Paper 104: ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ as a Celebration of Artifice: Aestheticism and the Rejection of Morality
This blog is a part of the assignment Paper 104: Literature of
the Victorians.
‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ as
a Celebration of Artifice: Aestheticism and the Rejection of Morality
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Table of Contents
- Academic Details:
- Assignment Details:
- Abstract:
- Keywords:
- Research Question:
- Hypothesis:
1. Introduction: The Triviality of Seriousness
2. The Aesthetic Premise: Life as a Work of Art (Artifice as Ideal)
- 2.1. The Principle of Fictional Identity: Bunburying
- 2.2. Elevating Style: The Primacy of the Epigram
- 2.3. The Aesthetic Characters: The Dandies and the Importance of Doing Nothing
3. Satire and Subversion: The Rejection of Victorian Morality
- 3.1. The Title’s Irony: The Satire of Earnestness
- 3.2. Lady Bracknell and the Commodification of Morality
- 3.3. Marriage as a Societal Contract: Rejection of Domestic Ideals
4. The Final Triumph of Artifice
- 4.1. The Convergence of Fiction and Reality: The Literal Ernest
- 4.2. Conclusion of the Aesthetic Argument: Irreversible Validation
5. Conclusion: The Triumph of the Trivial
- References:
Academic
Details:
- Name: Priya A. Rathod
- Roll
No.: 21
- Enrollment No.: 5108250028
- Sem.: 1
- Batch: 2025-27
- E-mail: priyarathod315@gmail.com
Assignment Details:
- Paper Name: Literature of the Victorians
- Paper No.: 104
- Paper Code: 22395
- Unit: 1
- Topic: The Play The Importance of Being Earnest as
a Celebration of Artifice: Aestheticism and the Rejection of Morality
- Submitted To: Smt. Sujata Binoy Gardi, Department of
English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University
- Submitted Date: November 10, 2025
The following information numbers are counted using Quill Bot:
- Images: 3
- Words: 2323
- Characters:
15405
- Characters
without spaces: 13074
- Paragraphs:
50
- Sentences:
135
- Reading
time: 9m 18s
Abstract:
This
paper examines Oscar Wilde’s dramatic masterpiece, The Importance of Being
Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People, as a definitive theatrical
manifesto for the late-Victorian Aesthetic Movement. It argues that the
play systematically elevates artifice in the form of fictional
identities, calculated wit, and sophisticated performance over sincerity,
earnestness, and conventional Victorian morality. By deploying
farce, paradox, and the figure of the Dandy, Wilde constructs a dazzling
critique of his society's hypocrisy. The analysis demonstrates that
through the central comic mechanisms of Bunburying and the obsession
with a meaningless name, the play ultimately validates the aesthetic life,
asserting that true social elegance and personal freedom are achieved not by
adhering to rigid ethical codes, but by embracing the rejection of morality
in favor of consummate style over sincerity.
Keywords:
Aestheticism,
Artifice, Rejection of Morality, Style over Sincerity, Bunburying, Dandy,
Paradox & Epigram, Victorian Morality, Hypocrisy, Earnestness.
Research Question:
Hypothesis:
1. Introduction: The Triviality of Seriousness
Oscar
Wilde's 1895 play, The Importance of Being Earnest, stands as the pinnacle of
the Victorian drawing-room comedy and a radical declaration of his aestheticism.
Published under the provocative subtitle, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People,
the work immediately announces its mission: to invert the moral and thematic
priorities of its age. The Victorian era was characterized by an obsession with
utility, duty, social reform, and a repressive code of Victorian morality
built on outward seriousness, or earnestness. Wilde, the foremost
evangelist for the doctrine of "Art for Art's Sake," fundamentally
challenged this ethos, advocating for the rejection of morality in art
(Quintus 1980).
