How Does Wilde Use Dramatic Irony In The Importance Of Being Ernest

In the art of theatre, there are many times in which characters on stage are oblivious to the truth that the audience knows. These instances of dramatic irony can have a range of effects from tension to laugh out loud comedy. In his play The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde uses dramatic irony to create humor by creating problems for characters to solve, promoting reactions from characters, and tying these problem and reactions into the resolution.

In The Importance of Being Earnest the audience is aware of future conflicts and secrets between the characters before the characters themselves are. One main secret, that Jack is pretending to be his nonexistent bother Earnest, drives the play. When Gwendolen states to Jack that, “the only really safe name is Earnest,” she is unaware of the fact that Jack was actually trying to confess his real name (Wilde 18). This creates a comedic situation where the audience takes humor from the potential rejection of Jack by Gwendolen. This also makes the audience expect the future string of problems and conflicts. Two of the conflicts that arise from Jack
However, the comedy does not just come from the satire. The many instances of dramatic irony are used as a device to make the audience laugh. When the audience is aware of secrets between characters it leaves them anticipating the comedic problems that will unfold. These problems created by dramatic irony prompts amusing conflicts and reactions from characters. Finally, the dramatic irony ties into the conclusion that used things the audience knew from the beginning of the play and uses them for a perfect resolution. Oscar Wilde, without his deep understanding of dramatic irony, would not have been as great of a playwright as we know him to be today. These instance of dramatic irony have kept audiences worldwide laughing for over a hundred