The Importance Of Being Earnest Hypocrisy

In the play 'The Importance of Being Earnest' Wilde effecively uses wit to satirize the idea of earnestness. Victorians have been very fond of the idea of hard work, sincerity and an earnest lifestyle which was perfectly ideal for them. However, Wilde's use of irony shows that none of the characters in the play prove to be any of those ideals. He therefore satrizies hypocrisy and false ideals which mock their authentic presence.
Wilde mocks the high society with the high status characters which lead double lives and mearly say one and do the other. Algernon, Jack, Gwendolen, and Cecily show intelligence, wit, and taste, but they also reveal the shallowness, frivolity, and hypocrisy of their kind. This hypocrisy is presented throughout the play, as each character demands a high moral status from other, however, never presents one themselves. Wilde establishes a sense of high style in an unrealistic world in which everyone uses sharp, brittle, and full of elegant witticisms and mild, ironic pronouncements language.
The comedy effect is created through the fact that the audience realizes that the characters could be someone other than who they seem.The false and made up characters, Bunbury and Earnest, are
Both Gwendolen and Cecily have childish conditions for marriage - the name Earnest.Not once do they mention anything else other than the name. Love is effectively satired through Gwendolen's conception that her 'ideal' has been to 'love someone of the name of Earnest' and that even before meeting Mr Worthing she has been 'destined to love' him. This ideal is further enchanced when Miss Cecily Cardew is engaged to whom she think is Earnest without ever meeting him. Wilde's reinforcement of comedy is highlighted here, as in this point the audience realise that through Cecily's perception she has been engaged to someone who doesn't exist, which is