Oscar Wilde, in The Importance of Being Earnest, uses wit as an ironic counterpoint to the absurdity of the play's action. This can be contrasted to the unconventional plot used by George Bernard Shaw in Saint Joan as a means of reinforcing his iconoclastic ideas. Wilde uses cleverness and wit to give intelligence to his comedy. The action of Wilde's play has little if anything to do with reality or real human beings. Wilde uses wit as a way to give some meaning to a play that would otherwise have little if any meaning. At the same time, this "meaning" is only the meaning of a very light comedy. The wit lets Wilde make fun of the very meaninglessness of the play: "And, speaking of the science of Life, have you got the cucumber sandwiches cut for Lady Bracknell" (Wilde 1131).
Wilde's play does not pretend to be anything but a creation of fun and laughter. Pages are full of nonsense such as cigarette lighters and cucumbers and hand-bags. The reader has the feeling that these characters are all insane, and it is only the wit in the play which keeps the reader reading. The characters are too unreal to take seriously, and the subjects dealt with too silly and petty to have any serious meaning.
For example, Algernon is trying to suggest something to do for the evening. He suggests the theatre, the Club and vaudeville. Jack says no to all three, because he hates listening, hates talking, and hates looking at things. He says that he would like to do "nothing," and Algernon s
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