One of the play’s recurring motifs is the comparison between comedy and tragedy. Various characters analyze the human experience and categorize which parts fall into the genre of comedy and which parts fall into the genre of tragedy. This motif adds a metafictional element to Oscar Wilde’s work, as the literary text itself is a drama with both comedic and tragic elements.

One prominent example of the comedy and tragedy motif occurs during the banter between Lord Illingworth and Mrs. Allonby. They compare the process of aging to both comedy and tragedy. Lord Illingworth first says, “I never intend to grow old. The soul is born old but grows young. That is the comedy of life” (40); Mrs. Allonby replies, “And the body is born young and grows old. That is life’s tragedy” (40). The motif of comedy and tragedy helps to highlight what the characters find ironic—that people seem to become less mature as their physical form grows old.

Lord Illingworth later elaborates upon the relationship between comedy and tragedy. He says that “the world has always laughed at its own tragedies, that being the only way in which it has been able to bear them”; he further explains that “consequently, whatever the world has treated seriously belongs to the comedy side of things” (113).