Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest
Setting: Begins in a flat in London then proceeds to a manor house in the countryside in the late 1800's.
Plot: Two men, John Jack Earnest Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, use the deception [a Bunbury] that both their names were Ernest, in order to secure marriage to the women they love, Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew. Then there is the ultimate unraveling of their lies, which still ends in their impending nuptials.Cast of Key CharactersJohn Jack Ernest Worthing"Bon-vivant" [Jack to Algernon 2] Algernon is asking Jack what brought him to town. Jack has come to town to get away from his responsibilities in the country, his ward Cecily, and to see Gwendolen, whom he wishes to propose marriage. In order to do this he has committed the Bunbury that he has come to see his brother, Ernest, who doesn't exist. He wishes to enjoy the pleasures before attending to his guardian duties.
Quote: "When one is in town one amuses oneself. When one is in the country one amuses other people. It is excessively boring.""Curmudgeon" [Jack to Algernon 3] Jack has come to propose to Gwendolen. Which is the express reason behind his lying about his name being Ernest. Algy feels that is business not pleasure.
Jack thinks it is utterly unromantic. Algernon says he will forget about romance when he is married. Though Algy doesn't know it yet when he sees Cecily he will shed this view. Jack feels that the view Algernon has, others do also and that is what causes the dissolution process to be born. Jack is generalizing his cynical view of unromantic people.
Quote: "The divorce court was specially invented for people whose memories are so curiously constituted.""Architect" [Jack to Algy 3] Algy has said it is distasteful the way Gwendolen and Jack flirt with each other. This prompts Jack to state his romantic intentions toward Gwendolen. Jack has a specific goal, which is to marry Gwendolen. This is his sole purpose for coming to town.
Jack is so intent on marrying Gwendolen he has created a bunbury, the phantom brother Ernest, in order to see her. He also lies that his name is Ernest. Quote: "I am in love with Gwendolen. I have come to town expressly to propose to her.""Conniver" [Jack to Algernon 4] Algernon is trying to found why there is an inscription of the name Cecily on Jacks lighter. Jack creates the lie tha...
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...s' lies than they knew.
When Cecily tells Algy that she and he are already engaged and have been for some three months. She gives him the account of their lives thus far as lived in her dairy. She has lived out their relationship in her diary. She has dreamed up the man that now stands in front of her.
Miss Prism has written a novel herself. Later we find out that her novel is the key to Jack's true identity. When Miss Prism was younger she was caring for an infant, when she accidentally switched the baby with the book. She placed the infant in her handbag and the novel in the baby carrier. The infant was Jack, whose real name is Ernest. Jack's parents are really Algernon's parents also.
This means that every time Jack came to town to see Algy he really was seeing his wayward brother. With the truth exposed it also means that Algernon was only lying to Cecily about being named Ernest, because he truly is John Jack Ernest Worthing's brother. Being earnest is being truthful. The quote that entails this ideal is on pg. 40 [Algernon to Jack] "Well, one must be serious about something, if one wants to have any amusement in life. I happen to be serious about Bunburying..."
Alyss concludes, “This marriage would please her mother, for her family’s sake” (Beddor 171). Alyss acts as a people pleaser when she accepts Leopold’s proposal. She doesn’t love Leopold, but accepts his proposal only to make her mother happy. Alyss has decided to no longer stand out and become like “every women” (Beddor 191). Alyss desires to conform and submit to ideas of society. She becomes normal and no longer stands out like odd Alyss. Mrs. Liddell exclaims “ The dress she had purchased months before, but which Alyss had always refused to wear it because she feared it would make her look normal”, Alyss now wears it ( Beddor 151). Alyss starts to dress like everyone in England. She no longer looks like a former Wonderlander, but becomes by all appearances a proper young
‘I accept, Leopold.’” (Beddor 98) Alyss has drastically matured since leaving Wonderland. She is getting married. Looking back to Part One Alyss had never imagined getting married while in Wonderland. Accepting Leopold’s proposal is a big piece of evidence, proving that Alyss has matured. Alyss seems to hold a grudge against Dodgson when he writes incorrect facts about Alyss in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. “She discovered that it had little to do with her….”(Beddor 89) This means that she has inherited a part of Redd. Redd holds a grudge against Genevieve when she takes over the throne and seeks revenge later on. This connection is an odd one. People would think that Alyss is a nice girl but, everyone inherits a bad side of someone. Maybe Alyss is more like Redd than she thought. Alyss’ appearance and actions have changed since being in London. In the story it says “The change was subtler things- the tilt of Alyss’ head, the particular sweep of her arms,her careful steps forward.” (Beddor 90) It seems like Alyss has started to forget about Wonderland. Also she acts more elegant and lady like instead of foolish and
“Cecily” and Algernon as “Earnest” in “The Importance Of Being Earnest”. This is a letter from Earnest (Algernon) to Cecily. She had imaginarily got engaged to Earnest by writing letters to herself. The letter that was created from Earnest to Cecily is letter created by herself. In the first letter Earnest spoke violently to Cecily he even expresses his feelings towards her by writing a poem that described her attitude. This letter was to express his hatred feeling towards her for what she had done. In the second letter Earnest suddenly changed his feelings towards her and try apologizing by saying how important she is to him. He then writes another poem to her.
