Dishonesty in The Importance of Being Earnest is a main theme that Oscar Wilde emphasizes with humor and wit through out the play. When Wilde shows dishonesty through humor and epigrams, he is using the short statements that have to do with life to explain that lies are easier to tell than the truth. Epigrams like "the truth is never pure and rarely simple" is an example of how epigrams can also contradict themselves, and show preferences towards lying, which lead to distrust and an uncomfortable situation in the end of the play. Dishonesty is also shown through satire of social institutions such as marriage, religion, and social classes. It is shown in marriage when both Jack and Algernon pretend to be Jacks pretend brother Ernest and lie to their fiances, but the women will only marry them if their names are Ernest. Christening and religion can also be dishonest because Algernon and Jack want to be Christened to the name Ernest, when both of them had already been Christened, and they were only doing it to have the name Ernest because they lied to their fiances. Satire of social classes shows dishonesty because the butlers lie for the people they work for, like Lane and the cucumber sandwiches, but the upper class also lie about a lot of things. On page 89 Jack says to Gwendolen "...it is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth. Can you forgive me?" which is saying that he is sorry for telling the truth. The references to the title of the play and the character Ernest were often times dishonest because Ernest was a fake person that Jack made up so he could go and party in London. Whenever someone said that Ernest was the most earnest person, that was dishonesty that they didn't know of because they thought Ernest was a real person, but it was a big lie for Jack and Algernon. The pursuit of pleasure is not necessarily dishonest in itself, but it causes acts of dishonesty. That is the reason that Jack turned into Ernest in London. He turned into Ernest to visit Gwendolen and to have fun in London, which was a big lie.
Oscar Wilde used his characters to show that little lies will lead to bigger and bigger lies, but when the truth comes out everything is better. In the play The Importance of Being Ernest, he starts out with the lie of Jack being Ernest, then incorporates Algernon into the lie and it all turns out messy with two women thinking that they are both marrying Ernest Worthing. This is a big pun on the upper class because they live behind a shallow mask of lies and do not think anything of it. When ever someone tells the truth they automatically apologise and the person that they are talking too accepts their apology as if it would actually harm them if they told the truth. Oscar Wilde ends the play with truth, which I think means that if you want to have a clean conscience and be able to live the rest of your life knowing that you are better off telling the truth.
