Importance of Being Earnest and the US Government - Essay Example

"Importance of Being Earnest" and the U.S. Government Brief Introduction "Importance of Being Earnest" is a play cast around lies. The uses the concept of contrast in naming the play "Importance of being earnest" and yet still, the characters of the play are liars. The author also uses the name Ernest in the play as a person who is admired living in upscale London. The question that this essay is seeking to answer is whether being earnest is a virtue and whether the government of the United States is earnest or to its citizens. About the Author Oscar Wilde the author of the play "Importance of Being Earnest" was born in Ireland. He is today celebrated for this play which has continued to be on the center stage of several theatres in the United States. He was born in 1854 and died in 1900. He had particular aspirations when it came to the writing of short stories and he is known to have written one novel. Wilde was later in his life arrested and imprisoned for being involved in homosexuality and indecency. After his release, he moved away from Ireland and he never returned. Content of the Play "Importance of Being Earnest" is a playwright written by Wilde in the year 1895. The concept of the play is vested in England. The play consists of humor and lies and is based on two men who escape their obligations. The first scene of the play is centered in the house of Algernon Moncrieff who is depicted as an upper-class refined young man with a male servant known as Lane. It is tea time in London and Algernon has just entered the room where Lane is preparing the table for tea. (Wilde, Pg 8) Algernon plays the piano and then starts a conversation with Lane asking him whether or not he liked how he played the piano. Lane says that he is sorry because he had not been very attentive. This first part of the play if compared with the government in the United States depicts the aristocratic kind of life that is led by the government. The government is sophisticated and their lies are surrounded by servants who undertake all kinds of duties left right and center. As the play continues, Algernon requests his male servant to make mushroom sandwiches specifically for his aunt who is coming in with his cousin Gwendolyn. The scene takes a twist when Algernon asks Lane what he thinks about marriage and Lane says that he has no much experience on the field since he is a divorcee. The servant's casual answer surprises the boss. Their conversation is disrupted by the door bell which the servant responds to. Algernon is left in the room eating the Mushroom sandwiches. (Wilde, Pg 13) Lane comes back to the room announcing the presence of Ernest Worthing. Ernest is Algernon's friend. Ernest is from the country side but he often comes to visit London. Ernest in their conversation reveals to Algernon about his intention to propose to Gwendolyn, Algernon's cousin. Algernon is not happy about this and he tells Ernest that he would not allow him to propose to his cousin until he explains the incision that he had collected written from a certain Cecily. At first, Ernest says that he does not know of any Cecily. At this point in the play, a light is shed on the United States government. The government is always in a position to lay down its virtues earnestly but is always in denial. This is clear from the situation in Iraq where innocent individuals have been killed but the government of the United States continues to deny this. This leaves Ernest to explain to his friend that he leads a double life. In the country side, he is known as Jack. In addition, he feeds lies to the people in the country that he has a brother in the city known as Ernest Worthing. He uses this excuse as an attempt to escape his responsibility in the country. Therefore, Cecily is his ward in the country and the granddaughter of the man who had adopted him. (Wilde, Pg 15) In the process of the conversation, Algernon also reveals that he lives a double life since he also lies that he has another invalid friend in the country known as Bunbury who he goes to see whenever he wants to run away from obligations. At this point, we realize that the two of them have double personalities and are keen to use them to escape their responsibilities. This is also true with the government officials who when once appointed by their departments, escape responsibilities by adopting different fake roles. They are then joined in a different scene by Algernon's aunty Lady Bracknell and Gwendolyn. Lady Bracknell apologizes on behalf of her daughter for their lateness and blames it on the visit they had paid to another aunty who had lost her husband and was going through a lot of furry. In the meantime, Algernon reaches out on the table to give his aunty the mushroom sandwiches that he had promised her; to his amazement, there are no sandwiches. He calls upon his servant Lane to enquire what had happened to the sandwiches and he says that he did not find mushrooms at the market. (Wilde, Pg 25) Algernon and his aunty proceeded to talk about the old aunty who had lost her husband giving Ernest the opportunity to propose to Gwendolyn. Ernest and Gwendolyn are sited at a side table. Gwendolyn is talking to Ernest about the way she is in love with his name and that the instance she had heard that her cousin had a friend called Ernest, she instantly fell in love. Ernest is amazed and starts inquiring from Gwendolyn if she would still love him if he had a different name let's say "Jack." She says that the name is a bit lame and lacking the vocal vibration that the name Ernest has. She in addition says that she pities women whose husbands are called John; according to her, all the men called John are plain. (Wilde, Pg 36) Their conversation takes a turn and Ernest proposes to Gwendolyn; he goes down to his knees and asks her to marry him. She is delighted and accepts. They are however interrupted by Lady Bracknell who finds Ernest on his knees. She instructs him to immediately rise to his feet but Gwendolyn presses him back to the floor saying that he needed to finish what he was saying. Lady Bracknell gets curious and enquires to know what is going on; she is told about the proposal which Gwendolyn had just accepted. She becomes furious and orders Gwendolyn to leave the room so that she may talk to her new fianc. The woman has very many rules and regulations that in her opinion should be met by a man who wants to marry Gwendolyn. In her opinion, Ernest doesn't meet the qualifications especially when he says that he had been dumped by