<P> Although they had ample opportunity, at no time did any of them even hint that "Earnest" was a synonym for homosexual, or that "bunburying" may have implied homosexual sex . The first time I heard it mentioned was in the 1980s and I immediately consulted Sir John Gielgud whose own performance of Jack Worthing in the same play was legendary and whose knowledge of theatrical lore was encyclopaedic . He replied in his ringing tones: "No - No! Nonsense, absolute nonsense: I would have known". </P> <P> A number of theories have also been put forward to explain the derivation of Bunbury, and Bunburying, which are used in the play to imply a secretive double life . It may have derived from Henry Shirley Bunbury, a hypochondriacal acquaintance of Wilde's youth . Another suggestion, put forward in 1913 by Aleister Crowley, who knew Wilde, was that Bunbury was a combination word: that Wilde had once taken a train to Banbury, met a schoolboy there, and arranged a second secret meeting with him at Sunbury . </P> <P> Bunburying is a stratagem used by people who need an excuse for avoiding social obligations in their daily life . The word "bunburying" first appears in Act I when Algernon explains that he invented a fictional friend, a chronic invalid named "Bunbury", to have an excuse for getting out of events he does not wish to attend, particularly with his Aunt Augusta (Lady Bracknell). Algernon and Jack both use this method to secretly visit their lovers, Cecily and Gwendolen . </P> <P> While Wilde had long been famous for dialogue and his use of language, Raby (1988) argues that he achieved a unity and mastery in Earnest that was unmatched in his other plays, except perhaps Salomé . While his earlier comedies suffer from an unevenness resulting from the thematic clash between the trivial and the serious, Earnest achieves a pitch - perfect style that allows these to dissolve . There are three different registers detectable in the play . The dandyish insouciance of Jack and Algernon--established early with Algernon's exchange with his manservant--betrays an underlying unity despite their differing attitudes . The formidable pronouncements of Lady Bracknell are as startling for her use of hyperbole and rhetorical extravagance as for her disconcerting opinions . In contrast, the speech of Dr. Chasuble and Miss Prism is distinguished by "pedantic precept" and "idiosyncratic diversion". Furthermore, the play is full of epigrams and paradoxes . Max Beerbohm described it as littered with "chiselled apophthegms--witticisms unrelated to action or character", of which he found half a dozen to be of the highest order . </P>

When was the importance of being earnest published