1. Vocabulary Guide to All Things Wilde.
Playing with Words
Vocabulary Guide to All Things Wilde.

2. Think about the title of the play…
Ernest is a proper name
earnest means to be serious and honest in intention/effort/purpose
The very title is a play on words, or pun, on the idea of being honest/sincere

3. Pun
The humorous use of a word or phrase to emphasize or suggest its different meanings; a play on words.

4. Situational Irony
When a character or reader expects one thing to happen but something else actually happens.

5. Verbal Irony
When a writer or character says one thing but means another.

6. Dramatic Irony
When the reader or viewer knows something that a character does not know.

7. Epigram
Clever contradictory statement.

8. Wit
A clever ability to express connections between ideas that cause amusement.

9. Repartee
An exchange of witty comments.

10. Farce
Light, humorous play whose plot focuses on an exaggerated or highly unlikely situation.