The Importance of Being Ernest Flashcards
When and where was Oscar Wilde born
October 16th 1854 Dublin Ireland
Youth and studies
scholarship to Trinity
Scholarship to keep studying in Oxford
1884
married to Constance Lloyd- daughter of lawyer
Family
two sons- Cyril and vyvyan
Affair with
son of the Marquee of Queensberry
Consequences of affair
Arrested for sodomy and gross indecency
imprisoned for two years
During his imprisonment
bad health
Died
1900
Victorian morality:
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
The Elite and the Upper Class Values:
Upper class values:
History
heritage
lineage
continuity of their family line
Noblesse Oblige
law of primogeniture
upper class believed in “Divine Right”
They believed they were born to rule due to divine right
Noblesse Oblige
belief that it was the elite’s duty to take care of society
law of primogeniture
First son inherits everything
Financial crisis
(upper class)
had to open the elite to the wealthiest of higher middle class and let them buy a place in the elite
Religious morality during the Victorian Era
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
“The Crisis of Faith”
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
Depetion- Jack
- 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
deception Algernon
- Bunburyist”
- Says he has an invalid friend called Bunbury
- Says that he is Jack’s older brother Ernest to wed Cecily
Deception Cecily
- Invents a whole fictive back-story between her and “Ernest”
- Algernon goes along with her delusional love
conclusion of the play
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 of aestheticism
“Does art immitate life, or does life immitate art?”-
Jack Worthing/John Worthing/ Ernest (character)
- Protagonist
- double life
- dandy
- Ernest in town, Jack in the country
- Pretends to have a brother named ernest to take him back to the town
- Adopted son of Thomas Worthing
- GIves him the gurdianship of his grandaughter Cecily Cardew
- Engagement to Gwendolen Fairfax is endagered due to indentity
Algernon Moncrieff (character)
- Jack’s best friend
- Gwendolen’s counsin
- extravengant dandy
- finds clever ways to get out of his social obligations
- Masquerades as jack’s cousin “Ernest” in order to meet Cecily Cardew
Gwendolen Fairfax (character)
- Jack’s betrothed
- Algernon’s counsin
- Lacy Bracknell’s daughter
- Cosmopolitan style
- opinioated, strong taste
Cecily Cardew (character)
- Jack’s ward
- Thomas Cardew’s granddaughter
- Algernon’s love interest
- constructs elaborate fictitious love with Algernon “Ernest”
Lady Bracknell (character)
- Aunt of Algernon
- Mom of Gwendolen
- Views are entrenched in Victorian Social Norms
- used to critique the morals of the time
Miss Prism
Cecily’s prim and governess
Algernon quotes
“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”
Cecily quote
“A gross deception has been practiced on both of us” (To Gwendolen realising his real name is John”
Jack quotes
“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
gwendolen quotes
“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”