This
paper contends that the play is not merely a witty farce, but a sophisticated,
sustained celebration of artifice as the highest form of self-expression
and social survival. The characters, plot mechanics, and language are all tools
employed to dismantle the didactic function of art, arguing instead that
beauty, elegance, and style are intrinsically superior to
"truth" or "sincerity." By examining the twin mechanisms of
artifice (Bunburying) and linguistic paradox, alongside
the play's dramatic subversion of conventional ethics, we reveal how Earnest
orchestrates a complete rejection of morality, positing an aesthetic
ideal where life itself becomes a conscious work of beautiful, if fictional,
design.
2. The Aesthetic Premise: Life as a
Work of Art (Artifice as Ideal)
Image Source: Gemini
Wilde's
drama finds its philosophical bedrock in the belief, famously articulated in
The Critic as Artist, that "Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates
Life." In The Importance of Being Earnest, this concept is dramatized
through the deliberate cultivation of artifice as a prerequisite for happiness
and freedom. The characters are not seekers of truth but creators of beautiful,
enabling lies, establishing artifice as the ideal mode of existence.
2.1. The Principle of Fictional
Identity: Bunburying
The
engine of the entire plot is Bunburying, a practice invented by Algernon
Moncrieff that is quickly adopted by Jack Worthing (who calls his version
"Ernest"). Bunburying is the deliberate creation of a
fictional character an invalid friend constantly requiring attention
(Algernon’s Bunbury) or a wicked brother constantly requiring rescue (Jack’s
Ernest) to escape onerous social obligations. As Algernon declares: "If
ever I get married, I'm going to be a permanent invalid... I can't imagine a
more desirable life!"
This
is analyzed not as simple lying, but as an aesthetic strategy. The invention of
these characters is not a moral failing; it is an act of imaginative necessity,
a declaration of the superiority of imagination and fiction over dull fact.
The "serious" life Jack's role as a moral guardian, Algernon's social
duty is perceived as a suffocating trap. The fictional "Ernest" or
"Bunbury" is the aesthetic escape hatch, granting the user freedom
and excitement. In this context, the lie is functionally superior to the truth
because it creates opportunity and pleasure. This concept is further explored
by Flanagan (2014) in his analysis of Character Invention, seeing it as
a functional tool rather than a moral one (Flanagan 2014).
The
female characters, Cecily and Gwendolen, reinforce this priority by actively
demanding artifice. They are not merely fooled by the pretense; they are
in love with the specific aesthetic fiction of being loved by a man
named "Ernest," whom they imagine as utterly wicked and hence,
romantically interesting. Gwendolen states, "The only really safe name is
Ernest." This demonstrates that the women prioritize the elegant fiction
of the name and its connotations over the mundane reality of the men's actual
character, validating the play’s core aesthetic principle.
2.2. Elevating Style: The Primacy of
the Epigram
The
primary instrument of the play's Aestheticism is its language. Wilde’s
dialogue is constructed almost entirely of paradox and epigram,
serving to elevate style over sincerity. The epigram is a
concentrated, elegant, and often nonsensical truth that inverts common sense.
When Algernon says, "The truth is rarely pure and never simple," he
is not making a profound moral observation, but a witty, self-reflexive
statement that is perfectly phrased. The value lies in the perfection of the
phrase, not the sincerity of the feeling behind it.
The
continuous stream of polished wit disarms the audience, turning potential moral
or political debate into a trivial exercise in linguistic acrobatics. The
characters use their intellect to avoid genuine emotional or moral engagement.
Foster (1956) identifies this sophisticated use of language as Wilde's
technique of "parody," where the moral earnestness of contemporary
drama is deliberately mocked through brilliant but hollow pronouncements (Foster
1956). Furthermore, the relentless wit makes all serious subjects marriage,
death, duty sound frivolous, and all frivolous subjects tea cakes, cushions, cigarette
cases sound profoundly important. This deliberate misdirection confirms the
play’s prioritization of style and linguistic surface as the ultimate
aesthetic experience. The paradox is not just witty; it is the
philosophical engine that rejects the single, objective truth of Victorian
thought, replacing it with elegant, conflicting half-truths.
