LRJ #1 - The Importance of Being Earnest

Sarita Beekie
Ms. Peifer
10 IB - Hour 5
5 May 2009

LRJ #1 - The Importance of Being Earnest

In Oscar Wilde's comedy The Importance of Being Earnest, Algernon's views marriage as "a necessary evil". This is because he thinks that marriage puts a damper on one's freedom and fun, which is apparent when he tells his friend Jack, "It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal. Why, one may be accepted. One usually is, I believe. Then the excitement is all over. The very essence of romance is uncertainty. If I ever get married, I'll certainly try to forget the fact" (Wilde i). It is also apparent that Algernon views marriage as something that shouldn't damper ones freedom and fun, which can be inferred when he gives Jack a couple pieces of advice. The first being, "You don't seem to realize, that in married life three is a company and two is none" (Wilde i) and lastly "The only way to behave to a woman is to make love to her, if she is pretty, and to someone else if she is plain" (Wilde i). Algernon's freedom and fun loving views are also blatantly evident when he complains, "The amount of women who flirt with their own husbands is quite scandalous. It looks so bad. It is simply washing one's clean linen in public" (Wilde i). Algernon's views on marriage make him out to be freewheeling, anti-commitment, and flirtatious (however that may have been defined in the nineteenth century) despite the fact that he thinks, "Lane's [his servant's] views on marriage seem somewhat lax" (Wilde i) because Lane apparently cheated on his wife back when he was married. This makes Algernon appear all the more inconsistent, and even less like the stereotypical nineteenth century British man.

The tone of the dialogue between Jack and Algernon is casual (for two nineteenth century British men) and it makes it clear that they are good friends. The trading of banter and the topic of their conversation supports this. From their first meeting in The Importance of Being Earnest, Algernon teases Jack, "My dear fellow, the way you flirt with Gwendolen is perfectly disgraceful. It is almost as bad as the way Gwendolen flirts with you" (Wilde i). The fact that Jack calls Algernon "Algy" is also a clue-in to their friendship.