Act I	Act II	Act III
Theatrical Performance Photos	Relevant Links	"Wilde Words", Caricatures, Pictures, and Illustration
The play as a whole

The Importance of Being est Above: Oscar Wilde in "aesthetic" costume during his lecture tour of America, 1882.  Photograph by Napoleon Sarony Right: "Oscar Wilde on Our Cast-Iron Stoves" From Harper's Weekly, 1882, Cartoon illustration by Thomas Nast

1. The play's story-- marriage, its manners and obstacles--is actually quite a common one in fiction (literature and best-sellers) and especially comedies.  The characters' views of marriage are both a source of laughter and an issue for serious discussion.  What does each character in this act (i.e. Jack, Algernon, Gwendolen, Lady Bracknell, and Lane) think about love, engagement, and marriage?

 
2. Jack, Algernon, Gwendolen and Lady Bracknell are all from the upper class. What are their value standards? In other words, what are the things they think are importnat, or "serous"? ( Pay special attention to Lady Bracknell's inquiries of Jack.)

 
3. Besides the aristocrats, there is Lane as a servant in this play. How is presented in the beginning of Act I? E.g. his views about marriage, his lies, and his drinking his master's champagne.)

 
4. 4. What are the lies you have found in Act I? What is Bunburying? Is lying easy or difficult for the characters?

 
5. The play is a comedy of manners. What is comic about it? What are the foibles that are satirized in Act I?

[ Comedy of Manners: A term used to describe a play deriving its comedy from the social habits (manners and the mores) of a given society, usually the dominant one at the time the play is written. A comedy of manners typically chronicles the foibles of the upper classes, with some attention to the lower classes as they interact with the gentry in their roles as servant, tradespeople, and the like.]
 
6. Plays are to be performed.  Usually stage direction offers directors/actors suggestions about setting and action.  This play has a minimum of stage direction, and you definitely can provide some more--about the character's gesture, expression and action, if not about setting.  Try to do it on one piece of dialogue (for instance, Lady Bracknell's examination of Jack.)  You can keep the late-19th-century setting, or put it in Taiwanese context.

1. How are Cecily and Ms. Prism different from each other, as is revealed in their conversation in the beginning of Act II? In Cecily's conversation with Algernon that follows, we see more of the things Cecily hates or values. What are they?

 
2. How are Jack's and Algernon's lies revealed in this Act? How do they react to this farcical revelation?

 
3. How does the issue of name (Ernest) get complicated or more "serious" in this Act?

 
4. What does the dialogue between Cecily and Gwendolen show about their personality and their manners? 　

• How do Gwendolen and Cecily react to Jack's and Algernon's plan to be christened as Ernest? What do they all think about Christening, or baptism, on the one land, and the name Ernest on the other?

 
• What does Lady Bracknell's inquiry about Cecily reveal about the former? What is the most important thing that makes her agree with Cecily's marriage with Algernon?

 
• How is the ending comical, or farcical? Consider Jack's calling Mr. Prism his mother, and the declaration of love of the three couples.

The Importance of Being Earnest
The Play as a Whole

　
 

3. The subtitle of the play is A Trivial Comedy for Serious People. What are the superficial or trivial things that are considered serious by the characters? What are the serious things that get trivialized? What, do you think, are the serious problem these characters have? Does the play itself suggest that we should be serious about anything?

 

 
 
 
 
 

Consider Wilde's explanation:

"I hope you will enjoy my 'trivial' play.  It is written by a butterfly for butterflies.  [The play] has its philosophy . . . that we should treat all the trivial things seriously, and the serious things in life with sincere and studied triviality."
4. How is the title significant? (For the characters, is it important to be earnest, or be one called Ernest?)

 
5. How is the play a comedy of manners? (What are the main themes? What are the characters' foibles? What do they value most? How are they--the themes, the foibles, and the values--treated?)

 
6. The characters in the play are paired.  Compare and contrast Jack and Algernon, Gwendolen and Cecily, Lady Bracknell and Mr. Prism.

 
7. What do the main characters think about the lower class, or class society? (E.g. Ms. Prism reminds Cecily that watering Bracknell's disagree with universal education; Gwendolen is happy that she has never seen a spade.)

