"The Importance of being Earnest" is a play written by Oscar Wilde. This is a trivial comedy about the importance of being "Earnest" in high social class in the Victorian era. Through this essay how Oscar Wilde makes this piece of the play such a delightfully comic moment will be analysed by using the reactions of the characters, role reversal and the language used.
In this extract we can see how Wilde uses role reversal as to make it a comic moment. We mainly find role reversal in the play in Lady Braknell. She is everything a man is supposed to be in charge of at that era. In this part there is a role reversal between Lady Bracknell and Jack. In the first and second act we can see Jack respecting Lady B. however, in the third one Jack feels he has more power than her and interrupts her and discusses with her. When Jack replies "I decline to give my consent" to Lady B. is very well shown he is the one with power.
We can also see how Oscar Wilde makes this piece of the play comic by the reactions of the characters and the language used. One way he makes it comis is how they change the conversation subject; they were talking about Algernon's disgraceful deception and all of a sudden they were talking with and about Cecily. "Untruthfull! My nephew Algernon? Impossible! He is an oxonian" said Lady B. and after discussing about Algernon she called Cecilia "[to Cecily] Come here, sweet child [Cecily goes over] How old are you, dear?". Wilde also shows comedy when Algernon says he could wait Cecily until she is 35, however it was absurd because no one could wait 17 years to get married.
Throughout this essay the different ways Oscar Wilde uses as to make this piece of the play such a delightfully comic moment had been explaines. How he uses hipocrecy in the play let the reader to find this play a comic piece of writing.
