The Importance of Being Ernest

Question 1

When and where was Oscar Wilde born

Answer 1

October 16th 1854 Dublin Ireland

Question 2

Youth and studies

Answer 2

scholarship to Trinity

Scholarship to keep studying in Oxford

Question 3

1884

Answer 3

married to Constance Lloyd- daughter of lawyer

Question 4

Family

Answer 4

two sons- Cyril and vyvyan

Question 5

Affair with

Answer 5

son of the Marquee of Queensberry

Question 6

Consequences of affair

Answer 6

Arrested for sodomy and gross indecency

imprisoned for two years

Question 7

During his imprisonment

Answer 7

bad health

Question 8

Died

Answer 8

1900

Question 9

Victorian morality:

Answer 9

Contrasted greatly with morality in previous Gregorian periods

sexual restraint, low tolerance on crime, strict social code of conduct

prominence of the British Empire- values spread

Question 10

The Elite and the Upper Class Values:

Answer 10

Upper class values:

History

heritage

lineage

continuity of their family line

Noblesse Oblige

law of primogeniture

Question 11

upper class believed in “Divine Right”

Answer 11

They believed they were born to rule due to divine right

Question 12

Noblesse Oblige

Answer 12

belief that it was the elite’s duty to take care of society

Question 13

law of primogeniture

Answer 13

First son inherits everything

Question 14

Financial crisis
(upper class)

Answer 14

had to open the elite to the wealthiest of higher middle class and let them buy a place in the elite

Question 15

Religious morality during the Victorian Era

Answer 15

Changed
at first the Anglican church was very powerful
They ran schools, universities, high ranking churchmen and men apart of the House of Lords
Contiued in the rural areas

Question 16

“The Crisis of Faith”

Answer 16

1859- Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” with theories such as Survival of the Fittest and natural selection

They called the Christian values into question with empirical proof

Citizens had to try and find new morals (”God is Dead”- Nietzsche)

Combined religious belief and individual duty

Question 17

Depetion- Jack

Answer 17

• Jack- secret identity (double life) Ernest
  
  • Jack- dutys as Cecily’s Guardian (country)
  • Ernest- court Gwendolen and entertain himself (city)
  • Also claims to have a brother named Ernest to have an excuse to go back to the city

Question 18

deception Algernon

Answer 18

• Bunburyist”
• Says he has an invalid friend called Bunbury
• Says that he is Jack’s older brother Ernest to wed Cecily

Question 19

Deception Cecily

Answer 19

• Invents a whole fictive back-story between her and “Ernest”
• Algernon goes along with her delusional love

Question 20

conclusion of the play

Answer 20

Fiction and Fact blur when we discover that Jack’s real name is infact Ernest and that he is infact the brother of Algernon, as he had been lost in a station as an infant and adopted by Thomas Cardew- named him John

Question 21

question of aestheticism

Answer 21

“Does art immitate life, or does life immitate art?”-

Question 22

Jack Worthing/John Worthing/ Ernest (character)

Answer 22

1. Protagonist
2. double life
3. dandy
4. Ernest in town, Jack in the country
5. Pretends to have a brother named ernest to take him back to the town
6. Adopted son of Thomas Worthing
7. GIves him the gurdianship of his grandaughter Cecily Cardew
8. Engagement to Gwendolen Fairfax is endagered due to indentity

Question 23

Algernon Moncrieff (character)

Answer 23

1. Jack’s best friend
2. Gwendolen’s counsin
3. extravengant dandy
4. finds clever ways to get out of his social obligations
5. Masquerades as jack’s cousin “Ernest” in order to meet Cecily Cardew

Question 24

Gwendolen Fairfax (character)

Answer 24

1. Jack’s betrothed
2. Algernon’s counsin
3. Lacy Bracknell’s daughter
4. Cosmopolitan style
5. opinioated, strong taste

Question 25

Cecily Cardew (character)

Answer 25

1. Jack’s ward
2. Thomas Cardew’s granddaughter
3. Algernon’s love interest
4. constructs elaborate fictitious love with Algernon “Ernest”

Question 26

Lady Bracknell (character)

Answer 26

1. Aunt of Algernon
2. Mom of Gwendolen
3. Views are entrenched in Victorian Social Norms
4. used to critique the morals of the time

Question 27

Miss Prism

Answer 27

Cecily’s prim and governess

Question 28

Algernon quotes

Answer 28

“Your name isn’t Jack - at all; it is Ernest.”

Algernon- “I have bunburyed all over Shropshire

Algernon- “The truth is rarely pure and never simple”

Algernon (To jack)- “You are the most advanced buburyist I know”

Question 29

Cecily quote

Answer 29

“A gross deception has been practiced on both of us” (To Gwendolen realising his real name is John”

Question 30

Jack quotes

Answer 30

“It is very painful for me to be forced to speak the truth”

Jack- “Gewndolen, 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- “Oh pleasure, pleasure, what else should bring anyone anywhere”- hedonistic

Question 31

gwendolen quotes

Answer 31

“There is something in that name that inspires absolite confidence”

Gewndolen- “My ideal has always been to love someone of the name of Ernest.”

Gwendolen- “It is a devine name”