Which literary device is demonstrated by the line 'You are the most earnest-looking person I ever saw'?

• A. Irony.
• B. Hyperbole.
• C. Metaphor.
• D. Alliteration.

Answer: (A)

Irony is the move here. The line seems to compliment someone for looking earnest, which would imply real sincerity and seriousness. But Wilde often plays with appearances masking true character, so the statement undercuts itself: a person can look earnest without being truly earnest, and the humor comes from that gap between what’s said (a praise of sincerity) and what’s meant (a wink at appearances and perhaps even the pun on “earnest/Ernest”). It’s not a straight metaphor, nor a deliberate sound pattern like alliteration, and it isn’t merely magnifying for effect in the way hyperbole usually works. The charm lies in treating appearance as if it reveals truth, then showing that it doesn’t.