Dishonesty

         During the time period that Oscar Wilde wrote this play, people acted way different then they do today. He pokes fun at the upper class and how ridiculous they were about everyday issues. One example is lying about silly things, like their age. Another issue was that women and men acted so differently. When getting married, they sometimes weren't even allowed to choose their partner. Men got married to one women, but yet he went out with another women to fulfill his pleasuring needs. When Gwendolen and Cecily found out that both their Ernests' weren't really who they said they were, they forgave Jack and Algernon too easily, which made fun of women lacking self-respect. Oscar Wilde seemed to be stereotyping each of the genders, but mostly women because he himself was a homosexual.
         A large theme in the play The Importance of Being Earnest is the dishonesty. Lies varied from why there weren't any cucumber sandwiches all the way to your name and identity. Sometimes it's difficult not to lie, but the characters in this play had an especially difficult time with it. The dishonesty of the characters add a good amount of humor to the book. When one character dislikes another, they act overly nice to them, which just seems stupid to me. Being satirical about social classes also incorporates into the idea of being dishonest at times. Such as when Lady Bracknell doesn't like or find Cecily attractive until she finds out that Cecily has 130,000 dollars in her funds. After Lady Bracknell hears about this, she starts being extra nice to Cecily as if she is just going to give it all away to her. John Worthing is dishonest about his name/brother throughout the entire play. He lies about his "bunburying" deeds and makes up a character named Ernest. You'd think that if there was a character named Ernest then they'd be earnest themselves. However, Jack lying about Ernest isn't being earnest at all. Many characters in the book make up other people that they pretend to be or they just lie about their identity. They do this just for their own pursuit of pleasure.