1. The Importance of Being Earnest
OSCAR WILDE
The Importance of Being Earnest

2. Reading Quiz (closed book)
How/where do Jack and Algernon each pretend to be named “Earnest”?
Which character ends up being actually named Earnest, and how do we learn this?
Bonus: Why was Oscar Wilde among our list of horror authors in our last class?

3. Paper 2 due in 1.5 weeks

4. Oscar Wilde 1854-1900 Irish playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet
1895: height of the popularity of Importance of Being Earnest
Arrested for gross indecency with men, convicted, served two years hard labor
Moved to Paris after release; died there at age 46

5. Vocab
Irony: A subtly humorous perception of inconsistency, in which an apparently straightforward statement or event is undermined by its context so as to give it a very different significance. Is especially important in satire. At its simplest, in verbal irony, it involves a discrepancy between what is said and what is really meant, as in its crude form, sarcasm
Satire: A mode of writing that exposes the failings of individuals, institutions, or societies to ridicule and scorn. Satire is often an incidental element in literary works that may not be wholly satirical, especially in comedy.

6. Form groups of 2 or 4
If you don’t have a book, you cannot participate today in this exercise and you will therefore lose points. Remember to bring your book!
Every group will perform a short, roughly 1-2 page “scene” from The Importance of being Earnest from the next slide.
Your group should be prepared to come up to the front of the class and present your scene. Improvise any props or set pieces. Follow the stage directions, even though you’ll obviously be reading the lines, and do your best to act out the personalities and motivations of your characters.
Extra credit will be granted to groups who “play it straight”…
“It is absolutely essential to the success of this piece that it should be played with the most perfect earnestness and gravity throughout…. [If] the actors show that they are conscious of the absurdity of their utterances the piece begins to drag” (WS Gilbert, 887).

7. P887 “Algernon: Did you hear” to p888 “Algernon: I really don’t see” (3 people)
p889 “Algernon: My dear fellow” to p891 “Algernon: Here it is” (2 people)
p891 “Jack: My dear fellow” to p892 “Algernon: Yes, but” (2 people)
p894 “Jack: Charming day” to p896 “[Enter Lady Bracknell]” (2 people)
p896 “Lady Bracknell: You can take” to p897 “Lady Bracknell: Found!” (2 people)
p904 “Cecily: I have never” to p906 “Cecily: Oh!” (2 people)
p911 “Cecily: Uncle Jack” to p912 “Cecily: I might respect” (2 people)
p913 “Cecily: Pray let me” to p914 “Cecily: Dearest Gwendolen” (2 people)
p914 “Gwendolen: My darling,” to p916: “Gwendolen: From the moment” (2 people)

8. The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name
Oscar Wilde was gay
…Which was an actual crime in Britain
Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1967—only if both participants were over the age of 21.
2001: Same age of consent as heterosexual couples.
2013: Same-sex marriage legal in Britain.
This scene is from the movie Wilde, where Stephen Fry (an openly gay actor) plays Oscar Wilde. Wilde is currently on trial for homosexual acts.