his parents at a train station in a basket where he was later found and adopted by his current father. (Wilde, Pg 46) This also sheds light on the government. There are people in government, who no matter how good a deal looks like; they end up squalling and opposing it. This is depicted clearly by the character of the former president of the United States George Bush who rejected offers by the President of Iraq to end the war; he just kept sending more troops to Iraq. The war has just ended after the entry of President Barrack Obama. Lady Bracknell gets on Ernest's nerves and he storms out of the room with a furious look on his face. He meets Algernon who pities him saying that Gwendolyn was used to refusing proposals therefore, he should not worry. Ernest clarifies the situation by saying that she had accepted but the problem was that the mother was such a pain. They start talking but Ernest feels bad that he is talking ill of Algernon's aunty in his presence but Algernon justifies and says that he does not mind and that in fact, it makes him feel better when other people speak of his relatives since it helps him realizes that he is not the only one who finds them to be a pain. Some individuals in the United States government also sometimes speak ill of others in government behind their backs; but when they all assemble together, they pretend and lie that they are a team. Algernon did not mind speaking ill of his aunty; he was in fact the major contributor to the story. Ernest proceeds to ask Algernon if there were any chances that Gwendolyn would turn out to be like her mother and Algernon says that at one point or another, all women turn out to be like their mothers. Ernest is disappointed and he goes ahead to defend her by saying that she is exceptional to other women. (Wilde, Pg 55) Algernon then asks Ernest if he had told Gwendolyn about his double life and he says that those are not the issues to relay to a woman that has just been proposed to. Algernon then asks him about the issue of Cecily, his ward and he says that she is a very pretty and decent woman and he is sure that Gwendolyn will love her and they will soon enough start calling each other sisters. The scene ends with the both of them leaving the stage to go for dinner. Later on, Ernest is depicted giving Gwendolyn the address to his house in the country side. Algernon overhears and copies the address down. Ernest has refused to give him the address in protection of Cecily. Algernon then goes to the country ahead of Ernest and lies to Cecily that his name is Ernest Worthing, Jack's brother who lives in the city. Cecily is very pleased with him and soon grows fond of him. Cecily likes 'Ernest' and 'Ernest' likes Cecily. (Wilde, Pg 64) Jack is amazed when he finds them together and Ernest discloses to him that he had introduced himself to Cecily as Ernest Worthing. At some point, when the two women, Cecily and Gwendolyn are together talking, they realize that they are engaged to the same man, Ernest Worthing. They are furious and they confront their men and ask them who Ernest Worthing is. The men admit to rechristening in order to find love in the women. The women feel moved by the fact that the men could actually change their names in order for them to be loved and they forgive them instantly. Lady Bracknell is amazed when she realizes that her nephew was actually in 'Ernest's' house instead of being with Bunbury but she is immediately distracted by the thought of her nephew being engaged to Cecily. This thought is however replaced by the knowledge that Cecily has a large trust fund. The scenario then changes when Lady Bracknell recognizes Cecily's governess Miss Prism. She recognizes her to be the woman who used to work as a house nurse for General Moncrieff and as the woman who had carried the general's son to the market and had left him in a hand bag at the train station. Jack reveals himself as the boy who had been left at the train station and he produces the handbag that Miss Prism had put him in. They are all amazed when they realize that Jack and Algernon are actually brothers. It is then discovered that Jack's father's real name was Ernest making Jack 'Ernest' in some way or another. They all embrace in happiness and the three couples hug and as the play comes to an end, Jack says that he realizes the "Importance of Being Earnest". (Wilde, Pg 92) In order to link the play with the United States government, it is important to note from the beginning that the life led by the government is that of a high status in comparison to its citizens. They have servants and they lead the best of lives in comparison to normal citizen. The two main characters of the play Algernon and Jack are living double lives. This is the same with our politicians. They put on different faces during campaigns and once they are in the government, they become totally different. They change their personalities just like the chameleon changes its color. Let's think along the lines of the war in Iraq, with specifications to a certain scenario where the American Army, bombed an Iraqi wedding ceremony thinking that it was a meeting where people were planning to retaliate on the United States. This was a mistake and the government completely refuses to admit so. In turn, the soldiers denied having bombed them saying that the people who took part in the bombing were terrorists. This was a lie since research indicates that it was a true wedding ceremony and nothing violent had been planned from it. Conclusion: From the essay above, it is clear that the United States government is not entirely earnest. This is seen clearly in the case of the war between the Iraqi government and the United States government, where the United States bombed the Iraqis erroneously yet it refused to admit that it had killed innocent people. The government used the press to implicate the situation and to say that the wedding ceremony had more to it than just a normal celebration. This aspect of the government lying to its people can also be determined from the department that the government of the United States was seeking to establish, which was to specialize in giving the outside world a different story from what was actually happening in the United States. Therefore, this essay has answered the question and it is clear that as much as the United States government is honest, to some extent, it also lies to its citizens. References: Oscar Wilde and Dan Rebellato (1995): The Importance of Being Earnest Volume 9 of Drama classics: NHB International Collection: Nick Hern Books, England. Read More