Throughout the play The Importance of Being Earnest, written by Oscar Wilde, a physical journey such as the journeys Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff both of whom lived in Hertfordshire, continuously traveled back and forth from the country to the city in a dangerous pattern.  The men ultimately created double lives that symbolized not everything is what it appears to be. This journey from city to country and vice versa gives a critical insight to the Victorian era. Jack, the main character, is known as Jack to all of Hertfordshire but shifts his identity to be "Earnest" in London, as ironic as it is considering he is the antonym of the word earnest by lying to many people about his real identity. This double life of his complicates many relationships that he holds. He feels as though his lover Gwendolen Fairfox only loves him because of the name Earnest. Not only does this show how gullible people in this era were, but the hypocrisy of this time period. Typically if someone is characterized as earnest they are trustworthy, honest, and a serious person. This is even stated in the title- the importance of being earnest. The title itself is hypocritical due to it is important to be Earnest considering Gwendolyn only loves Jack because she fell in love with the name, but also because lying always comes around to the truth, hence why it is always important to be honest to begin with. 

The ironic name choice of Earnest is a representation of the shallowness of the Victorian age. Both Jack and Algernon become acquainted with the fake identity of Earnest, but yet they use him for shallow and selfish reasons. They use Earnest as something to spice up their lives and add excitement. They create a whole new identity and lie to many people that grow dear to them for their own personal enjoyment.  The fact that the women Gwendolyn and Cecily fall in love with the two men before they even figure out that they have a whole other life far away shows how much first impressions impact their society.  The men are capable of creating such an in depth lie about who they are, but yet they are so shallow to the point where they argue over meaningless things such as cucumber sandwiches. The society puts so much pressure on these young ones, the women too, to live an exciting jealous life. They are expected to be above everyone else to the point where they feel forced to lie about it to extreme extents. Cecily even says this in relation to her diary, how it contains things that really happened mixed in with things that she wish had. This ties back to the physical journey that Jack took between London and Hertforshire. He felt as though he was nothing compared to others in his society and therefore created a more exciting fictional character to add up to society's measures, just like Gwendolen and Cecily had felt also.

The process of "Bunburying" was also made up as an excuse while Algernon entertained himself. This only emphasized the society's flaws. The most hypocritical part is at the end when it turns out Jack himself actually does have a brother and his real name is actually Earnest. The irony of the whole situation is incredible considering that Jack spent a good portion of his time completely lying to people close to him but yet somehow all is forgiven and he actually turns out to be "Earnest." The irony of the name is also emphasized again with this revelation. The drama of this novel is exaggerated to bring out the major flaws and shallowness of the Victorian time period . The mocking tone of the play also ties back in with the continuous back and forth movement from city to country and country to city. Wilde used the exaggerated drama to satirize the Victorian era and depict that even the people who made up the higher society felt pressured to take drastic measure to create an extreme life when it was them who had created it in the first place.