Drama: TIOBE- Act 3 Flashcards
1.What structual features are used for Act 3?
It is the shortest of the act, which satirises the ‘long-novel’ idea, and encapsulates the idea of a ‘farse’.
2.What comedic line does Gwendolen open Act 3 with?
Stating her displeasement at the fact that Jack and Algernon didn’t immediately follow them in.
3.What do Gwendolen and Cecily agree to do just before the men come into the manor house?
Agree to stay silent, then immediately begin to talk, which Wilde does to satirise and ridicule Victorian society
4.What happens when the men go into the manor house?
Algernon and Jack both give compelling stories to Cecily and Gwendolen respectively as to account for their actions. Both women forgive their men respectively, which Wilde does to satirise the gender trope of a ‘passive woman’.
5.What physical comedy is used in Act 3?
Straight after the men apologise to the women and they accept, they each fall into each others arms, using choreography as a form of physical comedy.
6.What then interupts this seemingly new-found equilibrim of Gwendolen and Jack and Algernon and Cecily all made up?
Lady Bracknell enters, and she is used by Wilde to be the antogonist of the play, as she is portrayed to be interferring, and is used as a stock character.
7.What comedic effect does Wilde use when Lady Bracknell first addresses the group when she arrives at the manor house?
She tells them that her husband is under the impression that Gwendolen is otherwised engaged, effectively lying to him, which is a role reversal for stereotypically who has the knowledge in the household, which has been used for comedic effect.
8.How does Wilde create a comedic effect when Lady Bracknell and Algernon talk about his fake personality, Mr Bunbury?
He tells Lady Bracknell thagt Bun bury has died, after correcting to that statement after saying he killed him. He also say he exploded, again adding comedic effect to a situation Wilde constructs the characters to be so serious about.
9.How does Lady Bracknell react to Algernon’s and Cecily’s engagement?
She seems somewhat neutral until Jack recounts her medical history, making her disinterested, until she discovers that she has around £130,000 in Funds
10.What happens after Lady Bracknell becomes pleased with Cecily?
She accepts that her and Algernon can get married, and she seems to want it done quickly, however, Jack says he refuses to give her hand, as Lady Bracknell has refuses to give Gwendolen away to him. She responds by saying that they will just have to wait until she is of age.
- What age does Jack say that Cecily will become of age?
35
12.What does Jack propose to Lady Bracknell?
That she allows him to marry Gwendolen, and he will permit Algernon to marry Cecily
- Do the proposed christenings take place, and how does Dr. Chausble?
No, they don’t. Dr Chausble says “I am grieved to hear such sentiments from you, Mr. Worthing. They savour of the heretical views of the Anabaptists, views that I have completely refuted in four of my unpublished sermons.”
14.What turn of events occurs when Dr Chausble speaks in Act 3?
Dr. Chausble metions Miss Prism, which is a name that Lady Bracknell recognises, and she asks that she be brought to her immediately. When she gets there, she immediately knows who Lady Bracknell is. Lady Bracknell asks her what she did with the baby when she walked out with them years ago, which shocks the others. She seems guilty about this decision, and admits she swapped the bab y with her man sucript, and put the baby in a han dbag in a cloakroom at victoria station. This deeply upsets Jack, who recognises the brith and childhood story as his own, and goes to find the handbag he was discovered in. Miss Prism then identifies the handbag as hers, meaning that Jack is actually Algernon’s elder brother. Lady Bracknell then reveals Jack is actually called Earnest, causing him to state “it is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth.” Thnis causes a fantastic comedic ending to the play.
