Critical Quotes

Question 1

William Archer

Answer 1

“The play raises no principles, whether of art or morals.”

Question 2

George Bernard-Shaw, who saw the stage as as serious venue for political action:

Answer 2

Though he found it humorous, Shaw preferred ‘to be moved to laughter, not to be tickled or bustled into it’

Question 3

Reviewer in magazine called Truth

Answer 3

‘I have not the slightest intention of criticising Mr. O. WIlde’s new piece: as well might one sit down after dinner and attempt gravely to discuss a souffle. It virtues were entirely bound up in its humour.

Question 4

George Bernard-shaw 2

Answer 4

It was Wilde’s ‘first really heartless play’

Question 5

Peter Raby on convention

Answer 5

‘…the play remains…a critique of the absurdity of all forms and conventions.’

Question 6

Peter Raby - essenence

Answer 6

‘Appearance, style, fiction are treated as essence.

Question 7

Katherine Worth

Answer 7

As well as being an existential farce, The Importance of Being Earnest is a supreme demolition of the late 19th century social and moral attitudes, the triumphal conclusion to his career as a revolutionary moralist.

Question 8

Richard Aldington

Answer 8

The play is a comedy-farce without a moral, and it is a masterpiece.

Question 9

Eric Bentley

Answer 9

The play is about earnestness, that is victorian solemnity, which means priggishness, hypocrisy and lack of irony.

Question 10

A.B Walkley

Answer 10

Wilde makes his personages ridiculous but does not ridicule them, and it is the combination of the natural and absurd which causes our laughter.

Question 11

Amber M. Wulu - gender as a performance

Answer 11

Wilde leads the charge against the structure of the heterosexual matrix by
examining the extent to which gender regulates a person’s identity, perception and future.
…Wilde contends that gender is a performance of socially inscribed ideas of male
and female behaviors and actions.

Question 12

Amber M. Wulu - New woman

Answer 12

By using the emerging strength, power, and influence of the new woman Wilde
reveals the importance of allowing men and women equal opportunities within both the public and private spheres of life. Once the heterosexual matrix is disrupted and exposed for the system of control for which it stands individuality is attainable.