2.3. The Aesthetic Characters: The
Dandies and the Importance of Doing Nothing
Algernon
and Jack, particularly Algernon, represent the quintessential Wildean aesthetic
hero: the Dandy. The Dandy is defined by a supreme devotion to
appearance, wit, and idleness a conscious rejection of Victorian duty
and utility.
The
Dandies' most celebrated accomplishment is their inactivity. As Chamberlin
(1972) suggests, the play highlights "The Importance of Doing Nothing"
(Chamberlin 1972). These characters exist purely for pleasure, their
labor confined to formulating witty remarks or consuming enormous amounts of
food. Their indifference to social problems, political reform, or even basic
moral obligations (like paying bills) is presented as a sophisticated sign of
their aesthetic superiority.
This
inaction is a deliberate political statement, a stark contrast to the
moralizing Victorian ideal of the busy, productive, and "earnest"
citizen. By making the most amusing and successful characters the least morally
engaged, Wilde equates morality with boredom and aesthetic liberation with
moral indifference. They are, as Dandies, performing a superior
social reality, embodying the ideal that life's highest purpose is to be
beautiful, useless, and witty.
3. Satire and Subversion: The
Rejection of Victorian Morality
The
play's celebration of artifice is inextricably linked to its satirical
campaign against the repressive code of Victorian morality. Wilde uses
his comedic structure and characters to expose the social ethics of his age not
as principled convictions, but as arbitrary, materialistic, and deeply
hypocritical conventions.
3.1. The Title’s Irony: The Satire
of Earnestness
The
central satirical target is the concept of Earnestness itself. For the
Victorian middle and upper classes, being "earnest" meant displaying
sincerity, sobriety, and a high sense of moral duty. Wilde, through the central
pun, transforms this virtue into an object of ridicule. Jack, the man who tries
to maintain a facade of earnestness in the country, is revealed to be a
hypocrite for inventing the "wicked" brother Ernest. The play
suggests that the Victorian demand for sincerity is inherently a mask
for hypocrisy and a recipe for boredom.
Reinert
(1956) explores this as the play’s "Satiric Strategy," noting
that the light, farcical tone prevents the audience from ever taking the play's
underlying moral structure seriously, thus successfully undercutting the
possibility of genuine emotion (Reinert 1956). The play does not
debate morality; it trivializes it, demonstrating that a focus on "being
good" invariably leads to double standards and self-deception. This is the
rejection of morality enacted on a thematic level: morality is useless
because it is entirely synthetic and easily exchanged for a better name.
Image Source: Gemini
3.2. Lady Bracknell and the
Commodification of Morality
Lady
Bracknell serves as the monolithic embodiment of the rigid, materialistic
code of Victorian Morality. Her moral judgments are not derived from
ethical principles but from the absolute prerequisites of class, wealth, and
social acceptability. Her famous interrogation of Jack is a devastating piece
of satire, revealing that her moral standards are entirely dictated
purely by wealth, class, and social position.
Her
contempt is not for Jack’s character, but for his lack of family: "To lose
both parents may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like
carelessness." This absurd, witty statement, perfectly exemplifies the
inversion of value. The climax of her disgust Jack having been found in a
handbag at a railway station terminus is treated as the moral offense of
the highest order.
Wilde
brilliantly demonstrates that the Victorian Morality Lady Bracknell
defends is nothing more than a set of highly specific, arbitrary, and often
cruel rules designed to protect social and economic privilege. Her moral code
is entirely commodified; she is willing to drop her objections to
Cecily's background the moment she learns Cecily has a substantial fortune,
proving that wealth is the only true moral currency in her world. Walkowitz offers
a critical lens here, suggesting that the play compels an "Ethical
Criticism" precisely because it lacks any inherent morality, forcing
the reader to judge the social system it critiques (Walkowitz 2002).
