Notes on Love and Marriage:

Perspectives from Oscar Wilde's

The Importance of Being Ernest

an analysis

by Michael Vance

May 2000

Oscar Wilde was a self-described antinomian (p. 1807), one for whom the regular rules for society didn't apply. The fact, therefore that he should have written The Importance of Being Ernest, is not at all surprising.

The Importance of Being Ernest is a cleverly woven satire in which many of the rules, morays, and hypocritical practices and ideas of Wilde's day were made a mockery. In an interview, Wilde was quoted as saying in reference to this play, "It has as its philosophy . . . that we should treat all the trivial things of life seriously, and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality." (p. 1761)

True to his intentions, Wilde exercised great skill and little restraint in crafting a satire that poked fun at many of society's most sacred and untouchable institutions. Throughout the play, Wilde's characters' assault the hypocrisy of society with a series of biting commentaries. The plot of the play is built upon the desires of two young men to marry two young women who in turn desire to marry only men named Ernest.

As marriage is at the plot's core, it makes some sense that Wilde takes frequent and steady aim at this institution and the expectations and customs which have formed themselves around it. This is the case, even though marriage was sought after by these two young men in desperate and absurd ways. Among the views expressed by Wilde's characters is the idea that romance and happiness are hindered within the bonds of matrimony. Algernon, in his counsel to Jack regarding his desire to propose marriage to Algernon's cousin, had the following to say.

"ALGERNON   I really don't see anything romantic in proposing. 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 ever I get married, I'll try to forget the fact.

"JACK   I have no doubt about that, Dear Algy. The Divorce Court was specially invented for people whose memories are so curiously constituted." (p. 1763)

In other words: As uncertainty is the basis for romance, once marriage is proposed,   romance ends.

The idea that marriage is a source of stress and unhappiness is highlighted as well. In describing a visit to an acquaintance who was recently widowed, Lady Bracknell said,

" . . . I never saw a woman so altered; she looks quite twenty years younger." In a later dialogue, Lady Bracknell said the following in regards to her late brother-in-law, " . . . He was eccentric, I admit. But only in later years. And that was the result of the Indian climate, and marriage, and indigestion, and other things of that kind." (p. 1804) Marriage, in this case, was placed on a par with respect to its effects upon the man's psyche to some relatively uncomfortable conditions.

According to Algernon, marriage would be tedious if the husband didn't have an imagined friend like his own Bunbury to whom he could pay frequent visits. As he put it, " . . . You don't seem to realize, that in married life three is company and two is none." (p. 1767)

A further point on which Wilde disparaged the institution of marriage has to do with the ways in which a spouse is chosen. The play's characters make their decisions on marital partners quickly and with little thought devoted to substantive issues related to their choice of spouses. In the case of Algernon and Cecily, Algernon, in the guise of Jack's younger brother Ernest, declared his love and proposed marriage after a single afternoon together. Following this however, Cecily informs him that in fact she had actually been engaged to him for nearly three months. Having heard so much about the brother Ernest her guardian Jack had invented as an excuse to visit town frequently, she became attracted to him. After a short period of imagined courtship, they became engaged. (pp. 1786 and 1787)

An additional point regarding the choice of suitors had to do with their names. For both Cecily and Gwendolen, it was vital that they marry someone of the name Ernest. Gwendolen saw it as her ideal to marry a man of the name Ernest. When she heard that her cousin had a friend by that name, she was instantly intrigued. She described the name Ernest as having a musical quality lacking in most names. She went so far as to pity any woman married to a man whose name was Jack as that name lacked vibration. She concluded that the only safe name was Ernest. (p. 1770) Cecily for her part had always had the fantasy of loving a man named Ernest. She felt that the name inspired confidence. (p. 1787) For both women, marriage to anyone with another name would have been inconceivable even though they freely professed great love for the men who had asked them for their hands.

A satire can be compared to a caricature in its ability to point up flaws and distinctive features by enlarging and expanding upon them to the point where they dominate the portrait and give it a distinctly comic dimension. The flaws inherent in 19th century society in general and its prevailing attitudes toward marriage specifically became, under Wilde's pen, a ready source for comic social commentary.

Works Cited

Wilde, Oscar. From Du. Norton Anthology of English Literature. 7th Edition, Volume 2. 1807.

Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Ernest. Norton Anthology of English Literature. 7th Edition, Volume 2. 1760-1807.