After reading and enjoying The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, it has been
determined that the very first part, Act One, deserves further discussion, exploration and
confabulation. An apparent underlying theme of deceit in the very beginning of this Act
explains the relationship of two of the Act’s main characters of Algernon and Jack.
Jack deliberately lies to Algernon as he tries to keep his life hidden from Algernon.
Algernon returns the insidious favor by admitting secret untrustworthy acts as well. Deceit,
hypocrisy, deception, and dishonesty represents wrong behavior among friends. All
previously stated synonym words sum up what it means to misrepresent the truth. The
theme of deceit unravels itself more than once during the beginning lines of the play in
quite an interesting fashion.
Before discussion of this nefarious theme, description of the characters in the beginning of
Act One will give the reader an overall idea of the characters in the play. The play centers
on a character named Algernon. At times the play refers to him as Algy for short. As the
main character in the play Algy lives an extravagant life of a bachelor. The apartment
described within this “trivial comedy for serious people” situates in the town of London,
England. As a wealthy single male Algy consumes himself in a luxurious lifestyle which
includes high fashion and the best food money can buy. As a young man, Algy does not