Dishonesty in The Importance of Being Earnest

In the book, The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde uses humor, satire of social institutions, references to earnest/Ernest, and the persuit of pleasure to express his opinions on dishonesty. Wilde often uses satire of marriage. Jack and Algernon are lying about their names and have fake identities so they can have some fun and get away from their boring lives of being serious and chivalrous. But they fall in love and become engaged to women who fall in love with their fake names. Also, since Jack is posing as Ernest, and its very ironic because the word earnest means sincere and serious. The name Ernest means serious. The one going by this name is neither. Jack and Algernon are constantly persuing pleasure and lying to make it easier. Jack's gettaways and Algernom's Buburying result in a huge misunderstanding. Another example of dishonesty is the way Cecily lies to herself through her diary. And though Algernon is only a little surprised and he brushes it aside, it will probably cause some kind of problem later on in the book.

Jack and Algernon are always persuing pleasure. And look what happens. Dishonesty comes with consequences. I think this is part of the theme Oscar Wilde was trying to communicate with this book. Life comes with stuff that bothers you, but you just have to live with it, instead of lying to get out of it. What seems like harmless fun always turns out to be a lot more.