The Importance of Being Earnest

Introduction

sail/salealoud/allowedalter/altarknight/night break/brake cell/sell there/they’re/theirflour/flower pale/pail wail/whalewaist/wasteprince/prints rain/reign/rein weather/whetherread/reed right/write which/witch

Ernest / Earnest:

• Homophone: one of a group of words pronounced in the same way but differing in meaning or spelling or both.

Ernest :

• Jack’s Alter ego in the city• Jack’s imaginary younger brother• Cecily’s fantasy fiancé• Gwen’s love interest• Algy’s adopted persona in Act 2• Jack’s real name!

Earnest:

• serious in intention, purpose, or effort; sincerely zealous: an earnest worker.

• showing depth and sincerity of feeling: earnest words; an earnest entreaty.

The Title is the first joke!

• Earnestness can take many forms in the play, including being boring, solemn, pompous, complacent, smug, self-righteous, and having a sense of duty, all of which Wilde saw as hallmarks of the Victorian character.

• The earnestness of Victorian society impels Algernon and Jack to invent fictitious alter egos so they can escape the restrictions of decorum and decency.

• As you read the play, ask yourself who, if anyone, is ‘earnest’ (and does Wilde suggest that it IS important to be so?)!

Analysing a Play

Play

Plot

characters

Language Context

Themes

Settings

Stage craft

Genre & style

Plot (structure)

Main Characters•Jack Worthing•Algernon Moncrieff •Lady Bracknell•Gwendolyn Fairfax•Cecily Cardew•Dr. Chasuble•Miss Prism•Lane•Merriman

Character Studies

•What they say

•What they do

•What others say about them

•What others do to them

(or in response to them)

Relationships

Settings (& staging)

Context

www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/

http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/wilde/index.html

Language (dialogue)

•Wit•Wildean Epigrams•Inverted expectations•‘Nonsense’ & paradox•Intertextual echoes•Hyperbole•Dramatic Irony

"The real charm of the play, if it is to have charm, must be in the dialogue“ Wilde

Some of Wilde’s better known epigrams

I never travel without my diary.One should always have something sensational to read in the train.

The way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.

Education is an admirable thing,but it is as well to remember that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.

Anything becomes a pleasure if one does it too often.

There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.

The only thing to do with good advice is pass it on;it is never of any use to oneself.

The difference between literature and journalism is that journalism is unreadable and literature is not read.

A woman begins by resisting a man's advances and ends by blocking his retreat.

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.

Either that wallpaper goes, or I do. [His final words.]

Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.

Stage Craft

•Stage directions

•Director/Actor choices

•Blocking

•Set/props/lighting & costuming

•Audience reaction

What do you notice about this moment in the play – why has it been staged in this way?

Genre & Style ‘A Trivial Comedy for Serious People’

•Intellectual Farce•Comedy of Manners•Romantic comedy•Satire

Themes

•Lies, fantasy, deceit & morality•Love, romance & marriage•Respectability & social conventions•Class & wealth•Gender•Foolishness & folly