The Importance Of Being Earnest Morals

In Oscar Wilde’s play, “The Importance of Being Earnest,” the traditionally esteemed values of duty, honesty, and hard work are tossed aside in favor of baser motivations. Pleasure, rather than morality, is the focus of every decision made by these less than admirable characters. As eloquently stated by Jack, “…pleasure, pleasure! What else should bring one anywhere?” (1735).
The characters treat serious responsibilities such as marriage, family, and faithfulness as mere trivialities that can be discarded at a moment’s notice. Algernon announces fairly early in the play that he cannot tolerate a visit with his family more than once in a week (1738). In fact, “[r]elations are simply a tedious pack of people who haven’t got the remotest knowledge of how to live, nor the smallest instinct about when to die” (1746). He goes on to lament the insupportable dreariness of a woman who
Algernon, forced into the rigid mold of gentleman, escapes the dictates of that life by turning chivalry on its head and living entirely for his own amusement. He flirts shamelessly, consumes vast amounts of food at his own home and the homes of others, and never curbs his unpolished ideas in public. In contrast, Jack has no idea who his family is and is attempting to live as a gentleman when he has no proof that he is one. He seems to disapprove of Algernon’s rough manners, usually replying to his uncouth statements with such phrases as, “Oh, that is nonsense” (1746). Although Jack’s family name, Worthing, was taken from a train ticket that his adopted guardian was carrying in his pocket, he still strives to unite himself with a respectable lady. He seems to have no qualms that, for all he knows, he could be the son of a nationally hunted criminal. He challenges his own obscurity, braving Lady Bracknell’s severity – and by extension, launching free of his predestined