Earnest B2 481h3n

Major Works Data Sheet Fabbiha Chowdhury, Rebecca Rich, Yusra Ahmed- Band 2 Biographical information about the author:

Title: The Importance of Being Earnest

Wilde was born in 1854, Dublin. His father was a renowned Wilde attended Trinity College Author: Oscar Wilde in Dublin and Magdalen College in Oxford, where he won several literary contests. He believed that art should be the central part of Date of Publication: December, 1898 one’s life and that fulfillment could only come through it; this was also known as the Art for Genre: Satire, Comedy of Manners Art’s Sake Movement. He became very popular in America after his work, Poems, and some of his best works include The Importance of Being Historical information about the period of publications: Earnest and the controversial, The Picture of Dorian Gray. After a trial that sent him to prison Wilde originally wrote the play during the for 2 years for being a sodomite, Wilde returned summer of 1894 in Worthing, England. Although it to the , where he released The Ballad of was performed the following year, it wasn’t Reading Goal, which discussed the inhumane prison conditions he suffered. published until 1898 due to Wilde’s tainted reputation and bankruptcy. Wilde had prosecuted Characteristics of the genre: the Marquis of Queensbury, the father of his male lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, for publicly harassing Satire- Mocking an action or form of behavior, sarcasm him and calling him a “posing sodomite”. He went towards corruption in people and their environment bankrupt after losing the libel trial. The Importance includes shortcomings and vices, ironic, parodies, etc. of Being Earnest was well received, but its success Comedy of Manners- Prominent in English Restoration was short-lived; sodomy was a crime during the Era, focused on world of the upper class, socially Victorian era, thus Wilde ended up in prison for his superior characters, explores relationships between sexes, homosexuality 15 weeks later. explores standards and morals of society. Plot Summary:

Two men, Algernon and Jack, pretend to be other people in order to win the affections of two ladies, Gwendolyn and Cecily. Both of these women are infatuated with the idea of being married to man who has the name Ernest. They aren't all that concerned with the actual person, they like the virtue implied by the name. Both Algernon and Jack take on the name Earnest and things get complicated when both women think they are engaged to the same man. Also at issue in the play is what Wilde is saying about the shallowness and frivolousness of high society. Gwendolyn's mother, Lady Bracknell, is the primary source of this satire, as she makes it very clear what kind of man would be suitable for her daughter, Gwendolyn. She also scrutinizes Cecily’s suitability as a wife for Jack. Once all the confusion is cleared up, Gwendolyn is allowed to marry Ernest, really named Jack, and Cecily agrees to marry her Ernest, really named Algernon, who turn out to be brothers. Even though they both decided to give up their “secret persona”, Wilde successfully employs the greatest irony of all, the fact that both men are in fact, who they had pretended to be.

Major Works Data Sheet

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author’s style: The personalities of Wilde’s An example that demonstrates the style: One example characters play off of the materialistic attitudes of a pun is in the title of the play, The Importance of Being Earnest. This is a play on the word of people in the Victorian age; however they are far more exaggerated and comical. Wilde earnest which on the one hand could be thought to mean the name Ernest which is a name that keeps his dialogue light and easy to read, both if the female main characters would like employing numerous comical writing their future husbands to have, and which both techniques. Some of the most notable male main characters falsely use to win the techniques he uses are epigrams, brief, affections of the women. On the other hand the cleverly expressed, and usually memorable word earnest also means: showing depth and statements, and puns, humorous wordplay sincerity of feeling; coincidentally none of the relying on multiple meanings or similar sounds,

Memorable Quotes

Quotation •

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Significance

“I don’t play This quotation demonstrates a major theme in this play: the accurately—anyone belief that style is more important than quality. can play accurately— but I play with wonderful expression.” – This line is not only a particularly memorable epigram; it is also Algernon "All women become an example of the distinctions between the roles of the two like their mothers. genders that run through this play. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his."This quotation is another example of an epigram. It also displays Algernon another major theme in the play, the preference of ignorance and "The truth is rarely fiction over education and knowledge of facts. Wilde is pure and never satirizing the ignorance of the people of this time. simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern This quotation reiterates the style over quality. literature a complete impossibility!"Algernon “In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the This quotation emphasizes another major theme in the play, the vital thing.”preference of ignorance over knowledge. It also displays the Gwendolyn clearly satirical nature of the play. “I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone.”-

Major Works Data Sheet

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Characters Name

Role in the story

Significance

Adjectives

John (Jack/Ernest) Worthing

Protagonist

He leads a double life Comical, Deceitful throughout the play. He has a different name in his country estate and another name when he is in London. When he was young, he was found in a handbag where a man found and adopted him and made him the guardian of his granddaughter Cecily Cardew, whom he falls in love with.

Algernon Moncrieff

Friend of Jack Worthing

He is the nephew of Lady Clever, witty, selfish, Bracknell, cousin of brilliant, charming Gwendolyn, and best friend of Jack Worthing. He is a wealthy bachelor and has known his friend Ernest for years. He invents a fictional friend to make excuses to leave any of his obligations.

Gwendolen Fairfax

Lady Bracknell’s daughter Gwendolyn is in love with Jack Intellectual, and Algernon’s cousin and knows his real identity as pretentious, showy Ernest. She is wealthy and very materialistic. She does not want to marry any other man because they don’t have a name like Ernest.

Cecily Cardew Jack’s ward, the Cecily is similar to Gwendolyn Materialistic, clever, granddaughter of the man in that both love the name witty that found Jack Ernest. Cecily however, like cleverness and wickedness and she falls in love with Algernon. Lady Bracknell Algernon’s aunt and Gwendolyn’s mother

Lady Bracknell wants her daughter to get married to a well off gentlemen. Wilde is able to use Bracknell to demonstrate the upper class and their values.

Snobby, materialistic, stubborn, superior, cunning

Major Works Data Sheet Setting

Page 4 Significance of opening scene

The opening scene establishes the highly The play is set in the 1890s Mayfair area of stylized, careless atmosphere seen in elite society. London’s West End, notably housing the wealthy A society where people are surrounded by elite of society. The opening scene is at Algernon materialism and care a lot about their cucumber Moncrieff’s house. As the play progresses, the sandwiches and furniture. Everyone including the setting changes to a more rural area, play’s protagonists are concerned with Hertfordshire, where Jack has Miss Cecily. themselves. Significance of the ending/closing scene

Symbols

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The possession of a double identitycreating a deception to create mischief and wickedness. Food- On many occasions in the play food becomes a source of conflict and inconvenience.

The ending of the play satirizes the Victorian Society and the behaviors and values of the upper class. It ends with a complex paradox of Jack, finding out he had been Ernest the whole time when he was deceiving his friends and family. It also shows the hypocrisy of Victorian society and their values have little meaning, being more interested on surface than interior feelings. Wilde criticizes many aspects of the Victorian society and through this, forced readers to revalue their morals and values.

Possible Themes—Topics of Discussion

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The upperclass and their morals and values Approaching marriage and how one should deem another partner and their qualities Societal expectations Deception, fraud and its use- to what extent is it understandable? Development of society and values deemed acceptable in today’s world