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Get every literary device explanation for The Importance of Being EarnestPlus so much more...
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Irony
Explanation and Analysis—Proposals:
The majority of the humor in The Importance of Being Earnest stems from dramatic irony: the audience is always aware that Ernest does not exist and that Jack and Algernon are both pretending to be him, but the other characters are not. This dramatic irony is at its most palpable during the two parallel proposal scenes.
In Act 1, Part 2, after Jack has proposed to Gwendolen, she reveals that she has always wanted to marry a man named Ernest:
Jack: But you don't really mean to say that you couldn't love me if my name wasn't Ernest?
Gwendolen: But your name is Ernest.
Jack: Yes, I know it is. But supposing it was something else? Do you mean to say you couldn't love me then?
Gwendolen: [Glibly] Ah! that is clearly a metaphysical speculation, and like most metaphysical speculations has very little reference at all to the actual facts of real life, as we know them.
The audience, who can easily perceive Jack's agitation, knows that his question is not a metaphysical speculation but a genuine question. Jack's slip of the tongue later in the conversation is also insignificant to Gwendolen but quite meaningful to the audience:
Jack: Gwendolen, I must get christened at once—I mean we must get married at once.
In Act 2, Part 2, Algernon and Cecily have a very similar exchange:
Algernon: But, my dear child, do you mean to say you could not love me if I had some other name?
Cecily: But what name?
Algernon: Oh, any name you like—Algernon—for instance...
Cecily: But I don't like the name of Algernon.
As in the first proposal scene, the audience is aware that Algernon's name is not really Ernest and notices when he later misspeaks:
Algernon: I must see him at once on a most important christening—I mean on most important business.
This line is also ironic because the audience has just watched Jack make an appointment with Dr. Chasuble to be christened and knows that both men are intending to change their name to Ernest.
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