“The Importance of Being Earnest” and How Style Contributes to Theme

Excerpts from the Paper

"The Importance of Being Earnest" and how Style contributes to Theme: An Analysis.
According to Peter Raby in his The Cambridge Companion to Oscar Wilde, “Style in this (as in all serious matters) is of the utmost importance (170).” Though Raby is poking fun at Wilde’s marked playwriting and satirical style, he is correct. The literary style and the elements surrounding this are what define The Importance of Being Earnest as one of the great satirical plays ever written, and certainly a groundbreaker in the world of Victorian Theatre. The themes of decadence, morality and honesty are all amusing hypocrisies mocked for their uselessness within the world of Victorian England; Oscar Wilde makes this point loud and clear through his use of...

.....ctorian England, but also within the values of modern western culture at large. The themes of decadence, morality and honesty commented on by Wilde in his play The Importance of Being Earnest with the use of plot, tone and irony.
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