The Importance of Being Earnest

This play was an enjoyable read, much more light-hearted then the previous plays we have read about tragedy and death. Some comedic elements that I noticed while reading The Importance of Being Earnest were Shakespeare's mistaken identity, marriage, and feasting or excessive eating.

The first comedic element I noticed was mistaken identity. This is seen in Jack's pretend character, Earnest, and Algeron's pretend character, Bunbury. The mistaken identity is not only seen in Cecily and Gwendolyn when they think that both their suitor's names are Earnest, but also in the end when Jack finds out that his name really is Earnest, which make the play that much more comical.

Another comedic element I noticed in this play was marriage. Both Jack and Algeron are single and both have pretended to be someone else so that they could woo Gwendolyn and Cecily and propose to them. At first, the marriages are doubtful because Lady Bracknell won't give consent for Gwendolyn to marry Jack and Jack won't allow Cecily to marry Algeron. However, after fast plot resolutions and quick resolutions (another element), both Jack and Algeron are allowed to marry Gwendolyn and Cecily by the end of the play.

A third comedic element seen in The Importance of Being Earnest is that of feasting and excessive eating. In the beginning of the play, Alergon has his butler set out a platter of cucumber sandwiches for when Lady Bracknell visits. However, in his conversation with Jack, Alergon has absentmindedly eaten all of the sandwiches. The notion of decadence and pleasure of Wilde's work is seen through the use of feasting and the sandwiches.