The Importance Of Being Earnest Flashcards
“A trivial comedy for serious people”
Subtitle of earnest
Hints at wordplay and disguises
“Charming day it has been, Miss Fairfax”
Who: jack
Aspects of comedy: comedy of manners, periphrastic (indirect speech), Cecily points out its improper
Significance: jacks avoiding telling Gwendoline the truth about his feelings
“Cecily, ever since I first looked upon your wonderful and incomparable beauty, I have dared to love you”
Who: algernon (disguised as earnest)
Aspects of comedy: marriage, subversion of polite society, trickery/disguises, farce
Significance: going against societal values, triviality of love
What’s the significance of algernons focus on food
Represents greed and gluttony associated with posh society, represents an amoral world and gets rewarded for it by cecily marrying him
What’s lady Bracknells role in the play
Comic obstacle
What do algernon and lane represent in comedy
Servants vs masters
“As a class, to have absolutely no sense of moral responsibility”
Who: algernon
Comedy: inversion, marriage, comedy of manners, social class, masters vs servants
“Well my name is Ernest in town and jack in the country”
Who: jack
Comedy: town vs country
Significance: town is fantasy and country is an escape, trivial nature of Victorian high society
“It produces a false impression”
Who: jack
Comedy: dramatic irony, disguises, trickery
What’s the significance of bunburying
An escape from town
“If it wasn’t for bunburys extraordinary bad health… I wouldn’t be able to dine with you tonight”
Who: algernon
Comedy: disguises, trickery, town vs country
“It is high time that mr bunbury made up his mind whether he was going to live or to die”
Who: lady Bracknell
Comedy: mockery, subversion, cruelty
“The moment algernon first mentioned to me that he had a friend called earnest I knew I was destined to love you”
Who: Gwendoline
Comedy: dramatic irony, dual identity, farce
“An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise”
Who: lady Bracknell
Comedy: marriage, gender, stereotypes
“To lose one parent mr Worthing may be regarded as misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness”
Who: lady Bracknell
Comedy: cruelty
“All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy”
Who: algernon
Comedy: gender, mockery
“I wish to goodness we had a few fools left” “we have” “what do they talk about” “about the clever people”
Who: algernon and jack
Comedy: mockery
“I am in love with cecily”
Who: algernon (Ernest)
Comedy: marriage, comedy of manners, farce
“Why we have been engaged for the last three months”
Who: cecily
Aspects of comedy: marriage, farce
“It’s always been a girlish dream of mine to love someone who’s name was earnest”
Who: cecily
Aspects of comedy: marriage, farce, dramatic irony
“In matters of grave importance, style not sincerity is a vital thing”
Who: Gwendoline
Comedy: triviality, comedy of manners, marriage
“What did he die of” “oh he was quite exploded”
Who: lady Bracknell and algernon
Comedy: jokes
“He has nothing but he looks everything”
Who: lady Bracknell
Comedy: mockery, cruelty, farce
“Would you kindly inform me of who I am”
Who: jack
Comedy: mistaken identity
“I’ve not realised for the first time in my life the vital importance of being earnest”
Who: jack
Significance: honesty revealed the truth of identity, comic resolution
