Oscar Wilde was a mess, honestly. He was a genius, a dandy, and eventually a prisoner, but before the world broke him, he gave us The Importance of Being Earnest. It premiered on Valentine's Day in 1895 at the St. James's Theatre in London. People loved it. They still do. Why? Because we’re all still pretending to be people we aren't, especially online.
Wilde called it "A Trivial Comedy for Serious People." That’s the key. It’s a play about people who take the most ridiculous things—like muffins and secret identities—with life-or-death seriousness. If you’ve ever spent three hours curated a "casual" Instagram photo, you’re basically living a Wilde play. You're Bunburying.
What is Bunburying anyway?
In the play, Algernon Moncrieff has a fake friend named Bunbury. Bunbury is perpetually ill. Whenever Algernon wants to get out of a boring dinner with his aunt, Lady Bracknell, he just says, "Oh, sorry, Bunbury is having a relapse!" and heads off to the country. His friend Jack Worthing does the same thing but in reverse. Jack invented a rebellious brother named Ernest so he could escape his dull country life and party in London.
It’s a scam. It’s also brilliant.
The conflict kicks off when both men realize they’ve fallen in love with women—Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew—who claim they can only love a man named Ernest. Neither man is actually named Ernest. It’s a mess of Victorian etiquette and absolute absurdity.
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Wilde wasn't just writing jokes. He was poking fun at a society that cared more about "the form" of things than the substance. Lady Bracknell is the gatekeeper of this world. She’s one of the greatest characters in theater history because she is terrifying and hilarious at the same time. When she finds out Jack was found as a baby in a handbag at Victoria Station, her reaction isn't pity. It’s "To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness."
The Handbag and the Class Struggle
The handbag is the ultimate symbol of the play. It represents the utter randomness of social status. Jack is a "gentleman" because he was found in a fancy bag in a posh station, even though he has no idea who his parents are. Wilde is basically saying that the British class system is a total farce based on luck and luggage.
In 1895, this was edgy.
London society was incredibly rigid. You had to have the right background, the right clothes, and the right name. By making the plot turn on something as silly as a lost bag, Wilde was laughing at the very people sitting in the front row of his theater. He was an insider who acted like an outsider.
The Importance of Being Earnest as a Survival Guide
We often think of "earnestness" as a good thing. We want people to be sincere. But in the play, being "Ernest" (the name) is more important than being "earnest" (the quality).
Gwendolen says it best: "In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing."
Look at how we communicate now. Think about Twitter (X) or TikTok. Is anyone actually being "earnest"? Or are we all performing a version of ourselves that fits a specific brand? We are all Algernon now. We have our public personas and our private realities. We "Bunbury" every time we post a "throwback" photo to hide the fact that we’re actually sitting on the couch in sweatpants.
Why the Humor Still Lands
Wilde’s wit is built on the epigram. An epigram is basically a short, sharp statement that flips a common truth on its head.
- "Divorces are made in Heaven."
- "The truth is rarely pure and never simple."
- "All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does, and that is his."
These aren't just funny; they’re true in a way that makes you uncomfortable. Wilde used humor as a shield. He knew that if you tell people the truth, you better make them laugh, or they’ll kill you. Sadly, for Wilde, that's almost exactly what happened. Shortly after the play opened, his private life was dragged into the public eye during his disastrous libel trial against the Marquess of Queensberry. The man who wrote the funniest play in the English language ended up in Reading Gaol for "gross indecency."
It’s a dark irony. The play is about the joy of leading a double life, but Wilde’s own double life destroyed him.
The Secret Influence on Modern Comedy
You can see The Importance of Being Earnest in almost everything that came after it.
- Seinfeld: It’s a show about nothing where characters obsess over tiny social faux pas. That’s Wilde.
- The Importance of Being Earnest directly inspired the "comedy of manners" revival in the 20th century.
- Frasier: The high-brow insults and the constant misunderstandings are pure Moncrieff.
The play doesn't have a "moral" in the traditional sense. It doesn't end with everyone learning a lesson about honesty. In fact, it ends with Jack realizing that his lies were actually true all along—he really is named Ernest, and he really does have a brother (Algernon). He tells Lady Bracknell that he has realized "the vital Importance of Being Earnest."
He’s joking, of course. He’s realized that in his world, you can lie your way into the truth.
Decoding the Subtext
For years, scholars have looked for "coded" meanings in the play. Some argue that "Bunbury" was a slang term in the underground gay community of Victorian London. Whether that’s true or not, the theme of the "double life" certainly resonated with Wilde’s experience as a gay man in a society where that was illegal.
The play is a celebration of the mask. It’s about the freedom that comes from not being yourself. In a world that constantly demands we be "authentic," there’s something incredibly refreshing about Wilde’s defense of the trivial.
Actionable Takeaways for Modern Readers
If you’re going to read the play or see a production, don't look for the "message" too hard. Instead, try these things:
- Read it aloud. Wilde’s dialogue is music. The rhythm of the sentences matters more than the plot.
- Watch the 2002 film. It features Colin Firth, Rupert Everett, and Judi Dench. Dench’s delivery of the line "A handbag?" is a masterclass in comedic timing.
- Audit your own "Bunburying." Next time you use an excuse to get out of a social obligation, realize you’re part of a long, prestigious tradition of Victorian liars.
- Practice the Epigram. Try to describe a complex situation in one short, contradictory sentence. It’s harder than it looks and makes you much more interesting at parties.
Wilde’s masterpiece reminds us that life is too important to be taken seriously. The characters in the play are shallow, selfish, and obsessed with money and status. Yet, we love them. We love them because they are honest about their dishonesty. In a world of fake sincerity, Wilde’s glorious, sparkling artificiality feels like the most real thing there is.
Go find a copy of the script. It’s short. You can read it in two hours. It’ll probably be the best two hours you spend all week. Just watch out for handbags.