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| Wilde, Oscar: The Importance of Being Earnest
Wilde, Oscar: The Importance of Being Earnest
BOOK REPORT
Author: Oscar Wilde
Tile: The Importance of Being Earnest
Date of publication: 1895 in three acts
Type of Work:
Comic, farcical play
Setting
Algeron´s flat in London, and a country house in Hertfordshire,
England; in the 1890s
Plot outline: Two men, Algernon and John, who are friends
meet each other in Algy’s house where John falls in love with Gwendolen,
the daughter of Algernon’s Aunt Augusta. John owns a house in the
country, where everybody calls him Jack. But in the city he introduces himself
as Ernest, because he always says he has a brother in the country whose name is
Jack. There in the country he has a ward, Cecily and a governess, Miss Prism.
When Algy visits John’s house in the country without the knowledge of
Jack, who is in London, he meets Cecily and they fall in love. To be welcomed
nicely Algernon introduces himself as the brother of John, Ernest (in the
country John told them that his brother is named Ernest). John returns home and
after him Gwendolen and her mother, Lady Bracknell enter the house. Cecily and
Gwendolen recognise that both, Algy and John, told them a lie when they
introduced themselves both as Ernest. In the end everything is cleared up: John
has been lost as a baby in a hand-bag by Miss Prism who once worked in Lord
Bracknell’s house and is the brother of Algernon. John’s really name
is Ernest like his father’s name and Gwendolen and Algernon, and Cecily
and Ernest are engaged and are going to marry.
Principal Characters
Algernon: secretive; he uses lies to have a better
look and to solve problems;
John: he tells lies to everybody; was lost as he was a
child; sometimes strange behaviour;
Jack Worthing, gentleman of the Manor House;
also known as "Ernest"
Celcily Cardew,
Worthing`s pretty young ward
Miss Prism,
Cecily`s governess
Lady Augusta Braknell,
Algernon`s aunt; concerned much about Society; always gives her
advise;
Gwendolen Fairfax, Lady Bracknell`s daughter
The Reverend Canon Chasublc, Rector of Woolton
Interpretation:
Wilde`s sense of structure is theatrical. Although the language and its
resonances arrest the attention of the audience and compel them to laugh, there
is a rising curve of dramatic tension throughout. The essence of The
Importance of Being Earnest is pace; of dialogue and duplicity; of epigram
and paradox.
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The patterning of contrast and parallel, opposite and like, simulated love
and momentary hate are all the cornerstones of his sense of form. Built in to
this is a contrast between town & country ­ sophistication and
apparent innocence; between rhetoric (Lady Bracknell) and languor (Jack);
between appearance and reality. There is a temptation to see The Importance
of Being Earnest as an allegory: with all the characters who have escaped
reality compelled to face it.
The characters in the play are important for what they say and at times for
what they represent: It can be said that they are psychologically significant,
or even psychologically developed. They are however, largely one-dimensional,
and their reactions are often conditioned by Wilde`s opportunism, always verbal
and exploiting the promise of a situation.
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Further peculiarities: simple English, hardly any difficult
expressions; seems to be an ordinary natural dialogue;
My own opinion: It is short, clearly written.
Moreover it has an entertaining plot with a joke in it.
I really liked the theme, because Wilde criticises society by satirising
it.
In addition to that he shows us the absurdity of our society:
He shows us what is important for them.
Things that don`t seem to be important at all.
But in every day`s life - in every man`s life, there are a lot of absurd
things most people cannot understand.
It is not only the importance of being earnest...
Gertraud Medicus 8c 1999 / 2000
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