The message that the play get across, regarding the pursuit of pleasure, is centered in creating fictitious alter egos so as to be able to escape the strictures of propriety and decency demanded by the Victorian society of that time. This behavior has a positive message for readers because the characters who embrace triviality and wickedness are the ones who may have the greatest chance of attaining seriousness and virtue. Through this paly the author wants readers to see that truly moral is really the opposite of earnestness: irreverence. Also, when characters in the play use the word serious, they tend to mean “trivial,” and vice versa. For example, Algernon thinks it “shallow” for people not to be “serious” about meals, and Gwendolen believes, “In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the vital thing.”
