The Importance of Being Earnest - Authorial Methods

Question 1

wit

Answer 1

epigrams, repartee, wordplay puns

Question 2

hyperbole

Answer 2

exaggeration for comic effect

Question 3

symbolism

Answer 3

food (a catalyst for personal social conflict)
the handbag (a symbol of comic misfortune)
the cigarette case (a symbol of Jack’s double life and the truth)
Cecily’s diary (symbol of fiction and make-believe)

Question 4

settings

Answer 4

town and country antithesis

used to satirise Victorian comedy

Question 5

paradox

Answer 5

a statement that apparently contradicts itself or is false/ absurd

Question 6

the ‘well-made play’

Answer 6

Victorian melodrama was derived from the French ‘well-made play’ which features uncertain parentage, secrets from the past and letters

Question 7

the comedy of manners

Answer 7

TIoBE is a comedy of manners in the way it mocks and satirises the Victorian aristocracy’s manners and behaviour

Question 8

comic structure

Answer 8

starts with problems and moves through typical obstacles before resolving in marriages