Oscar Wilde, Victorian Era, Act 1 (Earnest) Flashcards
Victorian Era (1830-1901) named after
Queen Victoria
years that mark the Victorian Era are those leading to … and then …
Queen V’s crowning; her death
Queen Vic crowned in
1837
… becomes the center of the Western World
London
“the sun never …”
sets on the British Empire
rapid, unregulated … (shelley’s warning not heeded)
- … and .. industry for …
- … plants
- invention of … (1st message: …)
- steam powered …
- … –> Queen V was the 1st to have …
industrialization; iron; steel; ships; textile; telegraph; what hath God wrought?; railways; photographs; photo taken of her
industry requires … for success
raw materials
industry requires raw materials. 2 concepts emerge:
- …. –> the act of a country … its … through the acquisition of ….
- …. –> establishment of a … of one territory by a … in a different territory and subsequent …, …, and …
imperialism; expanding; power; territories;
colonialism; colony; political power; maintenance; expansion; exploitation of that colony
imperialism and colonialism forms …, these are …
British arrangement: raw materials for .. and …
empire; ideologies; Christianity; education
ideology: a system of ideas whose function it is to make social arrangements appear as though they were the
products of nature
ideology requires …
if an ideology is successful, the people who are disadvantaged by it believe that it is … and contribute to its …
e.g.
- … (17??- 1865) –> …, those who were disadvantaged, were most severe
- …. - 12th century-1833 –> … and …, sets sights on poor countries like Ireland (Irish not allowed to eat anything but …, couldn’t practice …), still today, … parts of Ireland
- Irish Potato Famine-1845-1849 –> worst year was … - people tried to eat …, came over to … in “…” —> black ‘47
- Parliament takes control of … 1857 –> nowhere near each other, different …
- Queen Victoria is crowned … of … 1876
active participation; natural; success; American slave trade; low class whites; English slavery; imperialism and colonialism; potatoes; Catholicism; 7 northern; 1847; grass; US; coffin ships; India; cultures; empress; India
writers: Joseph Conrad wrote …, about …
Heart of Darkness; imperialism
The Importance of Being Earnest by … author Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde
son of … - … and …. and …, wrote about … and ….
Irish; Sir William Wilde; eye; ear surgeon; writer; medicine; Irish folklore
Wilde’s mother was … Wilde: an Italian woman with … “….” (…) to write … during period of England’s imperialist reign over Ireland
Jane; pseudonym; Speranza; Hope; illegal Irish nationalist poetry
Irish had codes and code songs. Green resembled … and …
free Ireland; Catholicism
Wilde fluent in …, …, …, and …, studied at … College in …, went to … and meets … and … –> form intellectual, artistic movement known as …
Gaelic; French; German; English; Trinity; Dublin; Oxford; Walter Pate; John Ruskin; aestheticism
aestheticism: like a response to …, supports an emphasis on art’s … value rather than its …/…/… themes
Romanticism; aesthetic value; socio-political/religious/moral
aestheticism was met with dissent: called “….” because of its focus on … and …, its delight in …, …., …, “…,” …, … and …
the Decadent Movement; excess; artificiality; perversion; crude humor; material excess; pursuing all desires; self disgust; world weariness; skepticism
“…” ~ Oscar Wilde
art for art’s sake
1884- Wilde marries … (2 sons- ‘85 and ‘86- Cyril and Vyvyan)
1885- Wilde meets …, a …. from …, who is Wilde’s first … experience —> … experience
Robbie Ross; literary executive; London; homosexual; eye-opening
1886- WIlde meets … (Bosie): have … in London
wilde decides to stop …, … as he wants, … w/ …, …, takes Bosie out to …. –> drew attention to himself
Lord Alfred Douglas; relationship; hiding; dresses; parties; young; gay men; dinners
homosexuality was … in London at the time
illegal
Victorian social etiquette extended to every aspect of life
before visiting someone, you’d first have to issue a … that were …
calling card; public
John Douglas, Bosie’s father, left a calling card for WIlde, referring to him as a “…”
Douglas was an …, invented modern rules of … — …
posing sodomite; atheist; boxing; The Marquess of Queensberry rules
Wilde has Queensberry jailed for …- but it was true and Queensberry hires … who rifle through Wilde’s …, finding letters with the phrase “….”
criminal libel; private detectives; mail; the love that dare not speak its name
Wilde put on trial and sentenced to a … - his punishment was to tear … daily
he was essentially … when he left, and he went to …, wrote about … and …, which shows how defeated he was
prison labor camp; navy ropes apart; exiled from England; Paris; sin; confronting it
Wilde died in Paris in … from …
custom: put … on and … tombstone–> Wilde’s so filled that they had to erect … around it
1990; meningitis; red lipstick; kiss; glass
class divide between … (…) v. … (…)
new money; lavish; old money; respected
connection between monetary wealth and … –> richer people are …. people
moral value; better
rich people established
social etiquette
small talk: “no topic of absorbing interest ha its place in …” —> no talk of …, …
polite conversation; religion; politics
marriage: “people w/ red hair should avoid marriage w/ those who have … hair. The … should marry the …. The cold should marry the …
black; round; thin; warm
women: “the … of the home:
- chaperoned until …
- clothed from … to …
- marrying “…”
- virtues were … and …
angel; marriage; neck to ankle; well; beauty; chastity
immoral to appear …but bad taste to …, like ….
