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The Importance of being Earnest

by Oscar Wilde

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A movie trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssBUir2LG-U

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The Setting:

1890s

Victorian England

London (and Hertfordshire); and rural county outside of London

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The Characters:

  • Algernon Moncrieff
    • Best friend of Jack
    • Fun Fact: Leads a double life, claiming he is in charge of an invalid named Bunburyist
  • Lady Bracknell (Algeron’s aunt)
  • Lane (Algernon’s servant)
  • Gwendolyn Fairfax (Algeron’s cousin)
    • Fun fact: Jack likes Gwendolyn!

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The Characters continued...

  • John Worthing (Jack in the country, Ernest in the city)
    • Best friend of Algernon
    • Fun Fact: Leads a double life, claiming he has a younger brother in the city named Ernest
  • Cecily Cardew (under the guardianship of Jack)
    • Fun Fact: Algernon likes Cecily!

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Why study this play in Grade 8?

How does it relate to us?

  • Love?
  • Challenging authority/ societal expectations?
  • Writing form: satirical comedy

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Satire:

The use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues

(Oxford English Dictionary)

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Theme: What about LOVE?

  • types of love:
    • romantic
    • unrequited
    • companionship
    • unconditional (i.e. family)
  • love as part of the institution of marriage?

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Theme:

The Nature of Marriage

(Monogamous Committed Relationships)

  • is a marriage proposal “business” or “pleasure”?
    • (practical considerations versus romantic excitement?)
  • considerations:
    • social position
    • income
    • character/ background

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Theme: Marriage continued...

  • Do marriages have “they-lived-happily-ever-after” endings?

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Algernon: “Nothing will induce me to part with Bunbury, and if you ever get married, which seems to me extremely problematic, you will be very glad to know Bunbury. A man who marries without knowing Bunbury has a very tedious time of it”

Jack: “That is nonsense. If I marry a charming girl like Gwendolyn, and she is the only girl I ever saw in my life that I would marry, I certainly won’t want to know Bunbury”

Algeronon: “Then your wife will”

  • marriage institution as a societal expectation?

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Theme: Morality

  • How effective is a code of rules of what people should and shouldn’t do?
  • How important is honesty and sincerity (i.e. being earnest?)
  • Are “truly moral” characters irreverent?

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Perspective: The Role of Women

  • How are women characters presented?
    • Flighty/ trivial/ silly? (is this the same as “romantic”?)
    • Take charge? (is this the same as “practical”?)
    • Dependent versus Independent? An object?
    • Upholding moral principles and social decencies so that men feel compelled they need to temporarily “escape” by creating a double life? Could women lead a “double life”?

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Perspective: Class

  • “upper” versus “lower” classes:
    • educational opportunities
    • moral leadership?
  • is leading a “double life” only afforded to the “upper” classes?

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Find the play online at:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/844/844-h/844-h.htm