The Importance of Being Earnest

It was refreshing to read a play that was lighthearted in contrast to the last few plays we have read in class. However, I found the superficiality of The Importance of Being Earnest quite off putting. It was unsettling to me that after all of Jack and Algernon’s lies and deception they still ended with what they desired. It was interesting the amount of important that was put on ones name and how fixated both Gwendolen and Cecily were on the name Earnest. In Act One Gwendolen says, “…and my ideal has always been to love some one of the name of Ernest. There is something in that name that inspires absolute confidence. The moment Algernon first mentioned to me that he had a friend called Ernest, I knew I was destined to love you.” Later in Act Two Cecily expresses her obsession with the name when she says, “you must not laugh at me, darling but it had always been a girlish dream of mine to love some one whose name was Ernest. There is something in that name that seems to inspire absolute confidence. I pity any poor married woman whose husband is not called Ernest.” Their infatuation with the name shows how shallow they are, which many of the other characters throughout the play can be described as.

I continued to think about the importance of a name after reading the play. It gives use our identity and characteristics are usually attached to certain names. Although, judgments are commonly made when hearing a person’s name for the first time, I believe it is also the people around you and your experiences that give life to your name or perhaps give life to nicknames that more appropriately suited for you.