Themes: The importance of Being Earnest (Timed write)

 In the plays “The Importance of being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde and “Pygmalion” by George Bernard Shaw the two main characters Cecily Johnson and Eliza Doolittle both act as important illustrators of the themes of their overall plot. In both cases, the women seem to display the corruption of the societal ladder and for this reason they resonate the theme, the power of appearance and sincerity.

In both plays the authors use satire in order to display the reality of the corrupted middle class. The satire is effective and helps the reader realize the arrogance and farse ideals of which the middle class was built on. This is important because it helps get through the message of the necessity of being sincere in life. The theme: the power of appearance and sincerity, serves as the truth of societal classes. People in the so called “lower class” wallow in pity and present themselves in a way that people treat them inferiorly. The authors hope to make this clear, that in order to be taken seriously and treated respectedly, one must become act such, instead of demeaning yourself with self­pity and acting ignorant.

Eliza Doolittle, in the beginning of the play presented herself in a very brutish, dirty and rugged manner, and so she was treated by all the people on the street inferiorly. Then the fact she talked in a very vulgar manner made eveyone, even the readers able to tell the little she regarded herself. Lets flash foward when Eliza is all cleaned up and presents herself in a respectful manner; people were unable to even tell she was this so called “lower class” despite the fact she was not wealthy. The ablility to function in society can be determined on your appearance. People say “do not judge a book by its cover,” yet how else is a person able to judge another in any other way than they intiially present themselves. Perhaps the lesson there is to learn that societal classes are insignificant if all are able to respect not only others equally but themselves equally. Eliza ended up demanding respect by simply respecting herself and so this idea of an appearance having the ability to tranform someone’s life entirely is displayed.

 Cecily Johnson was created by Oscar WIlde in the hopes of being the image of the middle class and dispalyed the way they thought. Cecily hoped to become wed to man named “earnest” because she was convinced that only by a man having such a name would he be repsonsible. truthful, fair, and earnest. What was humorous about this was the fact she was a hypocrite, yet she hoped to have this perfect man. This hypocrisy was displayed by the differences she treat maids and those of her fellow middle classers and the way she initially treated Lady Bracknell versus the way she treated her after she was aware of her wealth. This satire was further displayed when the man she planned to wed was in fact lying about being named Ernest, yet then coincidentally due to a series of events during his previous life, he ended up actually being named Ernest. This back and forth silly manner of representing truth and lies, helps uncover the messy way the Victorian models of honesty and repsonsibility were like, therefore trying to get throught the importance of being sincerity to its reader.

In conclusion, Eliza and Cecily were very important characters because they were the respresentations of the overall themes of both plays. In both cases they were able to illustrate the corruptions of the middle class and falsity this so called societal ladder represented. Eliza Doolittle helped break this idea of middle class having to do with wealth and helped the reader realize that the answer to being treated equally by all others and having importance in society is to act as such. It is along these ideas of “treat others how you want to be treated.” Cecily Johnson was the corrupted image of the middle class, she was illustrating the hypocritical values that the Victorian model had. This flip flop between truth and lies helps the reader realize the importance of being sincere. Therefore in both plays Cecily Johnson and Eliza Doolittle were able to act as key exemplifiers of the overall signifcance of both plays.