those two concepts may not seem to belong together, but I cite The Importance of Being Earnest as an example of a commonplace phenomenon among humanity: it's perfectly possible to read and experience something that's written in intelligible English (or whatever language you know), material that you have no trouble grasping on a superficial level, and yet deep down you can only tell yourself, "I have no idea what's actually going on here." that was my childhood experience with The Importance of Being Earnest.
and yet I was practically compelled to acknowledge this play as a favorite, because it was about my deadname. my bookish friends would make jokes about it. they weren't as irritating as the jokes about Ernest P. Worrell movies (or Sesame Street) but still...I was periodically reminded that I must surely have this deep and meaningful bond with The Importance of Being Earnest and yet...I didn't know what it was about! I could tell at least that it was supposed to be funny, but I might as well have been laughing at the deeds of space aliens; I couldn't understand why any of Wilde's characters were behaving the way they did.
this was the 1980s and our parents hardly watched anything other than PBS and American rebroadcasts of British television productions, so I was familiar with the 1981 TV production of The Importance of Being Earnest directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg (rumored to be an illegitimate son of Orson Welles!) and broadcast in the United States in 1985 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvc30852SKM). now it actually makes some sense, although it's not quite lost its space-alien strangeness. I mean, "Ernest", really! what a wretched name, and yet both Cecily and Gwendolen are besotted with it. what's wrong with you two?!
at least the bemusement with The Importance of Being Earnest led me in later years to read more Oscar Wilde and thus I discovered The Picture of Dorian Gray, which I felt I could better understand, although it's rather dismaying to grasp in retrospect that's in part because it was one of the first places I ever encountered gay representation—and what representation! but I find myself thinking of how many other things I "read" in childhood without gaining any real understanding of what it was I was actually reading. just because it's in your language doesn't mean you'll get it, especially when you're some freaky autie child without a clue.
~Chara of Pnictogen
one important lesson from this play: British upper-crust culture, of which American polite society is a kind of stultified and vulgarized imitation, is saturated with deceit. everyone's playing a part in public, which gives everyone else the fun of snooping out the lies and striking indignant poses about them.
"Jack" is a fine name! our system has a couple of Jacks. one is an occultist. the other is a precious smol stabby child.
"Ernest". feh
~Chara