He marries a woman named Vivian. Vivian soon leaves Jack when she is pregnant. Later, Jack sees his daughter and goes home with her. Jack’s granddaughter calls him poppynoodle and loves Jack. Jack also loves his family and this is instrumental because this is his first actual family.
Oscar Wildes ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’’ is believed by many to be his most genius work and certainly has withstood the test of time. The play is set in London during the 1890’s in which time frame aristocracy and upper class held the majority of the countries wealth. Many of the comical aspects question the morals of the upper class in which he satirises throughout the play. One method of this, for instance is through one of the main protagonist, Algernon Moncrieff. Algernon is an upper class individual who is oblivious to the world around him in such an exaggerated manner that it makes his character comically adjusted for Wildes own views. Many aspects of the time period are made a mockery through puns and witty remarks from the main protagonists, most if not all are portrayed in a sense that makes them undoubtedly a laughing stock. Wildes methods are not discrete; nor are they obvious, many of the comical comments made are by none other than the protagonists themselves. This furthermore enforces the corrupted morals of the time periods prestigious upper class by showing their sheer inability to acknowledge hypocrisy. For example, in act one; Algernon states “ Lane's views on marriage seem somewhat lax. Really, if the lower orders don't set us a good example, what on earth is the use of them? They seem, as a class, to have absolutely no sense of moral responsibility.” This is especially amusing as Algernon believes that the lower class have a duty to set an example when in reality the matter of fact was quite the contrary. Algernon states that he believes the lower class are lacking in morals, he being arguably one of the most morally distorted characters Wilde created makes the double standards more prominent.
Similarly, in “The Importance of Being Earnest”, Jack and Algernon both begin their marital lives based on deception and lies. As a matter of fact, Gwendolen and Algernon both know Jack as Ernest. When Jack proposes to Gwendolen, she becomes overly attached to the idea of marrying someone called Ernest. Gwendolen exclaims: “My ideal has always been to love someone of the name Ernest/There is something in that name that inspires absolute confidence/It is a divine name/It has a music of its own/It produces vibrations” (Wilde 106), and Cecily is of the same opinion “it had always been a girlish dream of mine to love someone whose name was Ernest/I pity any poor married woman whose husband is not called Ernest” (Wilde 116). Jack and Algernon never admits to Gwendolen and Cecily that they are living a double life, their relationships are based on lies. They are more occupied with the name Ernest than the fact of actually being earnest. In spite of leading a deceptive and double life, both men
Two adolescent women who incorrectly consider the men’s names to be Ernest, and who are passionate about the men for this very reason think highly of both Jack and Algernon. In relating the story of mix-ups and mistaken identities, the ideals and manners of the Victorian society are satirized in a comedy where the characters "treat all the trivial things of life seriously and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality"(Wilde, Oscar). Oscar Wilde’s amusing scenes often take their source in societal satire and unconventional (Baselga 15). All the way through his play, The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde satirizes education, women, and morality.
