唯美主义的代表人物奥斯卡.王尔德的喜剧《认真的重要性》描绘了一幅维多利亚时期上层社会的生活风景画。剧中两位主角的双重生活给每一位读者留下了深刻的印象并且成为此剧冲突的关键。现实生活中的王尔德也过着一种隐秘的双重生活,这不得不使人联想到二者的内在联系。借助精神分析的一些理论,本文着力于揭开表面双重生活下所隐藏的深刻的心理和社会根源。

　　The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. It premiered on 14 February 1895 at the St. James's Theatre in London.
　　
　　Set in late Victorian England in 1895, the play's humour derives in part from characters maintaining fictitious identities to escape unwelcome social obligations. It is replete with witty dialogue and satirises some of the foibles and hypocrisy of late Victorian society. It has proved Wilde's most enduringly popular play.
　　
　　The successful opening night of this play marked the climax of Wilde's career but also heralded his impending downfall. The Marquess of Queensberry, father of Wilde's lover Lord Alfred Douglas, attempted to enter the theatre, intending to throw vegetables at the playwright when he took his bow at the end of the show. Wilde was tipped off and Queensberry was refused admission. Nonetheless, Queensberry's hostility to Wilde was soon to trigger the latter's legal travails and eventual imprisonment. Wilde's notoriety caused the play, despite its success, to be closed after only 83 performances. He never wrote another play.