Importance of Being Earnest 2

A detailed Summary of Importance of Being Earnest 2

Oscar Wilde's play "The Importance of Being Earnest" is perhaps the best verbal farce ever written. Although it is more deliberate and less frantic than your typical farce it still has the basic elements: mistaken identities, the mocking of high society, and a few bits of outrageous physical humor. One of the great strengths of this play is the dynamic set up by the playwright between character and language. From the opening moments (the marvelous banter between Jack and Algy over the cucumber sandwiches sets the tone for the entire performance), a tone which must be sustained by the players.

This play is encompassed in the keeping up of social morals at all costs. The characters continually lie to keep an indignant moral high ground. They feel that without lying they would be unable to achieve their pleasures of life. 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 that they love. Without the two men lying, not only to each other but also to the other characters, this play wouldn't be as comical. The two male characters help this play become a farce by the many stories they tell to make the plot confusi

"Earnest" is certainly a play that demands your attention; however it is so joyously performed that you don't mind giving it. None of the characters are earnest, but all are trying darn hard to look it. The Importance of Being Earnest has just the right amount of quick tempered humor to make this story of devilish hidden identities very entertaining.

At the center of Wilde's "trivial comedy for serious people'' is Lady Bracknell, the grandest of grande dames who delivers the playwright's sharpest sallies. Making this play a comedy of manners is Lady Bracknell. The sarcasm toward the upper class is the most important idea in this play and it clearly describes the hypocrisy and vanity of the upper class. For example a conversation between her and Algernon: She says "It's high time that Mr. Bunbury made his mind whether he is going to live or to die." Wilde, described the cold heart attitudes of the upper class perfectly, but yet was making it comical for the audience.

So is the shallow bond that binds the two young women. Wilde uses the two couples to spout comic platitudes and take jibes at marriage. These characters raise the trivial and superficial to a high art.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Algernon Moncrieff, Earnest Gwendolyn, Importance Earnest, It's Bunbury, Jack Algy, Lady Bracknell, Gwendolyn Cecily, Worthing Algernon, Jack Algernon, Cecily Cardew, upper class, lady bracknell, importance earnest, john jack, worthing algernon, comedy manners,

Approximate Word count = 803
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels

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Importance of Being Earnest 2

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