Gwendolen confesses to Jack, or his confidante Ernest, “The moment Algernon first mentioned to me that he had a friend called Ernest, I knew I was destined to love you” (10). That quote proved that Gwendolen’s drive to marry “Ernest” for him having the name Ernest, rather than marrying him for his character. Cecily also confesses something along the same lines as Gwendolen to Algernon, that even though she had never met him before she fell in love with him: “Well, ever since dear Uncle Jack first confessed to us that he had a younger brother who was very wicked and bad, you of course have formed the chief topic of conversation…a man who is much talked about is always very attractive…I daresay it was foolish of me, but I fell in love with you, Ernest” (32). She is led to believe that Algernon’s real name is Ernest. Cecily and Gwendolen are attracted to Jack and “Ernest” because of their histories. Gwendolen was excited to find o...
Gwendolen and Cecily act like air-heads and are easily won over by the men they plan to marry. Gwendolen simply wants to marry a man named Earnest. She tells Jack “my ideal has always been to love someone of the name of Ernest” (I.381-82). The mere idea of marrying a man for his name shows how easily Gwendolen can attach herself to a man. Marriage is the most serious of all relationships and Gwendolen is foolish to deter...
The The surprising thing is that they both understand each other! In addition, both Jack and Algernon have made false statements. Jack has "invented a very useful younger brother called Ernest" Algernon has "invented an invaluable permanent invalid called Bunberry. According to Jack, his name is not suitable for both the town and the country. The. Algenon and Jack, therefore, live as they please, through.
The irony continues to explain how Jack and Algernon were biological brothers. They were pretending to be earlier to play out their game of Bunburyism. Jack had told everybody he had a brother in which was he used as his justification to leave his home in the country and visit his "brother" in the city. Algernon pretends to be Jack brother "Earnest" in order to win over Jack beautiful "niece" Cecily.
She only becomes insincere towards Cecily when she sees the other as a threat to her relationship with Ernest. Although being insincere to someone is not the best decision, Gwendolen uses it to cover up her insecurity. When she finds out that Cecily is Mr Worthing’s ward, she tells the younger girl, “Disloyalty would be as impossible to [Ernest] as deception. But even men of the noblest possible moral character are extremely susceptible to the influence of the physical charm of others” (163). Gwendolen expresses to Cecily how she wished the other was older and uglier, making the chances of Ernest being attracted towards her decrease. Gwendolen is a lady of appearance, and she is confident of her own, but she is still insecure towards Cecily. Because of this, she becomes rude towards Cecily. Yet, however, Cecily explains to Gwendolen that Ernest Worthing is not her guardian, but Jack is. In response to this, Gwendolen shows her relief by telling Cecily, “You have lifted a load from my mind. I was growing almost anxious” (163). Here, Gwendolen admits that Cecily made her anxious about her relationship with Ernest; she relaxes once she finds out that Ernest most likely has not met Cecily if that is the case. With this, the audience sees how her insecurity causes her insincerity towards Cecily, and how much she cares about her relationship with
...ngagement, their re-engagement. Cecily is not the natural country girl. She possesses the self-assurance of the experienced woman. Without being cynical she makes her desires clear. And when Gwendolen and Cecily discover that their Earnests are impostors whose names are Jack and Algernon they decide that love can be restored only if Jack and Algy christen themselves Earnest.
The pun on the word "Earnest" suggests two things; it stands for the name but also refers to honesty and integrity. It is also known as a `one joke' or a play on words. Though the name is spelt as "Ernest" the reader still recognizes the double meaning of the title. Two of the main characters, Jack and Algernon, strive to be "Ernest" and "Earnest" in the play, yet they both deceive others to escape lives which they grow tired of. They both hope to marry the girls that they love, yet they are starting the relationships base on false pretence and lies. It is ironic that they both call themselves "Ernest," a name that suggests honesty and sincerity, yet they both create stories to escape something or the other. Jack creates a brother called "Ernest" in the city that he uses as a `scape goat' to leave his prim and proper, respectable country life, whereas Algernon creates a friend by the name of "Bunbury" to escape his aunt's high class society parties. He shows his lack of interest in such social events when he tells Jack,
Although Jack and Algernon are completely different kinds of people, they both hold strong ties with each other. Jack and Algernon both live double lives through nonexistent characters named Ernest and Bunbury. They are always searching for pleasure in their lives. For example when Algernon asks, “How are you, my dear Ernest? What brings you up to town?” Jack replies “Oh, pleasure, pleasure! What else should one bring anywhere”(Wilde 1427)? Algernon also states “My duty as a gentleman has never interfered with my pleasures”(Wilde 1456). Nothing gets in the way of these men pursuing their loved ones.