Oscar Wilde, The Playwright: Part 2

Wilde's final play, The Importance of Being Earnest, was something of a stylistic departure from his previoius works. While Wilde's prior plays had often risen to serious and grim themes - even the comedies - Earnest was distinctively flippant. The play lacked many of the features that defined early Wilde plays - the "woman with a past" archetype; villainous or cunning principals; or any real action or violence. The play is, instead, a comedy taking place between idle aristocrats with poor morals, all largely occurring in gardens and drawing rooms - in short, Earnest substituted a sometimes melodramatic decadence from earlier plays for a harshly satirical triviality. It is thus somewhat unsurprising that Earnest, with its somewhat more accessible and lighthearted comedy, became a critical and popular success. Today, the play remains Wilde's most popular work, and is usually considered his masterpiece.