Essay - The Importance of Being Earnest of the Four Common Traits...

The Importance of Being Earnest

***** the four common traits that run through Wilde's work, the two most prominent in this play are decadence and absurdity. Decadence runs throughout the ***** ***** many ways, but especially with food. The fifth line of the play, and several subsequent ones, deal with the cucumber sandwiches for Lady Bracknell and the "eight bottles and a pint" of champagne that were consumed on a previous night. The m*****terial availability of everything the characters ***** ***** play desire allows the frustration and confusion of their non-material desire to be all the more comedic.

The decadence also applies to the characters' affections though; ***** girls are so used to getting what they want ***** they fall in love ***** men simply based on ***** name. This is the ultimate example of superficiality and decadence in this *****, when personality ceases to matter in ***** shadow of a name.

This is also one of the biggest ********** of ***** absurd. The fact that both Cecily and Gwendolyn have decided they will ***** in ***** with a man *****d Earnest, and expect both Jack and Algernon to change their names to match those **********, ***** topped only by the ***** of each of these ***** first *****ing ********** to change their *****, and then Jack's final discovery ***** his name is in fact *****. The unlikelihood and seem*****g un-reality of ***** step in ***** situation is completely absurd, but it is this *****ism that drives the play.

This strain can also be seen in ***** opening scene, as part ***** the same champagne discussion. ***** ********** Lane why the servants al***** drink the wine in bachelor's households. Lane absurdly and dryly misinterprets the question, saying "I attribute ***** to the superior quality of ***** *****, sir. I have often observed ***** in married households the champagne is r*****ly of a first-rate br*****." This itself devolves into an absurd ***** of marriage, the theme ***** the