The Importance of Being Earnest

Oscar Wilde

Short description

'The Importance of Being Earnest' is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations. Working within the social conventions of late Victorian London, the play's major themes are the triviality with which it treats institutions as serious as marriage, and the resulting satire of Victorian ways.

Author Bio

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was an Irish wit, poet, and dramatist whose reputation rests on his only novel, 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' (1891), and on his comic masterpieces 'Lady Windermere’s Fan' (1892) and 'The Importance of Being Earnest' (1895). He was a spokesman for the late 19th-century Aesthetic movement in England, which advocated art for art’s sake.