The Importance of Being Earnest- Quotes Flashcards
Act 1- Jack scolds Algernon when he asks if Jack has told Gwendolen about his attractive ward Cecily
‘The truth isn’t quite the sort of thing one tells to a nice, sweet, refined girl.’
- Gender
- Morality- Victorian gentleman - Subversion
- Dishonesty
Act 1- After speaking to Lane about Lane’s accidental marriage at the beginning of the play, Algernon says:
“They seem, as a class, to have absolutely no sense of moral responsibility.”
- Morality- Victorian gentleman- subversion
- Social class
- Satire
- Comedy of Manners
Act 1- Gwendolen explains how she wants Jack to show his love more
“And I often wish that in public at any rate, you had been more demonstrative”
- Appearances- most important thing for upper class
- Social classes
- C.O.M;hi class <3 affairs, private v. personal appearances
Act 1- Lane replies to Algernon asking him why he didn’t listen to his playing; comes across as being subordinate to his master
“I didn’t think it was polite to listen sir” - Lane's subtle sarcastic wit- superiority- shows lower class=aware of social class barriers; clever- undermine them inconspicuously; less concerned about appearances.
Act 1- First thing Lady Bracknell asks Jack when she interrogates him
“Do you smoke? […] A man should always have an occupation of some kind”
- Cigs=attractive- bravery, masculine trait for family name
- Comedy of Manners
- Social spheres- men
- Context- Oscar Wilde really enjoyed smoking
Act 1- Lady Bracknell’s sense of social responsibility
“Nor do I in any way approve of the modern sympathy with invalids, I consider it morbid”
- Stock characters- comic villain
- Social Class- social spheres- women expected to be more moral than men- Morality
Act 1- Algernon says this to Jack when giving advice on his relationship with Gwendolen
“The only way to behave to a woman is to make love to her, if she is pretty, and to someone else, if she is plain.”
- Gender
- Victorian gentleman
- Comedy of manners- satirising the upper class
Act 1- Algernon says this when talking to Jack about marriage and divorce
“Divorces are made in Heaven”
- Marriage- subversion
- Epigrammatic reversal
- Religion
Act 1- Jack’s proposal to Gwendolyn
“…ever since I met you I have admired you more than any girl… I have ever met since… I met you.”
- Marriage
- Subversion of Victorian Gentleman
- Gender- subversion- men are supposed to be the confident, unemotional ones
Algernon and Jack are discussing the possible location of Jack’s country house when Algernon says:
“I have Bunburyed all over shropshire on two separate occasions”
- Duplicity/Gender- can act on impulses, do what they want by use of secret life as outlet; women must contain desires- expected to be morally superior
- C.O.M, appearances- private v. personal life- J, Alg. live duplicitous, secret life but J. denies it
Act 1- Random comedy features
- Cigarette case debacle- well made play and farce
- Algernon and Lane’s cucumber convo- repartee
Act 2- Cecily talking to Miss Prism about her lessons
“But I don’t like German. It isn’t at all a becoming language. I know perfectly well that I look quite plain after my German lesson.”
- Appearances
- Superficiality
- Gender
Act 2- Dr. Chasuble flirts with Miss Prism
“[Bowing.] A classical allusion merely, drawn from the Pagan authors”
- Social classes- those who were part of the church used it to try to position themselves as part of the aristocracy
- C.O.M- conflict between religious duty + romantic desires
- Appearances- he tries to makes himself look superior to women -Satire of religion as it makes it seem pompous.
Act 2- Algernon justifies his bold, flamboyant clothing choices to Jack
“If I am occasionally a little overdressed, I make up for it by being always immensely over-educated.”
- Aesthetic movement- style over substance
- Comedy of Manners
- Parody
Act 2- Gwendolyn thinks she has accurate intuition when introduced to Cecily for the first time
“My first impressions of people are never wrong.” -
1st impression of Cecily is sweet, but later she says it was that she was mean- paradox
- Gender
- Comedy of Manners
- Dramatic irony
Act 2- Miss Prism exclaims this when Jack’s ‘wicked’ brother is brought up in conversation with Jack and Dr. Chasuble
“As a man sows, let him reap”
- Moralistic attitude
- Gender- women seen as morally superior
- Epigram
Act 2- Gwendolyn says this when the boys reveal their deceit
“You will call me sister, will you not?”
- Gender and Deception- Women unified against men- women have power- subversion
- Alg. foreshadowed this in act 1- women (or maybe just upper class women) are predictable, superficial
Act 2- Gwendolyn and Cecily’s argument in the presence of Merriman versus alone
‘[With elaborate politeness]’ in presence of Merriman
G: “I am known for the gentleness of my disposition, and the extraordinary sweetness of my nature, but I warn you, Miss Cardew, you may go too far.” once M. + footman left
- Gender
- Social class
- Comedy of Manners
- Farce in stage directions
- Confusion (both believed they’re engaged to ‘Ernest’
Act 2- Jack refuses to deny his true name when revealing it to Gwendolen and Cecily
(Standing rather proudly)- “ I could deny it if I liked. I could deny anything If I liked”
- Social class, Gender- arrogant male
- Subverts Victorian gentleman- lack of humility
Act 2- Algernon requests a flower from Cecily when they meet in the garden
“I never have an appetite unless I have a buttonhole first”
- Deception and dramatic irony- we know this is untrue as Algernon eats food throughout the play w/o doing this
- Aesthetic movement/dandy
- Gender- Alg is trying to impress Cecily
Act 2- Cecily informs Algernon that they’re already engaged when he tries to propose
“You silly boy! […] why, we have been engaged for the last three months.”
