The Importance of Being Earnest

In The Importance of Being Earnest, it could be said that there is a wide range in the moral characters of the people in the play. Wilde was probably trying to make a statement about the times he lived in with the way he did this. Wilde was described as an aesthetic, and would have been very unhappy with moral restrictions that society placed on him at the time. The play takes on the tones of mockery and these tones are directed completely at the aristocracy. The characters of the play, for the most part, are completely self-absorbed, shallow, and they are not the most intelligent people either.

Who we may define as the most or least admirable characters of the play depends very much on the personal views of the person doing the analysis. From someone who doesn’t believe in the traditional views of the Victorian period, it may be said that Algernon is an admirable character. On the contrary, from someone who may have a more traditional view on life, it could be said that Lady Bracknell is one of the more admirable characters in the play. Both people might say that Jack could be an admirable character because of his ‘wholesome’ lifestyle in the country with Cecily and Miss Prism, but he also lies in telling them that he has a brother in the city so that he may escape to the city and experience the more exciting city life. There is also the question of Cecily, who goes so far as creating a relationship in her mind based on what she has learned of Jack’s imaginary brother.

If it was to be said that Algernon, and his lifestyle in general, were admirable, this point could be argued by saying that, basically, he enjoys life. Many people would consider this an admirable trait in a person, whether it’s moral or not. Algernon also seems to follow a lifestyle that, in certain ways, may have been very similar to Wilde’s lifestyle. In the play, Algernon took advantage of the pleasures that might have been had in the city such as the theater, and fine dining. He even went as far as inventing ‘Bunburying’, where he would visit a sick friend named Bunbury who lived in the country. He would say he was visiting Bunbury so that he could dine with Jack or escape some other commitment that he wanted to avoid. Several parts of Algernon’s character were obviously immoral, but in many ways he is admirable as a person who has fun and enjoys life.

The moral side of Jack’s character that we get to see depends on whether he is in the city or in the country. We are introduced to Jack in the first scene as Ernest, who seems to be a little more akin to Algernon, in that he seems to enjoy life in the city, but reverts to a more ‘wholesome’, mundane existence in the country. Jack invented a brother for himself named Earnest, which he told Cecily and Miss Prism about so that he could escape from the country and go to the city. Consequently, everyone in the city knew him as Earnest. Jack may have been ‘Bunburying’, but he was seen as a very responsible person both in the country and in the city. Therefore, it might be said that Jack’s character was immoral in some ways, but he also has a strong sense of responsibility, and in this way, might be seen as a more admirable person than Jack.

Lady Bracknell would have been very highly regarded in the society in which she lived. She followed Victorian values and would have been considered moral and very admirable. Whether or not