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The Importance of Being Earnest Satire Essay Example

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The Importance of Being Earnest Satire Essay Example
The Importance of Being Earnest Satire Essay

“There is something in that name that seems to inspire absolute confidence.”(Act1part2/Act2part2,Wilde) The drama The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, is a satire on love, relationships and women. Wilde showcases two different types of women that hopelessly fall in love with “Earnest” the name, not the man. Gwendolen comes from a high society in which the look of honesty and integrity are highly sought after, which is exactly why she can’t marry anyone that doesn’t have the name Earnest. Cecily is the opposite; she is the depiction of honesty and integrity, which is why when she hears of someone who is wicked and a tad reckless she must marry him. In The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde satirizes how women are attracted to men through the characters Gwendolen and Cecily in order to show that women can be so drawn to one thing about a man that it blurs their judgment. In Act 1 part 1, Jack has it in his mind that he will propose to the lovely Gwendolen, who knows him by the name of Earnest, even though his best friend Algernon warns him it will not end well. Once Jack gets her alone he pops the question to Gwendolen and she happily accepts saying that she will finally have her own Earnest. But when Jack asks if she only loves him for his name, she doesn’t respond well.
“Gwendolen. […] and my ideal has always been to love some one of the name of Ernest. There is something in that name that inspires absolute confidence. The moment Algernon first mentioned to me that he had a friend called Ernest, I knew I was destined to love you. […] Jack?… No, there is very little music in the name Jack, if any at all, indeed. It does not thrill. It produces absolutely no vibrations… I have known several Jacks, and they all, without exception, were more than usually plain. Besides, Jack is a notorious domesticity for John! And I pity any woman who is married to a man called John. She would probably

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