The Importance of Being Earnest: Satire at its Finest

The movie (and play) The Importance of Being Earnest, is one of the most perfect examples of satire in our culture.  Although it is set in England, it makes fun of the upper class.  The play uses dramatic irony to show how Oscar Wilde sees the upper class as too formal and snobbish.  It is dramatic irony because the characters in the play obviously think that they are high class with their multiple houses and butlers even though the author thinks that the upper class is too snobbish.  

The show also uses hyperbole to make its point.  Every character in it is exaggerated.  The characters Jack and Algernon are both willing to change their names to Earnest just because the women they love say that they will only love a man named Earnest.  This is an example of how much emphasis Wilde believes that society places on love and how important it its to us.