“…Wilde benefits from a mode of presentation that already emphasizes the difficulty of distinguishing substance from surface.”

The importance of being earnest is as relevant today as it was over 100 years ago. discuss.

Wilde uses his characters to demonstrate the spectrum to which they value substance over surface. Lady Bracknell, for example, seems to value surface and how no matter what else you are as long as you are something she wants you to be then it is fine in her eyes. This was demonstrated through the scene in which she grills Jack of his past and his personal life. She doesn’t ask for a story, just a yes or no which added to humour as we know it doesn’t mean much as things can entail different reasonings. Today we see the news and many accusations and rebuttals in celebrity or political controversies. The titled article doesn’t have to sway the audience one way because even if all the facts are plainly laid out, the specific facts show only one side of the story, disregarding most anything else. His benefit leads to humour and is relevant in this time, however the