Whhen Lies Become the Truth

In the past, social status was everything, people in the upper class could get away with anything; they could pay the lie of with money, or in some cases, such as the play “The Importance of Being Earnest,” be accepted for their lies. During this play, it seems apparent that the women expect the men to lie and this is something they have to deal with and accept. For Jack, his lies ended up as the truth, but then he lied about knowing that he knew he had a brother this entire time. However, Jack actually contradicts himself about having a brother, in the conversation right before talking with Aunt Augusta, he proclaimed to Algernon, “I have no brother, that I never had a brother, and that I don't intend to have a brother, not even of any kind. I distinctly told him so myself yesterday afternoon." In today’s society, people would have a hard time trusting Jack after this statement and then behaving as he does later, however, the women during this time seem to thrive on drama. The women in this play seem infatuated with the name Earnest, however, the name Earnest does not necessarily mean that whoever the man is will truly be Earnest. Earnest does not mean honesty, its real meaning is deep sincerity, which anyone can be sincere while lying. The both the women claim that they could not love these two men if they had different names; the name is everything to them. Perhaps for women of that time in the upper class did not care much about how their men behaved, therefore idolizing their names, because it was the only truth they knew, however, this was not the case in this play. The men during this play would say what was on their mind and then quickly cover it up by saying what they actually meant to say. For instance, when Jack is asking Gwendolen to marry him, he slips and says “I must get christened at once,” and Gwendolen acts as she never heard his slip and just ignores it like the rest of his lies. People in the upper class had an unusual way of living their lives, several of their ideals are not morally correct with today’s standards. For example, if a woman caught her future husband in a simple lie such as his name, she would deny him the marriage. This just shows how little input the women had back then and how their “proper” way had turned them almost senseless.