Diaries in The Importance of Being Earnest

When Algernon arrives at Jack’s country estate in Act II, he finds Jack’s “excessively pretty” young ward, Cecily Cardew, out in the garden avoiding her studies. Algernon pretends to be Jack’s “wicked” brother Ernest, about whom Cecily has heard so many tantalizing details. Algernon states his love for Cecily and asks her to marry him. Though they have never met before, she informs him that they have been engaged for the past three months. Every detail of their relationship has been meticulously recorded in her diary:

“To-day I broke off my engagement with Ernest. I feel it is better to do so. The weather still continues charming.”

Keeping a diary was a common practice among the educated English of the Victorian era; in The Importance of Being Earnest both Gwendolen and Cecily carry diaries and use them to confirm their engagements to “Jack’s brother Ernest.” Diaries are still popular today- from England to the U.S. While a diary always sees the world through the eyes of its author, Cecily’s diary is unique: It is a record of her fancies rather than her physical reality. When she becomes swept up in the handsome, mischievous image of Ernest, her guardian’s (Jack’s) brother, she fabricates an entire history, including an engagement, between the two of them. Even though they have never met, she writes letters and buys jewelry in Ernest’s name.

In the conversation above, Cecily informs Algernon that she forgave him “before the week was out” but defends breaking off the engagement on the basis that it must have been broken off at least once for it to be “a really serious engagement.”

The Importance of Being Earnest is a delight in part because the characters are so invested in their world, as nonsensical as that world may be. From their ideals and fantasies, we learn so much about them. The things that “actually” happened are not nearly as exciting. How the characters view their world, what they prize above all else, becomes clear in their fantasies and desires rather than in their realities.

EXERCISE
Imagine that your past can be anything you want. Conjure up the perfect day, moment, or person (or all three) and write a diary entry about this ideal experience. Where was it? What was the weather like? Who was there? What happened? More importantly, how did you respond?

REFLECTION
Look over your diary entry and, as you read, consider how accurately your imagined experience represents who you are. While the events or people may be fictional, this fictional account probably sheds light on your inner workings in a way a factual biography could not.

The presentation of fantasy as fact appears throughout The Importance of Being Earnest. Ideals carry a lot of weight for the principle characters. Jack and Algernon go to great lengths to remain “Ernest” in the eyes of the young ladies who adore them. The name “Ernest” may not hold much power over you, but understanding the young ladies’ attraction to it helps an audience to accept the lengths to which the men will go to remain “Ernest.” Does your diary entry reveal some ideal that, if it were offered to you, you would be willing to do everything you could to remain in that fantasy?