the play focuses on people pushing against this …
poor; flaunt wealth; new money; social etiquette
(Act I) flat:
apartment
(Act I) Half Moon Street: very
fashionable part of London
(Act I) Algernon is … and shows it –> “luxuriously and artistically furnished”
wealthy
(Act I) scene begins with .. (…)
music; piano
(Act I) Lane: Algernon’s …, preparing …
servant; afternoon tea;
(Act I) Algernon is prob … and will be representative of the … movement
new money; aestheticist
(Act I) Lane says he didn’t think it was polite to hear
Algernon’s playing
(Act I) Algernon plays piano
badly
(Act I) they will be having tea with … Algernon inspects (eats) …
Lady Bracknell; cucumber sandwiches
(Act I) Lane’s records show that Algernon and co drank … bottles of … and a … and ALgernon blames …
8; champagne; pint
(Act I) pint: small bottle of … (e.g. …)
hard liquor; gin
(Act I) Lane says that a bachelor has better champagne than
married people
(Act I) Algernon thinks marriage is …. because there is no good …
if the poor don’t set good examples fo rthe rich, what’s their purpose?
proposals are “…”
demoralizing; alcohol; business
(Act I) Lane introduces “Mr. ….” but stage directions say “Enter …” but Algernon calls him “…”
Ernest Worthing; Jack; Ernest
(Act I) Jack –> nickname for
John
(Act I) big difference between occurrences sin Town and country
town: …
country: any of … areas of …
London; rural; England
(Act I) Ernest/Jack spends time in both town and country and Algernon asks why he’s in town
Jack: in Town, you amuse …, in country, you amuse …
yourself; others
(Act I) consistent theme: everyone has 2 separate … occurring …
lives; simultaneously
(Act I) Jack was 1 of the people partying with Alg. when 8 bottles were consumed on Thursday
Alg. eats … –> Jack says to him, “eating as usual,” –> Alg has “….”
Alg is a … –> person who wants everything in …
excessively; insatiable appetite; lush; excess
(Act I) Shropshire: a
rural part of England
(Act I) Alg. doesn’t actually know where Jack lives in the … and Jack is … it
country; hiding
(Act I) Jack is in love with …, who’s Aunt …’s daughter, the lady coming to …
Gwendolyn; Augusta; tea
(Act I) Gwen is Algy’s
cousin
(Act I) Alg: “very essence of romance is
uncertainty”
(Act I) Wilde takes cliches and twists them –> “… are made in heaven”
divorces
(Act I) food representative of …
bread and butter –> …
women; Gwendolyn
(Act 1) algernon believes that women never marry the one they
flirt with
(Act 1) ringing bell –> calling forth
Lane (servants)
(Act 1) Jack left his … on Thursday
cigarette case
(Act 1) cigarettes made more o
ornamental
(Act 1) Alg. says he doesn’t consent to …
Gwendolyn is his … which doesn’t really allow him to give consent
Jack and Gwen’s marriage; 1st cousin
(Act 1) Alg says he objects to Jack’s “aunt” Cecily calling him …, says his name isn’t Jack, it’s Ernest
uncle Jack
(Act 1) Apparently, Earnest is called Jack in
country
(Act 1) different … in town and country
cig case was given to Jack in the …
identities; country
(Act 1) Alg. always believed Jack was a
Bunburyist
(Act 1) Jack is … –> a damning fact in Victorian Era (old money descended through …)
adopted; family
(Act 1) family that adopted Jack made him the … of their naturally born daughter, …
protector; Cecily
(Act 1) when jack is in town, cecily has … who watches her –> …
governess: private … that also teaches how to … and be …
a governess; Miss Prism; tutor; behave; an adult
(Act 1) Jack lies to Cecily and says that he has a …, …, who lives in town and … –> gives him excuse to … and go …
brother; Ernest; gets in trouble; escape the country; have fun in town
(Act 1) Jack has to be … in front of Cecily
moral
(Act 1) Jack says morality is not good for … or …
health; happiness
(Act 1) exactly what jack described is bunburying: assuming … in one place and … in a different place
one identity; another
(Act 1) Jack is a …
talented Bunburyist
(Act 1) Alg: “the truth is rarely … and never …”
pure; simple
(Act 1) Alg. does something like Jack –> says he has a …, …, and uses this excuse to …
sick friend; Bunbury; get out of plans
