Question

Need 2 paragraphs will give 99 pts for serious answers!!!!! Explain the significance of the full title of the play: The Importance of Being Earnest (A Trivial Comedy for Serious People). Discuss the meaning of the word earnest and the name Ernest as well as how Wilde communicates his message regarding trivial and serious matters. Use examples from the play.

Answer 1

The significance of the full title of the play: The Importance of Being Earnest (A Trivial Comedy for Serious People) is that, marriage plots and social comedy were also typical of 1890s literature.  The white, Anglo-Saxon, male society of the time provided many targets of complacency and aristocratic attitudes that playwrights such as Wilde could attack.

Answer 2

The title of Oscar Wilde's most successful play. The Importance of Being Earnest features a salient pun in the form of the word "Earnest",

Earnest means "honest", and "truthful"

At the very beginning of the play, we learn that Jack has created a convenient younger brother named Ernest. We don't know why he comes up with that particular name, but we’re guessing Jack had a laugh or two over it. Jack, Ernest, fools his lady friends, all of whom have an obsession with the name "Ernest." Both Gwendolen and Cecily are in love with that name, based on an assumption that boys named Ernest will be as honest as the name suggests.

Hope this helps!