The Importance of Being Earnest

“Bunburying” is the practice invented by Algernon of creating a fictitious friend or relation to serve as a ready excuse to decline unwanted obligations. He claims to have a good but unwell friend, Mr. Bunbury, who is often in need of his care. Algernon uses this excuse so frequently that his aunt expresses the opinion that “it is high time that Mr. Bunbury made up his mind whether he was going to live or to die” (18).

Algernon accuses Jack of being a Bunburyist as well when he learns that his name is Jack and not Ernest as Jack has been pretending in the city. Jack maintains that it is totally different, since he intends to stop the practice of using two names once Gwendolen accepts his marriage proposal and also because Cecily has become too interested in “Ernest.” In point of fact, though, there is a difference between Jack’s Bunburying and Algernon’s. Jack is merely using an alias so that he can switch between two identities, while Algernon has created an entirely fictional person.

Scholars generally agree that Wilde embedded The Importance of Being Earnest with coded language that would have resonated with a gay audience, while escaping notice of those outside gay circles.