The Importance of Being Earnest: Act 1

After reading the first act of the play, I can already tell that it will only get better as we get to know the characters even more. The frequent use of clever word play was pleasurable and at time I couldn't stop myself from laughing (on the inside). This whole idea of Jack pretending to go under the name of Ernest in order to escape from the country seems to me ridiculous but at the same time fun to play along with. Algernon who also engages in the same behavior and labels it as being a "Bunburyist" finds it delightful that Jack does the same thing. However, soon enough Jack's double identity causes trouble when Gwendolyn, the woman whom he wants to marry, confesses to him that she loves him mostly because of his fake name, Ernest. I found it hilarious how Gwendolyn attributed his whole character to the name "Ernest" and that she knew she would marry him one day because of his "divine name" that has a "music of its own" and "produces vibrations" (122). There was definitely dramatic irony because the audience knew that Ernest was not Jack's real name, therefore it questions whether Gwedonlyn really loved Jack. To me, it showed the shallow mindset which pretty much all of the characters seem to have due to their hypocritical behavior.

A line that stood out to me was when Lady Bracknell (Gwendolyn's mother) interrogates Jack after she finds out he wishes to marry her daughter. She asked him whether he knew everything or knew nothing and Jack answers the latter. What surprised me was Lady Bracknell's response: "I am pleased to hear it. I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone." (125)
Instead of feeling offended at his "knowing nothing", she approves of his ignorance because nothing has tampered his "natural ignorance". Since she belongs to the upper class, she perceived knowledge as a threat because once people become educated, they become "radicalized" and rebel against the upper class who is in power. It also highlights how the upper class society depend on this "natural ignorance" to maintain their power and they themselves enjoy the ignorance.

I also found that the characters often emphasized behavior and how other people will think of their behavior such as in the lines: "I hope you are behaving very well"---"I'm feeling very well". Lady Bracknell responds: "That's not quite the same thing. In fact the two things rarely go together." (118). This shows that in order to behave according to societal conduct, one must put their emotions aside and act according to how people expect them to behave rather than how they feel.