the use of hypocrisy. Although it is initially presented as an artificial, light comedy, its hidden meaning allows Wilde to comment on how hypocrisy was used to achieve social prestige in Victorian society through his
characters.
It appears to me that although Wilde’s initial portrayal of deception seems amusing, a closer examination reveals that it is also dark. Wilde innovatively presents concepts throughout the play so that the key theme is masked behind comic elements which imply that deception is primarily amusing, whereas in actual fact it is mostly dark. Although there is no argument as to whether deception is both amusing and dark, it is still somewhat debateable which effect is prominent. Despite this continuous ambiguity, the points addressed hint that deception is mostly dark, as Wilde clearly uses it to hint at flaws in Victorian society.