Rather than just a form of the name Ernest, the title could also imply ‘earnestness’ as a quality one should seek to acquire, as in being honest, sincere, sober, and serious. Throughout the play, Ernest is a name that encompasses qualities of the ideal man: genuinely trustworthy, loving, honorable, passionate, and sincere. Gwendolyn says, “We live in an age of ideals… and my ideal has always been to love someone of the name Ernest…The only really safe name is Ernest” (Wilde 1895). Cecily also quotes, “It had always been a girlish dream of mine to love someone whose name was Ernest. There is something in that name that seems to inspire absolute confidence” (Wilde 1895). The fact that both Gwendolyn and Cecily speak so keenly and even dream of marrying a man named Ernest seems more than a coincidence. The way Gwendolyn describes the name of Ernest being “safe” and the way Cecily says the name ‘inspires confidence’ highlights the effect this one simple name can have on the young women of this time. By putting an emphasis on the name ‘Ernest’ and the earnestness that comes with it the audience is able to focus on a completely different perspective of the play. Amy Lee observes the same as she writes in the International Journal of Humanities, “Some have attributed a third meaning to the word ‘earnest’ as a code-word in the 19th century gay culture to mean “being gay”” (Lee 2010). Lee was not the only who agreed with this observation. Sharron Eberson stated in her article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “The title's "Earnest" is a play on words -- "earnest" was Victorian slang for gay. The play opened as a feud with the Marquess of Queensberry, over Wilde's affair with the aristocrat's married son, hit full tilt and before Wilde was imprisoned for "gross indecencies" with men” (Eberson 2011). This interpretation highlights the obsession that scholars today have on Wilde’s homosexuality. The importance that has been placed on Wilde’s homosexuality makes the audience realize what a strong effect he had in Victorian society by defying such a strong moral code.