Dishonesty

Dishonesty is a key theme in The Importance of Being Earnest, hereafter referred to as TIoBE. One way this ties into the play is through the humor. Being dishonest can often be ironic and lead to many chances for comedy, such as epigrams. Like when Cecily says it is hard to be away from someone you just met, but she and Algernon are already secretly engaged. Satire of society is generally scattered around TIoBE, as is dishonest behavior. They often overlap, but aren’t directly related as far as I can tell. The entire Earnest/Ernest thing is one giant lie heaped on another. John lies about having a brother so he can party, while both Gwendolyn and Cecily are sort of engaged to men who aren’t earnest in any sense of the word. That’s about as dishonest as you can get. The relation to the pursuit of pleasure is fairly obvious. Both John and Algernon have alter egos that they say they need to take care of, and then they can go party.

            In my opinion Wilde is saying dishonesty can make or break you. Lying and having alter egos has yielded some pretty positive results in the story so far, like Algernon being engaged to Cecily. I am, however relatively certain that all the deception will catch up with everyone. For example, Gwendolyn is in love with Ernest, not jack. However, I don’t think Victorian society could function without people occasionally going “Bunburying”.