Act Two Flashcards
Which stage directions describe the country at the start of act 2?
‘flight of gray stone steps’
‘cecily is at the back watering flowers’
How does Miss Prism describe Cecily watering flowers?
‘such a utilitarian occupation’
What does Miss Prism say awaits Cecily?
‘intellectual pleasures’
What do Cecily and Miss Prism say about Jack?
‘dear uncle Jack is so very serious’
‘I know no one who has a higher sense of duty and responsibility’
‘idle merriment and triviality would be out of place in his conversation’
What does Prism say of Ernest?
‘irretrievably weak and and vacillating’
What does Cecily ironically say to Miss Prism which relates to the manuscript she has written?
‘how wonderfully clever you are’
Where does Prism first reference the manuscript being lost in place of Jack?
‘the manuscript unfortunately was abandoned’
Which stage direction provides a hint that Prism is a parallel to Lady Bracknell?
‘rising and advancing’
How does Dr. Chasuble first flirt with Prism?
‘if I were fortunate to be Miss Prism’s pupil, I would hang upon her lips’
What does Prism say of Jack’s aim?
‘he is not one of those whose sole aim is enjoyment’
In an exchange between Cecily and Merriman, what is said on Jack’s ‘brother’ Ernest (who is actually Algernon)?
Cecily: ‘did you tell him (jack) Mr. Worthing (Ernest) was in town?’
Merriman: ‘yes Miss. He seemed very much disappointed’
What does Cecily ironically say to Algy when he first arrives?
‘i hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time’
What does Algy say about his business appointment?
‘i have a business appointment that I am anxious… to miss.’
What is said of Australia by Cecily and Algernon?
Cecily: ‘uncle jack is sending you to australia’
‘the accounts i have received of the next world, and Australia, are not particularly encouraging’
What does Cecily say Algernon needs when embarking on a new life?
‘when one is going to lead an entirely new life, one requires regular and wholesome meals’
What does Miss Prism say about marriage and herself to Dr. Chasuble whilst Cecily has momentarily disappeared?
‘no man is ever attractive except to his wife’
‘maturity can always be depended on.’
‘ripeness can be trusted’
‘but where is Cecily?’
What does Jack say after he announces Ernest’s death?
‘ah! That reminds me, you mentioned christenings i think, Dr. Chasuble?’
dr chasuble looks astounded
What does Miss Prism say on christenings (who has she spoken to)?
‘I have spoken to the poorer classes on the subject. But they don’t seem to know what thrift is.’
In which jolly manner will Jack go to the christening?
‘I might trot around’
What does Miss Prism say of Ernest’s death?
What does she then say when Algernon is announced to have arrived?
‘this seems to me a blessing of a very obvious kind’
‘his sudden return seems to me particularly distressing’
How does Jack kiss Cecily?
‘kisses her brow in a melancholy manner’
What does Cecily say to Jack on Ernest’s arrival?
What does she then say to Chasuble after Jack and Algy shake hands?
‘you couldn’t be so heartless as to disown him’
‘if you don’t shake hands with Ernest I will never forgive you’
‘my little task of reconciliation is over’
After Jack and Algy shake hands, which quote sees Chasuble as out of touch?
‘it’s pleasant, is it not, to see so perfect a reconciliation’
What does Algy say about his ‘duty as a gentleman’?
‘my duty as a gentleman has never interfered with my pleasures in the smallest degree’
What does Algy say about being a guest in Jack’s house?
‘it is perfectly childish to be in deep mourning for a man who is actually staying for a whole week in your house as a guest’
How does Algy make up for being overdressed?
‘I always make up for it (being overdressed) by being immensely over-educated’
What does Jack say about Algernon being in his garden?
‘your presence in my garden (is) utterly absurd’
What does Cecily say about parting with people?
‘it is always painful to part from people whom one has known for a brief space of time. The absence of old friends one can endure with equanimity’
What does Cecily say to Algernon after she ‘begins to water the flowers’?
‘i think your frankness does you great credit, Ernest.’ (paradox)
‘when one is dictating one should speak fluently and not cough’
‘I have reached absolute perfection… I do not know how to spell cough’
How do Algy and Cecily’s natures contrast?
Algy is ‘over-educated’, whereas Cecily does not like education and does ‘not know how to spell cough’
Which Cecily quote references Cecily’s and Miss Prism’s conversation?
‘you of course (Algy) have formed the chief topic of conversation between me and Miss Prism’ (as opposed to education)
What many things does Cecily say to Algernon, mainly quite flirtatious?
‘you’ve wonderfully good taste, Ernest (referencing her own taste since they’ve never met before). It’s the excuse I’ve always given for your leading such a bad life’.
‘I hope your hair curls naturally, does it?’ (‘yes darling, with a little help from others’ - Algy)
‘there is something in that name that seems to inspire absolute confidence’
‘girlish dream of mine’
‘I pity any poor woman whose husband is not called Ernest’
What does Cecily say of Dr. Chasuble?
‘Dr. Chasuble is a most learned man. He has never written a book, so you can imagine how much he knows.’
Where must Cecily cite Algy’s proposal?
‘in my (her) diary’
What does Gwendolen say after her and Cecily first meet?
‘something tells me we are going to be great friends. My first impressions of people are never wrong’.
Where does Gwendolen exhibit a feminist perspective?
‘the home to me seems to be the proper sphere for the man’
‘once a man begins to neglect his domestic duties he becomes painfully effeminate’
What does Gwendolen say about ‘mamma’?
‘mamma, whose views on education are remarkably strict, has brought me up to be extremely short sighted’
What is Cecily very fond of?
‘I am very fond of being looked at’
Which stage directions relate Gwen to LB?
‘severely’
‘examines diary through her lorgnette’
‘enquiringly’
Where does Cecily reference dropping social niceties?
‘one should always be quite candid’
What does Gwendolen say about Jack (Ernest in her case) before all is uncovered?
‘disloyal would be as impossible to him as deception’
‘Ernest has a strong upright nature’
‘i shall consider it my duty to rescue him at once’
What does Cecily say about manners?
‘this is no time to be wearing the shallow mask of manners’
How does Merriman break up the comedy between Gwen and Cecily?
‘the presence of the servants exercises a restraining influence’
What does Gwendolen say about the country, demonstrating how out of touch she is?
‘i had no idea there were flowers in the country’
Which stage direction shows Gwen and Cecily to be parallels to each other?
‘severely’
How is physical comedy created?
Gwen: ‘cake is rarely seen in the best houses nowadays’
cecily cuts a very large slice of cake, and puts it on the tray
Gwen rises in indignation
What does Gwendolen say she is known for?
‘i am known for the gentleness of my disposition, and the extra-ordinary sweetness of my nature’
How does Gwen contradict her statement of ‘we are going to be great friends’
‘from the moment I saw you I distrusted you… my first impressions of people are invariably right’
How do Gwen and Cecily act in solidarity when they find out the truth?
- the two girls move towards each other and put their arms around each other’s waists as if for protection*
- retire into the house with scornful looks*
Algernon’s refernce to ‘muffins’ and ‘cucumbers’ are reminiscent of what from the Victorian Era?
seizes muffin dish from Jack
‘ritual food gags’, such as pouring tea into a hat in ‘Charley’s Aunt’.
What does Algy say about Bunburying after the truth is discovered?
What does he also say to Jack about Ernest?
‘a perfectly wonderful bunbury it is’
‘you won’t be able to disappear to London so frequently as your wicked customer was’