3.3. Marriage as a Societal Contract: Rejection of Domestic Ideals
Image Source: Gemini
The
play systematically rejects Victorian ideals of domesticity and duty by
framing marriage not as a sacred or romantic union, but as a cynical societal
contract or a fashionable convenience.
Algernon
initiates the discussion by questioning the sincerity of marriage, seeing a
marriage proposal as "business" while Jack sees it as
"pleasure." However, both views are profoundly non-romantic. Lady
Bracknell's views confirm the pragmatic, non-emotional reality of the institution:
"An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or
unpleasant, as the case may be." Her meticulous list of eligible
bachelors, focused solely on income and property, underscores that her class
views matrimony as a strategic alliance, not an expression of love.
The
young women, Gwendolen and Cecily, are equally non-romantic, only caring about
the name Ernest and viewing marriage through the artifice of sensational
literature (Cecily’s obsession with a man being wicked). This
collective, cynical treatment of marriage successfully undercuts the
institution's solemn place in Victorian Morality, replacing the high
drama of domestic bliss with the low farce of financial and nominal
convenience.
4. The Final Triumph of Artifice
The
conclusion of The Importance of Being Earnest is a masterful stroke of comedic
writing and a final, conclusive philosophical statement. The plot is resolved
not through moral conversion or genuine repentance, but through the ultimate convergence
of fiction and reality a triumph of artifice.
4.1. The Convergence of Fiction and
Reality: The Literal Ernest
The
climax hinges entirely on the revelation of Miss Prism’s melodramatic past and
the discovery that Jack is, in fact, the son of Lady Bracknell’s sister and the
older brother of Algernon. Critically, Jack’s actual name is discovered to be Ernest
John.
This
final twist is the play’s ultimate philosophical victory. The fictional name
that Gwendolen and Cecily demanded the artifice they were devoted to is
revealed to be the absolute, literal truth. The lie (Jack pretending to
be Ernest) only had to be maintained until the actual truth (Jack being Ernest)
could catch up with it. The absurd and contrived nature of this dramatic
mechanism, built on coincidences and the mistake of a governess, demonstrates
that order and happiness in this world are not found through authentic moral
endeavor but through the elegance and convenience of a perfectly executed plot.
As Snider (2005) might argue, the use of synchronicity resolves the
conflict, affirming the power of chance and the theatrical machine (Snider
2005). The play’s logic dictates that life must conform to the beautiful,
aesthetic requirements of the fiction.
4.2. Conclusion of the Aesthetic
Argument: Irreversible Validation
The
final scene, which results in the multiple marriages and general happiness of
the protagonists, provides irrefutable validation of the play’s central
thesis. The characters have secured their desired endings precisely because
they rejected morality and embraced artifice. They are rewarded
for their hypocrisy, their superficiality, their Bunburying,
and their devotion to style over sincerity.
Jack's
final line, "I've now realized for the first time in my life the vital Importance
of Being Earnest," is not a moment of genuine moral insight. Given the
farcical context, this line is the play’s final, grand paradox,
confirming his newfound commitment to the name Ernest the aesthetically
desirable surface over the quality of earnestness he has successfully
shed. The comedy ends in a state of perfect, elegant, and amoral bliss, secured
entirely by a lie that became a truth.
5. Conclusion: The Triumph of the
Trivial
The
Importance of Being Earnest is far more than a Trivial Comedy. It is a
devastating critique of the Victorian Morality that Wilde himself would
soon be persecuted by, and a triumphant celebration of artifice as the
ultimate creative act. By creating a world where the Dandy is the hero,
where the epigram is worth more than duty, and where Bunburying
is a necessary form of self-care, Wilde proves that social sophistication and
personal freedom rely entirely on the careful cultivation of one's own
beautiful, fictional surface. The play’s enduring power lies in its successful rejection
of morality and its absolute validation of the aesthetic life, a life where
the only thing that truly matters is style over sincerity.
For a more detailed explanation of the ideas discussed in this blog, refer to the video below
Artifice Triumphant: Wilde's Aesthetic Rejection of Morality
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