The Importance of Being Earnest

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The Importance of Being Earnest

• By Oscar Wilde
• (1854-1900)

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The Importance of Being Earnest

• Written in 1895
• A Comedy in 3 Acts
• Is a satire
• Immediate hit when first performed
• Criticizes Victorian moral and social values
• Bridges Victorian period/literature with Modern
• Uses wit, puns, exaggeration, and wordplay to
  create humor

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Main Characters

• John Worthing, aka Jack, aka Earnest
• Algernon Montcrief, Jacks friend
• Lane, the butler for Algernon
• Rev. Chausible, the preacher in the country

• Lady Bracknell, mother of Gwendolyn
• Gwendolyn, wants to marry a man named Earnest
• Cecily, Jacks ward
• Miss Prism, Cecilys governess

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Settings

• Time Around 1890
• Place(s)
• London (the City)
• Jacks House in the Country (a very large estate)
• The village church

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Settings

• Jacks Country House

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Settings

• Jacks Drawing Room

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Settings

• Lady Bracknells mansion in London

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Victorian Period

• Named for Queen Victoria of England
• Was Queen from 1837-1901
• Followed the reign of Mad King George
• The culture was very moral and serious
• Women were expected to be the angel in the
  house - to take care of their husband and family

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Queen Victoria

• Became Queen as a young girl
• Married Albert, Prince Consort and adored him
• After he died, she wore black for the rest of her
  life
• Had 9 children
• Created a culture that valued family and stability

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Victorian Period

• Manners were supremely important
• English society was divided into classes
• The Upper-class was well-educated, came from a
  rich and respected family (old money), and
  having good manners mattered more than anything
  else
• Considered bad manners to flaunt wealth

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Victorian Period

• Young women were always chaperoned until they
  were married
• Womens clothing covered them from neck to ankle
  clothes had to be modest
• In the upper classes, people with a bad
  reputation were outcasts no matter how much money
  they had
• Good manners were extremely important

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Victorian Fashion

• For the Gentlemen

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Victorian Fashion

• For the Ladies

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Victorian Period

• People did not just drop in to visit - they
  made formal appointments
• Refreshments were expected when visitors came to
  call (visit) - usually tea and cake or tiny,
  elegant cucumber sandwiches
• Men were expected to be well-educated
• Women were expected to marry well

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Literary Vocabulary

• Comedy - light-hearted literature with humor and
  a happy ending
• Satire - literary writing that makes fun of or
  criticizes the faults of people or groups.
  Purpose is to point out flaws
• Wit - using words to be clever and funny with
  language
• Pun - a play on words

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Literary Vocabulary

• Protagonist - the main character
• Foil - the character who contrasts the main
  character (the foil reflects the traits of the
  main character)
• Blocking figure - A character, often old and
  cranky, who interferes with the romantic desires
  or the other main characters and provides comic
  action

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Literary Vocabulary

• Motif - a recurring character or element repeated
  in a literary work. Food is a motif in The
  Importance of Being Earnest
• Protagonist - the main character

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The Importance of Being Earnest

• Oscar Wilde created many amusing quotes

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Oscar Wilde Quotes

• I always pass on good advice. It is the only
  thing to do with it. It is never of any use to
  oneself.
• I can resist everything except temptation.

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Oscar Wilde Quotes

• I never travel without my diary. One should
  always have something sensational to read in the
  train.
• To lose one parent may be regarded as a
  misfortune to lose both looks like
  carelessness.

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The Importance of Being Earnest

• Even though this play was written more than 100
  years ago, it continues to be very popular
• More than one movie has been made of this play,
  the most recent in the past 5-10 years
• This play is currently being performed on
  Broadway in New York City (through June)

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Importance of Being Earnest

• The title of the play is a pun.
• To be earnest means to be serious, and the main
  character (John/Jack) uses the name Earnest
  when he is in the city
• Bunburying is using an alias to get away with
  avoiding social obligatioins

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Introduction

• With The Importance of Being Earnest (1895),
  Irish-born Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) created
  his final and most lasting play in every
  respect, a masterpiece of modern comedy.
• A century later, it produces a wonderful balance
  by remaining both a respected and studied piece
  of literature, as well as a favorite with
  audiences.

