Badri Baskaran

Grade 10 English
Mr Spiegel
23rd February, 2014
In the play The Importance of being Earnest, Oscar Wilde uses irony to expose the
peculiarities of the characters in the play. Wildes usage of dramatic irony in many situations
in the play show the strangeness and absurdity of these characters.
Wilde has also used the dramatic irony of Jacks invalid brother, Ernest, to introduce a
satirical element in the Victorian society and its morals in the play. Jacks non-existent
brother exposes the peculiarities of the characters and their emphasis on being earnest. In
the play, a high degree of earnestness being serious and sincere in everything that one
does is expected. Jack is very earnest in convincing all his loved ones about Ernest, his
false brother that no character in the play yet knows the truth about, and this raises a question
in the reader mind: When is it important to be earnest? As a high moral tone can hardly be
said to conduce very much to either ones health or ones happiness, in order to get up to
town I have always pretended to have a younger brother of the name of Ernest, who lives in
the Albany, and gets into the most dreadful scrapes. In this case, Jack is, in fact, lied
earnestly, or in other words, lied the right way, because he has an excuse to do so he has
been earnest in what he has been doing. The reader could, in fact, laugh at the hilarious,
paradoxical situation where he was morally doing something immoral, which sounds
absolutely ridiculous and impossible since there is no right way to do wrong. Also, Jacks
apparent killing of Ernest having found out that Cecily is taking passionate interest in him
goes to show how the this earnest element of pretending to have a brother Ernest can be a
very attractive element.

Another classic example of dramatic irony is Algernons pretence of having a brother

named Bunbury, which characterises Lady Bracknells strangely cold-hearted character. Lady
Bracknells lack of sympathy towards Bunburys illness makes the reader wonder why Lady
Bracknells behaviour is so strange and detestable. Well, I must say, Algernon, that it is high
time that Mr Bunbury made up his mind whether he was going to live or die. This shillyshallying with the question is absurd. Nor do I in any way approve of modern sympathy
towards invalids. I consider it morbid. Illness of any kind is hardly a thing to be encouraged
in others. This behaviour makes the reader think that Lady Bracknell is peculiarly
unsympathetic and hence, not a very likeable character. The reader wonders what Lady
Bracknell would think of Ernest, the non-existent brother of Jack, and might think that she
may show the same behaviour.
Another example of dramatic irony is when Jack and Algernon happen to have the
same name, due to Jacks alias of Ernest and Algernons pretence to be Jacks false brother
Ernest. This classic example is what brings to light the peculiarity of Gwendolen, because of
her trust in her own judgements that are in fact, always wrong. This is, in fact, proven when
Gwendolen claims that she and Cecily will be great friends, and liked Cecily more than
she could say and later, in the process of a misunderstanding, states that she distrusted
Cecily from the moment she saw her, calls Cecily false and deceitful, and adds that her
first impressions are invariably right. The words invariably right are quite contradictory
to the description of her earlier behaviour. Gwendolyns habit of being judgemental and then
changing her earlier judgement makes her come across as absent-minded and foolish, because
she thinks she is always right and she does not even seem to acknowledge the fact that she
contradicts herself a lot. The reader could laugh at Gwendolyns changing what she says to
look clever.

Thus, through many examples, Wilde has shown the effect of dramatic irony by
showing how it brings out some of the ridiculous quirks in the characters of the play, through
their behaviour and actions.