The Importance of Being Earnest Flashcards
Act 1 quotes
“I didn’t think it polite to listen sir” - (Lane)
“Any one can play accurately – but I play with wonderful expression” - (Algernon)
“I don’t know that I am much interested in your family life, Lane” - (Algernon)
“Oh pleasure, pleasure! What else should bring one anywhere” - (JAck)
“Well, my dear fellow” (while arguing) - (Algernon)
“The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either.” - Algernon
“Wagnerian manner”
“I intend to develop in many directions” – Gwendolen
“Nor do I approve of the modern sympathy with invalids” + “Healthy I think primary duty of life” – (Lady Bracknell)
“My ideal has always been to love some one of the name of Ernest” – (Gwendolen)
“Rise, sir, from this semi-recumbent posture” – (Lady Bracknell)
“Education has no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square” – (Lady Bracknell)
“I’m a Liberal Unionist” (Jack) + “Oh, they count as Tories” (Lady Bracknell)
“To be born or at any rate bred, in a hand-bag … reminds one of the worst excesses of the French Revolution” – (Lady Bracknell)
“Try to acquire some relations as soon as possible” + “Marry into a cloakroom and form an alliance with a parcel?” – (Lady Bracknell)
“All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his. – (Algernon)
Act 2 quotes
“Surely such utilitarian occupation as the watering of flowers … when intellectual pleasures await you” - (Miss Prism)
“Uncle Jack is so very serious! Sometimes he is so serious that I think he cannot be quite well” – (Cecily)
“I would hang upon her lip. I spoke metaphorically” – (Chausable)
“I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time” – (Cecily)
“Very celibacy leads weaker vessels astray” – (Miss Prism)
“Maturity can always be depended on. Ripeness can be trusted. Young women are green” – (Miss Prism)
“Enter Jack… he is dressed in the deepest mourning, with crape hatband and black gloves”
“My sermon on the meaning of the manna in the wilderness can be adapted to almost any occasion” + “The Bishop was much struck” – (Chausable)
“I have often spoken to the poorer classes on the subject. But they don’t seem to know what thrift is” – (Miss Prism)
“[Bitterly] People who live entirely for pleasure usually are” – (Miss Prism)
“I don’t see much fun in being christened along with other babies. It would be childish” – (Jack)
“This seems to me a blessing of an extremely obvious kind” – (Miss Prism)
“He was just telling me about his poor invalid friend Mr Bunbury … surely there must be much good in one who is kind to an invalid” – (Cecily)
“If I am occasionally a little over-dressed, I make up for it by being always immensely over educated” (Algernon) + “Your vanity is ridiculous” (Jack)
“You see, it is simply a very young girl’s record of her own thoughts and impressions, and consequently meant for publication” – (Cecily)
“I have dared to love you wildly, passionately, devotedly, hopelessly” (Algernon) + “I don’t think that you should tell me that you love me wildly, passionately, devotedly, hopelessly” (Cecily)
Cecily making up a story of her and Algernon’s (Ernest’s) engagement
Repetitive and mirroring actions of Gwendolen and Cecily –
“[Two girls move towards each other and put their arms round each other’s waist as if for protection]” – change in gender roles -> “My poor wounded Cecily!” “My sweet wronged Gwendolen!” –
“Where is your brother Ernest? We’re both engaged to be married to your brother Ernest,” – (Gwendolen)
“Serious Bunburyist! Good heavens!” – (Jack)
“Well one must be serious about something, if one wants to have any amusement in life” – (Algernon)
Act 3 quotes
But we will not be the first to speak” … “Mr Worthing I have something very particular to ask you” – (Gwendolen)
“I don’t, But that does not affect the wonderful beauty of his answer” (Cecily) + “In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the vital thing” (Gwendolen)
Baptism as “fearful” ad “terrible thing”
“How absurd to talk of the equality of the sexes! Where questions of self-sacrifice are concerned, men are infinitely beyond us.” – (Gwendolen)
“At their age? The idea is grotesque and irreligious!” – (Lady Bracknell)
“I’m 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.” – (Chausable)
“Miss Prism a female of repellent aspect remotely connected with education? … She is the most cultivated of ladies, and the very picture of respectability.”
[The Canon starts back in horror, Algernon and Jack pretend to be anxious to shield Cecily and Gwendolen from hearing the details of a terrible public scandal.]
“I must retire to my room for a moment” – (Jack)
“I dislike arguments of any kind. They are always vulgar and often convincing.” – (Lady Bracknell)
“This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last.” – (Gwendolen)
“Yes … mother!” – (Jack)
“Cannot repetance wipe out an act of folly? Why should there be one law for men and another for women?” – (Jack)
“Lady Bracknell, I hate t seem inquisitive, but would you kindly inform me who I am?” – (Jack)
“I never change, except in my affection.” – (Gwendolen)
“Gwendolen it is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth.” – (Jack)
Act 1 summary
- Algernon and Lane
- Jack proposes to Gwendolen - is interrogated by Lady B,
Act 2 summary
- Cecily and Algernon
- Dr Chausable and Ms Prism flirt
- Cecily snd Gwendolen bicker
- Ernest is said to have died, lies are revealed
Act 3 summary
- re-christening
- engagement of the two couples
- Jack as Algy’s brother and named Ernest revealed
Authorial context
- gay man with a family, yet still having a gay relationship -> double life
- belief in aestheticism
Wilde’s ideas context
-> Decay of lying
- expresses the idea of “art for art’s sake” - aestheticism
- relates to IOBE due to echoing of celebration of inventions, shaping identity by aesthetic choices, mocks seriousness of Victorian society
-> Picture of Dorian Gray
- explore morality, dual identity and hypocrisy
as well as aestheticism: belief of appearance over function
Societal context
-> Gender
- New woman: women as independent, physically adept and mentally acute
- however the ideology of the spheres as separate was still present: stated that men and women were inherently meant for different things
-> Victorian values
- praise for strong work ethnic - central value
- morality as a substitute for law
- importance of charity
- values of thrift, prudish and frugality
Literary context
- marriage plots and comedy were typical of 1890s literature
- structure was influenced by French theatre, melodrama, social drama
- ending is typical of farces
Farce vs Comedy of Manners
- comedy of manners: shallowness of upper class satirised - excesses eg Lady Bracknell + Algernon, stable irony: behaviours of characters show that we shouldn’t act way
- farce: exaggerated characters fixated on one type of over-the-top behaviour, absurd situations. unstable irony: mocking of upper classes but appreciation of wit
-> significance: what’s serious and what’s not? what’s worth it?, state of ambiguity: believe in the importance of earnestness while mocking it at the same time. individuality
