Wilde ironically points out that his age is one of ideals, but to this Gwendolyn gives her commentary about the importance of names: We live, as I hope you know, Mr. Worthing, in an age of ideals. The fact is constantly mentioned in the more expensive monthly magazines, and has reached the provincial pulpits, I am told; and my ideal has always been to love some one of the name of Ernest. There is something in that name that inspires absolute confidence. The moment Algernon first mentioned to me that he had a friend called Ernest, I knew I was destined to love you."(Wilde, 2000, p. 516)

In Wilde's view, moral depravity in the modern age has to do with superficiality rather than with actual sins and crimes. The laxity of moral principles is the cause behind the many problems of society, as it obstructs the delimitation between good and evil.

The plays also meet in another point regarding the moral depravity of society: the duality between truth and fact, between appearance and reality. In Hamlet, the appearances are very deceitful and are soon unmasked by the ghost. All the characters seem to have moral standards but in fact they are immoral. As Shakespeare contends, the purpose of playing and of art is to "hold a mirror up to nature," to show the reality behind the appearance:

the purpose of playing & is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure."(III. ii. 21-25)

This is why the plot is resolved in Hamlet with another play. The difference between appearance and reality is what determines Hamlet's melancholy and sadness:

so shall my anticipation / prevent your discovery, and your secrecy to the king / and queen moult no feather. I have of late -- but / wherefore I know not -- lost all my mirth, forgone all / custom of exercises; and indeed it goes so heavily /...

II.ii. 307-316)
Thus, in Hamlet, the moral laxity has determined Hamlet's negative state of mind and generates a heavy atmosphere.

In the Importance of Being Earnest however, the distinction between truth and fact is actually what needs to be preserved:

That is the worst of the English. They are always degrading truths into facts, and when a truth becomes a fact, it loses all its intellectual value"(Wilde, 2000, p. 544)

Algernon declares he will never part with his immoral double, therefore preserves the contrast between appearance and reality:

Algernon. Nothing will induce me to part with Bunbury, and if you ever get married, which seems to me extremely problematic, you will be very glad to know Bunbury. A man who marries without knowing Bunbury has a very tedious time of it."(Wilde, 2000, p. 524)

Thus, the two plays are similar in their representation of moral decline in society, but differ as to main characteristics of this decline: for Shakespeare it consists or real sinfulness and immorality, while for Wilde it is mainly a question of superficiality.

The moral theme is tackled in more ways starting with the triviality that both authors notice in man, then with the true immorality and the bad actions. However, the works differ on the point of the duplicity between morality and immorality that Shakespeare considers unacceptable, while Wilde sees it as necessary.

Reference List

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. London: Methuen, 1961.

Wilde, Oscar. 2000. Oscar Wilde: the major works. Oxford: Oxford University Press.