Why Is The Importance Of Being Ernest Funny
Amanda Pridmore
English 2a
Myers
May 11, 2015
What made The Importance of Being Earnest funny?
In Oscar Wilde’s play, The Importance of Being Earnest, there was a lot of comedic portrayal seen through the foolishness of its characters. Wilde's vast usage of vocabulary, characters, breathtaking humor and foolishness made this play very amusing. The majority of the time, it was difficult to tell whether the character was of sincerity, or just joking, which left the audience either confused of laughing. This play was in fact composed with the hopes of giving an audience the slightest idea of the snooty victorian society he awkwardly had to live through. He did this very well by describing his characters as high-class rich British folk, and overdoing the things they said and did. However, not every humourous moment came from laughing at high-class etiquette and culture. The plot was very very strange, which left the audience’s laughter to a maximum. …show more content…
When Algernon stated that "divorces [were] made in Heaven" it turned out to be actually very funny due to a reverse of the true phrase of “Marriages are made in Heaven”. Additionally, "I [heard] her hair [had] turned quite gold from grief" was a very funny thought due to the fact that grief eventually transformed the youthful to the elderly.
The replication of the humorous words in just one speech were very funny as well. An example of this was it could have been perfectly seen through the word “'Bunbury', which sounds funny and was repeated several times at one part for example 'Bunbury' and 'Bunburyist' tended to be repeated thirteen times on pages seven to nine. It made the dialogue sound very funny. Another example was 'handbag' which within six lines is repeated six times when Jack is explaining to Lady Bracknell that he was found in a handbag, it is very funny because every time the word handbag is mentioned one might imagine a baby in a
English 2a
Myers
May 11, 2015
What made The Importance of Being Earnest funny?
In Oscar Wilde’s play, The Importance of Being Earnest, there was a lot of comedic portrayal seen through the foolishness of its characters. Wilde's vast usage of vocabulary, characters, breathtaking humor and foolishness made this play very amusing. The majority of the time, it was difficult to tell whether the character was of sincerity, or just joking, which left the audience either confused of laughing. This play was in fact composed with the hopes of giving an audience the slightest idea of the snooty victorian society he awkwardly had to live through. He did this very well by describing his characters as high-class rich British folk, and overdoing the things they said and did. However, not every humourous moment came from laughing at high-class etiquette and culture. The plot was very very strange, which left the audience’s laughter to a maximum. …show more content…
When Algernon stated that "divorces [were] made in Heaven" it turned out to be actually very funny due to a reverse of the true phrase of “Marriages are made in Heaven”. Additionally, "I [heard] her hair [had] turned quite gold from grief" was a very funny thought due to the fact that grief eventually transformed the youthful to the elderly.
The replication of the humorous words in just one speech were very funny as well. An example of this was it could have been perfectly seen through the word “'Bunbury', which sounds funny and was repeated several times at one part for example 'Bunbury' and 'Bunburyist' tended to be repeated thirteen times on pages seven to nine. It made the dialogue sound very funny. Another example was 'handbag' which within six lines is repeated six times when Jack is explaining to Lady Bracknell that he was found in a handbag, it is very funny because every time the word handbag is mentioned one might imagine a baby in a