 
8. Describe Wilde's verbal humor.   First collect the epigrams and then try to find out the common devices he uses (for instance, turning a proverb inside out[]; parallelism; creative usage of [or trivializing] cliche expression--"we live in the age of ideal").   Is his humor witticism or social criticism, or both?

 
9. Do you consider the play "realistic"?  Why and how is it (un-)realistic?  Try to relate the world of the play to our society.  Are there any similarities in terms of values, manners or views of marriage?

 
10. To follow up on the previous question on Wilde's language, let's consider his art.  Do you like it?

To borrow words from his fictional character in The Picture of Dorian Gray--
"All art is at once surface and symbol.  Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril.  Those who read the symbol do so at their peril"--do you appreciate both "surface" and "symbol"?
 
11. For George Bernard Shaw, the play is "rib-tickling" but lacking in "humanity."  Later on he said that he picked up "his passion for fun from Oscar Wilde" (The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays Signet, 1985: xviii, xxxii)  Do you agree with Shaw's criticism of the play?

Relevant links




Oscar Wilde--Life & Issues

The Importance of Being Earnest

Social background-- Victorian society

• Oscar Wilde--Life, Issues, and General Information:
• a brief biography
• Oscar Wilde site from the Victorian Web--for teachers and advanced reading

with introduction to his life ( Oscar Wilde -- Biographical Materials); his thoughts (Is Oscar Wilde A Sage?) and general social and cultural background.
• The Trials of Oscar Wilde (from English Literature databank) with pictures and a brief introduction.
• Oscariana Good, thought-provoking site devoted to "Life and Times" of Wilde, with a first-person count of his life, as well as a lot of contemporary documents and Wilde's own letters related to the trial.  Informative and touching!
• Oscar Wilde's 1895 martyrdom for 'indecent acts.'

 
• The Oscar Wilde Web very informative, including:
• A Wilde Biography
• Wilde Wit and Wisdom
• on Oscar Wilde

This section contains pertinent, and occasionally pithy, comments on Mr Wilde by his contemporaries, those who
have felt his influence and those who have sought to avoid it. The commentors are as diverse as Dorothy Parker,
James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw, Neil Bartlett and Camille Paglia.
• Wilde In Print; Wilde and Related Topics : A Bibliography; This and Other Wilde Sites
• Wilde's visit to San Francisco from the Museum of the City of San Francisco.

"The costume adopted by young Wilde, which included short breeches, long silk stockings, and a shoulder-length haircut, was hailed with horror and amazed contempt by young dandies educated to long tight trousers, high stiff collars, and full mustaches. "
"During the winter months there were published in the Wasp and in other California publications occasional jingles about Wilde and the Aesthetes; a popular song entitled "Oscar Dear" was received with condescending   humor in the city's gay spots; and the slang of the moment included such supposedlyWildean expressions as 'too utterly utter,' 'just too too,' and 'do you yearn?'"
 
• The Importance of Being Earnest
• A brief introduction to the play with reference to one production at Houston's Alley Theatre and .
• Online course notes on the play, including its style and plot summary: by Gregg A. Hecimovich
• Brief discussion of the background and language of the play (from Humdrum)
"The major influence on Wilde and his writing style was not that of his contemporaries, George
Bernard Shaw being one, but rather the inheritance of Restoration comedy. . . It has been argued that Wilde's plays are not so much about people as about words. The characters live through their speech, merely conveying the role they are playing, rather than their psychology."
• Reviews of actual productions of The Importance of Being Earnest
• Monitor Theatre
• A review from Austin Chronicle of Live Oak Theatre's production

(The chronicle also has other information unrelated to Wilde and the play)
A production at The Atlantic Theatre Festival
 
• Electronic Texts
• Poems by Oscar Wilde from Bartleby E-Text Archive
• Oscar Wilde Picture of Dorian Grey, poems and short stories from Bibliomania
• "The Happy Prince" from Bibliomania

 
• Social background--Victorian Society; Aestheticism

 
• Essays from the Victorian Web

Victorianism

Gentleman

the legislative changes in the "Age of Reform"

Aesthetes and Decadents of the 1890s