The theme of dishonesty appears in epigrams, satire of social institutions, the motif of the pursuit of pleasure, and in references to the title of the play throughout the script of The Importance of Being Earnest. Dishonesty is related to epigrams often when Algernon and Jack give their opinions on how to behave around a woman. Throughout the play, much of the plot revolves around an Ernest that doesn’t exist, or someone pretending to be Ernest, because if they don’t, they won’t have a chance with the one they love, causing an easy connection to be made between the dishonesty just explained and the title of the play, The Importance of Being Earnest. Dishonesty also can be connected to the satire of social institutions through scenes such as when Algernon’s butler lies for him to cover up the fact that Algernon ate all the sandwiches. Jack lies about having a brother named Ernest so that he has a cover up for his trips to the city, where he pursues pleasure.
Wilde seems to be saying that people aren’t as honest as you may think. He uses the characters in the play as an example of dishonest we are in our daily life. All the little fibs and big lies told by the characters of the play toppled over, and the truth had to be spilled out. Their contradicting speech was an example of how to live if you speak the opposite of they spoke. If their actions and speech was to be analyzed, it would be found that you probably lie just as much as they do, a thought that can cause people to realize how important it is to be honest. If nobody was ever honest, we would all end up in strange predicaments like the ones that the characters of The Importance of Being Earnest end up in. Oscar Wilde was just trying to use this play to spread the importance of being earnest.
