Structure

Title

The title of the play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde is a play upon words, which also toys with the readers’ expectations. 

The significance of the word “earnest”, as defined by Cambridge dictionary, is “serious and determined, especially too serious and unable to find your own actions funny.” The makes the readers expect a solemn cautionary tale, where the characters who are not earnest are punished in some way. However, the play turns out to be entirely different. It is a lighthearted comedy of errors, full of twists and turns, and with a happy ending. It is also not a typical cautionary tale, because Algernon and Jack’s deception has no bad consequences.

The title also refers to the importance of being Ernest, a name greatly valued by the upper class. The name is spelled slightly differently than the word “earnest”, but pronounced in the exact same way, which makes the play upon words possible. Furthermore, everyone associates the name with the word, assuming that someone named Ernest has to behave in a serious and honest manner. This leads to irony, since the man called Ernest deceives everyone. 

The irony is taken to the extreme at the end of the story, when we discover that Jack was telling the truth all along, even though he thought he was lying. He was actually earnest/Ernest without knowing it, and he also had a troublesome little brother, revealed to be Algernon. 

Therefore, we can conclude that the title is seen differently by the readers in hindsight. The expectations the reader has before reading the play are gradually reversed, and it is only at the very end that the reader can fully appreciate the irony of the title. The main character himself draws attention to it in the final line ...