Earnest blog post 3

In the beginning of this act, Wilde addresses the fact that, in Victorian speech, insults, or other pertinent information, are often veiled under vast verbal ornaments. For example, when Cecily comments on the eloquence of a statement made by Algernon, Gwendolen replies that "In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the vital thing" (44). This property of proper Victorian speech can make conversations very circuitous, and in a seemingly long conversation, almost nothing may actually be said. This tendency for formalities and fluff in speech also plays into how Wilde emphasizes unimportant things, and throws away important topics as if they were comments on the weather. He is making fun of the Victorian need for unnecessary formalities in speech. To continue the dramatization of trivial things, Gwendolen and Cecily throw fits over Jack and Algernon's false names, and agree that they must undergo the "fearful ordeal" of simply changing their first names.