Dishonesty is shown all throughout The Importance of Being Earnest in many ways. Epigrams are used all throughout the play by saying things about life that are the opposite of how they should be. An example could be how they refer many times to marriage and say one who lives for pleasure doesn't get married. There is a lot of satire of marriage. One of many examples talks about how people didn't know each other before they got married. A satire of social class is shown by the rich people being all stuck up and very fake, and the servants boring and rude. There is also much dishonesty in the name Ernest/earnest. Jack lies about being Ernest and having a brother Ernest and Algernon also lies about being Ernest; which are all very un-earnest things to do. The Importance of Being Earnest also shows that to pursue and get pleasure, you have to be dishonest. Jack and Algernon lie about names and what they are doing to be happy.
Through the characters and their speech and actions in the play, dishonesty is portrayed as a regular part of life. He shows that everyone lies and is more likely to lie than tell the truth. He uses dishonesty so much it also causes me to think that he may believe the exact opposite of everything he writes. Maybe he thinks lying is a horrible thing and people do it too much and don't think it's that big of a deal. He wanted to prove a point and send a strong message about society through his play in a fun and entertaining way.
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