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Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

• Next to his literature, Wilde is largely
  remembered for his flamboyant lifestyle and
  outrageous behaviour, at least as measured by the
  times in which he lived.
• Educated at the University of Oxford, he wrote
  poetry, studied the classics and adopted a
  philosophy of "arts for arts sake". It wasnt
  uncommon to see him strolling through Picadilly
  Circus in London, outfitted with a velvet coat,
  knee breeches, and shoulder-length hair, carrying
  a lily.

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Wilde and his Play

• On Feb. 14, 1895, was the opening night of the
  original production of The Importance of Being
  Earnest at the St. James Theatre in London. It
  was a major social event, partly due to the
  stunning popularity of Wilde The Importance of
  Being Earnest was his fourth play in only three
  years.
• While Earnest was in rehearsal, Wilde was in the
  middle of his troubled but long-term relationship
  with Lord Alfred Douglas, and was being pursued
  by Douglass father, the homophobic marquess of
  Queensberry.

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Wilde and his Play

• Two weeks later, Queensberry left a calling card
  in Wildes mailbox, accusing Wilde of being
  homosexual.

Wilde decided to take legal action and sued
Queensberry for libel, a step that would
backfire. While Queensberry was acquitted, Wilde
was tried and convicted of homosexual practices,
and subsequently sentenced to two years hard
labor, in what was called the trial of the
century,
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Wilde and his Play

• Upon his release in 1897, Wilde moved to Paris.
  With broken spirit and empty pockets, he lived
  out the remainder of his life in poor health,
  relying on the charity of friends.
• On Nov. 30, 1900, at the age of 46, Wilde died of
  cerebral meningitis. During the height of Wilde's
  controversial trial and imprisonment, Earnest
  closed down.

It was revived in 1902, without the disgraced
playwright's name on the program. Only in a 1909
revival after his death, was Wilde's name
returned to the bill, and the play had the long
and commercially successful theatrical run that
it deserved.
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And alien tears will fill for himPitys long
broken urnFor his mourners will be outcast
menAnd outcasts always mourn
(Wildes tombstone)
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The Dramatis Personae
Jack Worthing
Algernon Moncrieff
ward of
Y
Gwendolen Fairfax
Cecily Cardew
aunt of
mother of
Lady Bracknell
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• A "comedy of manners" is defined as A comedy
  concerned with the social actions and behavior of
  members of a highly sophisticated, upper-class
  society.

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Genre Notes

• Oscar Wilde, rather than focusing on the lower
  classes or social conditions, chose to satirize
  the life of the English aristocracy, a world with
  which he was personally familiar.
• His characters are typical Victorian snobs they
  are often arrogant, dont seem to work at all,
  are overly proper, formal and concerned with
  money.

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• One of the ways Wilde's wit manifests itself is
  in puns Running throughout the entire play is
  the double meaning behind the word earnest, as a
  male name and as an adjective for seriousness.
• Wilde saw earnestness as being a key ideal in
  Victorian culture. Much of British society struck
  him as dry and conservative, and so concerned
  with the maintenance of social norms that it had
  become almost inhuman. The Importance lightly
  shows the limitations and unhappiness produced by
  such a way of life.

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• Also fundamental to Wilde's wit is his use of
  epigrams short, witty sayings.
• We see this type of humor at work, for instance,
  as Jack announces that he has come to town to ask
  Gwendolen to marry him and Algernon responds "I
  thought you had come up for pleasure? I call that
  business. I really don't see anything romantic in
  proposing. It is very romantic to be in love. The
  very essence of romance is uncertainty. If I ever
  get married, I'll certainly try to forget the
  fact."

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• The Importance has many goalsIt pokes fun at
  the aristocracy, the literary world, marriage and
  love, English manners and customs, women and men
  in modern society.
• Furthermore, it does so in a lighthearted fashion
  while creating some of the most memorable
  characters in the history of English theater. It
  has always been a huge commercial success because
  both its humor and its themes are as timely today
  as they have ever been.

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It is awfully hard work doing nothing.
(Algernon, Act I)
"