- Stock character- ingenue
- Subversion of gender roles- undermining his authority with ‘silly’ and ‘boy’
- Subversion of marriage- treats it as a casual thing.
Act 2- When Cecily first meets Algernon she is fascinated by his wickedness
“I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time. That would be hypocrisy.”
- Morality
- Stock characters (ingenue) and gender- Cecily, as an aristocratic woman, has been sheltered from ‘wickedness’
Act 2- Gwendolen views ‘Ernest’ as an extremely reputable and moral character
“Ernest […] is the very soul of truth and honour. Disloyalty would be as impossible to him as deception.”
- Paradox- Ernest in the country is immoral, in the town is very moral and reputable
- Dramatic irony- both ‘Ernests’ are immoral as they ‘Bunbury’
- Duplicity
Act 3 is a comic resolution because…
- Promise of marriage for G + J, C+ A, and Dr. C + M.P. - ‘[Embraces her]’
- Reunion of family at end (Well-Made Play) - J.+A as bros, J. + B as nephew and aunt, M.P. + B. as old friends
- Well-Made Play: J. realises he is actually ‘Ernest John Moncrieff”, revealed by an old set of papers
Act 2- Jack pretends that Algernon has been called home when he visits Jack’s estate in Hertfordshire, telling Algernon that:
‘your duty as a gentleman calls you back.’ Algernon replies that ‘my duty as a gentleman has never interfered with my pleasures’
- Dramatic irony- we know he is not a gentleman
- Subversion of Victorian gentleman
- Repartee
Act 3- Gwendolen says this when she and Cecily are beginning to unravel the truth
“In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the vital thing.”
- Epigram
- Aesthetic movement
- Morality (or lack thereof) + gender- subverting idea that women are morally superior as she doesn’t care about the truth
Act 3- Gwendolen compliments men as a whole when she and Cecily are forgiving them for their deceit
“How absurd to talk of the equality of the sexes! Where questions of self-sacrifice are concerned, men are infinitely beyond us.”
- Gender
- Subversion to the feminist movement of the 19th century
- Hyperbole- Farce; Satire?
Act 1- Lady Bracknell disses her husband- Part 1 (whilst talking to Algernon about the dinner)
“Your uncle would have to dine upstairs. Fortunately he is accustomed to that”
- Subversion of gender roles
- Comic villain- cold
- Subversion of invalidism as it was typically women who participated in this
Act 1- Lady Bracknell disses her husband- the Sequel, now with more Jack insults! (when interrogating Jack)
“You can hardly imagine that I and Lord Bracknell would dream of allowing our only daughter […] to marry into a cloak-room, and form an alliance with a parcel?”
- Controls her daughter’s relationships- subverts gender roles + family roles
- Wordplay- c.o.m
- Comic villain- prevents protagonist (J.) from marrying G.
Act 3- Lady Bracknell disses her husband once again
“I have never undeceived him on any ? . I would consider it wrong.”
- Deceit
- Subversion of morality
- Comic villain
- Gender
Act 2- Jack arrives in the country to inform everyone that ‘Ernest’ is dead
‘[In mourning clothes]’
- Dramatic irony- we know that ‘Ernest’ is currently in the house talking to Cecily
- Farce
- Victorian society
Act 2- When she argues with Gwendolen about who ‘Ernest’ is truly engaged to, Cecily declares:
‘This is no time for wearing the shallow mask of manners’
- Social class
- Irony - C. continues to wear it as shown in the stage directions. C:‘Very politely, rising’ v. G: ‘quite politely, rising’
- C.O.M - Merriman’s presence, must be seen to uphold public appearances; Satire/celebration as expected in C.O.M?
Act 1- Lady Bracknell declares her opinion on the increasingly educated lower classes
“ignorance is like an exotic fruit. Touch it and the bloom is gone” + “the whole theory of modern education is radically unsound.”
- Increasingly politicised lower classes
- Shows L. Bracknell’s dislike of progress directly opposes reformist attitude and belief in education for all
- Social satire - approves of ignorance - Comic reversal - we’d usually see ignorance as vice, not virtue
- Comedy of Manners = verbal wit characteristic of C o M
Act 2- Chasuble is willing to christen the two ‘Ernests’ no questions asked.
Christening is a sacrament, usually meaning “sacred,” but is flippant about it.
- Subversion- undermines religion
- Morality
What is Jack’s ‘mistake?
“it is […] terrible […] for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth. Can you forgive me?”
(G.) “I can. For I feel that you are sure to change.”
- Gender roles
- Comic reversal of moralistic messages
