English 123: Blog 15

The question was brought up involving what similiarities do the novels Oedipus and The Importance of Being Earnest have in common? Well at first I was baffled by the question, but when I actually began to think about it over a cup of hot chocolate I realized several key elements present in both novels. The concept of idenity is very important throughout both novels as well as the idea that both of the main characters were orhpans.

Oedipus is constantly trying to find his identity throughout the book. He thinks he knows his identity when he marries Jocasta and becomes the King of Thebes. However, as we already know his identity is mistaken. He thinks he is a king when really he is the prince and all of the children he has with Jocast are actually his siblings. When he realizes that the delphic oracle has come true he gauges out his eyes in order to prevent himself from seeing what he has become and has made of his fate. Like I blogged about earlier, fate is pre-determined, you have no control. In The Importance of Being Earnest, the identity of Jack is mistaken to be Earnest, that is everyone in London believes him to be Earnest and everyone in the city knows him to be Jack. The same goes with his friend/brother Algernon. Both men pretend to have brothers and friends that they go visit, but they actually escape to another world and an entirely different person. It is ironic how the name Earnest plays such a huge role in the women deciding if they want to marry. Both Oedipus and Jack have issues with their identities causing them to either run away or make up a character in order to try and realize who they truly are.

Since both Oedipus and Jack were orphans, their identity is lost. Jocasta tries to kill Oedipus when she hears of the oracle that he will kill his fater and have sexual realtions with her and ironically, Oedipus is saved by the herdsmen and raised by a family he believes is his true family. When he visits the oracle and hears of his prophecy he runs away trying to prevent the killing of the man he perceieves to be his father, and in turn ends up killing his real father on the journey. Jack realizes at the end of the play that he is Lady Bracknell's poor sisters son and is actually Algernon's older brother. Ironically he realizes that the name of his father is actually Earnest making Jacks true name Earnest therefore he realizes his true identity was the one he had been making up.

Both plays have a completely opposite connotation. Oedipus is a tragedy, while The Importance of Being Earnest is a comedy. Yet, both novels contain specific elements that relate to one another and help to understand the overall meaning and theme of each play.