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Question 1

What are 2 quotes that describe Algernon’s flat?

Answer 1

• ‘luxuriously and artistically furnished’
• ‘Half-Moon Street’

Question 2

What are 3 quotes that describe the Garden at the Manor House?

Answer 2

• ‘grey stone stairs’
• ‘an old-fashioned one, full of roses’
• ‘covered with books, are set under a large yew-tree’

Question 3

What are the possible themes associated with Algernon’s flat?

Answer 3

• Half-Moon street was a fashionable address in Victorian era, the Middle-upper/Upper class audience would know this - some may even live there or near there, therefore identify with Algernon
• ‘artistically’ - links to Wilde’s aestheticism (appearance above all else)

Question 4

What are the possible themes associated with the Manor house garden?

Answer 4

• grey stone steps represent order in chaos of the green world
• Natural setting could be associated with beginning of the green world, contrasts with the highly controlled city setting - Wilde often insisted the flowers in the garden were fake
• roses hint towards love
• yew tree representative of death - symbolic of dark undercurrents
• The natural and unruly garden represent Cecily’s naive nature
• Gardens give an illusion of natural settings but in reality are controlled

Question 5

What is the significance of returning back to the manor house in the third scene?

Answer 5

• Now indoors return to order (new world) shown by the girls reverting back to their anti-feminist mindset and ‘giving in’ to the men
• Wilde satirises this