Dual Identity in "The Importance of Being Earnest"

It is all in her mental imagery and she has invented an elaborate ro military mance and courtship between them. Gwendoline Fairfax, Lady Bricknell's daughter, is in love with knee bend, whom she only knows as Ernest. She, too is fixated on the allude Ernest and swears she result only sweep up a man who bears that name. The parallel lives which are central to this play are those of Jack, Algernon, and Cecily.

Jack's imaginary and obdurate blood brother, Ernest, is a device he uses to escape social and virtuous obligations, and the character also allows him to appear far more object lesson and responsible than he really is (SparkNotes). Algernon has an imaginary invalid friend, Bunbury, who he uses to escape to the country, where he imposes on people who don't know him in the same way he imposes on Cecily in the play, trance seeming to demonstrate Christian charity. The difference between what Jack and Algernon do is that Jack not only pretends to be something he is not, but also pretends to be someone he is not, which is truly different. This sort of magic suggests a far more grueling degree of hypocrisy through the various enactments of double lives than Algernon's deception of running off to visit a sick friend.

Algernon and Jack's beingness of alter egos allows them to evade responsibility, and Wilde drops some hints that Bunburying may describe queer liaisons, or at least a means of escaping conglutination (Classic-Themes). Wilde himself was a closet homosexual who w

Classic Notes. "The Importance of Being Earnest." 2003. 17 Apr. 2005.

Cecily's double action becomes apparent in Act II, startle 2, when Algernon comes to Cecily in the garden and asks her to marry him (Wilde). She points out that they do already been engaged for tether months, (ever since she heard of Jack's wicked brother Ernest, she has been in love with him). She shows him a box of letters he supposedly wrote to her, but which she wrote to herself. She admits that she uncivilised in love with him because his name was Ernest, and when he asks her, she says she doesn't think she would have loved him if she knew his name as Algernon.

In Act 1, part 2, Jack asks Gwendolen if she would marry him if his name was not Ernest: she says no, and he proposes to her as Ernest and she accepts (Wilde). However, after her mother hears his story she denies him permission to marry Gwendolen. Algernon announces he will go Bunburying next day, but Jack warns him that Bunbury will only get him in trouble.

Gwendolen enters looking for Jack and Cecily tells her he has gone to find the rector (Wilde). Gwendoline doesn't like that Cecily is Ernest's ward, but Cecily says no, she is his brother Jack's ward and she is going to marry Ernest. They compare notes; Gwendolen feels she has the claim because Ernest asked her to marry him the day before. The girls argue over him. Jack then comes into the garden, and kisses Gwendolen, who asks if he is engaged to Cecily, and he denies it. Cecily says there is some misunderstanding because this man is Jack. Algernon then enters and Cecily calls him Ernest and kisses him. She and Gwendolen come together and ask Jack to explain. He confesses he has no brother Ernest. Jack and Algernon are smoldering at each other; Jack is angry at Algernon for deceiving Cecily, and Algernon is angry at Jack for deceiving Gwendolen. While they are argument over tea, it appears they have both ar
Order your essay at Orderessay and get a 100% original and high-quality custom paper within the required time frame.