Puns in the Importance of Being Ernest
Wilde uses puns throughout this play, but the major pun is found within the title. In The Importance of Being Earnest, the pun, widely considered to be the lowest form of verbal wit, is rarely just a play on words. The title,
- The Importance of Being Earnest,- insinuates the importance of being honest and truthful, while playing on the male name, Ernest. The pun in the title is a case in point. The earnest/Ernest joke strikes at the very heart of Victorian notions of respectability and duty. Gwendolen wants to marry a man called Ernest, and she doesn’t care whether the man actually possesses the qualities that comprise earnestness. She is, after all, quick to forgive Jack’s deception. In embodying a man who is initially neither “earnest” nor “Ernest,” and who, through forces beyond his control, subsequently becomes both “earnest” and “Ernest,” Jack is a walking, breathing paradox and a complex symbol of Victorian hypocrisy.
-Earnest - means serious or non-frivolous. Many of the characters in the play spend their time trying to convince each other, and themselves, that they are high-minded people with strong morals and are admired in society. But Oscar Wilde presents them all in such a way that their interests and ethical ideas will seem ridiculous and trivial to most of the audience.
-Ernest - is a man's name. Much of the action of the play turns on whether Jack Worthington's first name is Jack, or Ernest. Normally a man's first name is of no great importance in his life, but in the extremely silly world of this play - it is the most serious element of the plot. (Many people who know the play well never realise that we don't get a satisfactory answer to this crucial question).
So the pun is that the title of the play appears to mean: The Importance of being a Serious Person; but when we watch the play we realise that the real title is: The Importance of having Ernest for a First name.
ex: Algernon- You have always told me it was Ernest. I have introduced
- The Importance of Being Earnest,- insinuates the importance of being honest and truthful, while playing on the male name, Ernest. The pun in the title is a case in point. The earnest/Ernest joke strikes at the very heart of Victorian notions of respectability and duty. Gwendolen wants to marry a man called Ernest, and she doesn’t care whether the man actually possesses the qualities that comprise earnestness. She is, after all, quick to forgive Jack’s deception. In embodying a man who is initially neither “earnest” nor “Ernest,” and who, through forces beyond his control, subsequently becomes both “earnest” and “Ernest,” Jack is a walking, breathing paradox and a complex symbol of Victorian hypocrisy.
-Earnest - means serious or non-frivolous. Many of the characters in the play spend their time trying to convince each other, and themselves, that they are high-minded people with strong morals and are admired in society. But Oscar Wilde presents them all in such a way that their interests and ethical ideas will seem ridiculous and trivial to most of the audience.
-Ernest - is a man's name. Much of the action of the play turns on whether Jack Worthington's first name is Jack, or Ernest. Normally a man's first name is of no great importance in his life, but in the extremely silly world of this play - it is the most serious element of the plot. (Many people who know the play well never realise that we don't get a satisfactory answer to this crucial question).
So the pun is that the title of the play appears to mean: The Importance of being a Serious Person; but when we watch the play we realise that the real title is: The Importance of having Ernest for a First name.
ex: Algernon- You have always told me it was Ernest. I have introduced