1. Warm Up: Tuesday, April 28th
Read this quote, then complete the tasks that follow:
“Relations are simply a tedious pack of people, who haven’t got the remotest knowledge of how to live, nor the smallest instinct of when to die.” (p. 15)
Identify who says this quote, and provide the context in which it is said.
Is it funny? Why/why not? In what way might Wilde intend for this quote to be funny?
Of the five topics we’ve been exploring (honesty, marriage, society, morality, decadence), which does this quote most closely connect? Explain.
Remembering that we are using the historical/biographical lens in this unit, what does this quote/topic tell us about either Victorian London OR Oscar Wilde?

2. Learning Targets
With a group, I can locate “funny” quotations from Act I of The Importance of Being Earnest.
I can apply these quotations to one of the five following topics: honesty, decadence, marriage, society, morality.
I can apply a historical and/or biographical lens to these quotations in order to deepen my analysis of them.

3. Task – Part I In a group of five students,
Find 10 quotations from Act I (find two per character: Jack, Algernon, Lady Bracknell, Gwendolyn, Lane).
Explain why each is “funny,” or, how Wilde intended for them to be funny.
Connect each one to one of the five topics we’ve been using to organize our information about the play: honesty, decadence, marriage, society, morality. Explain how each quote connects to the given topic.

4. Task – Part II With your group,
Sort the quotes into the categories you’ve identified for them.
Refer back to the notes you took last week on Oscar Wilde and his time period (Victorian London). Now, apply both the historical AND/OR biographical lens to each category. Write a sentence for each topic category.

5. Wrap Up
By yourself, answer the following question (write 2-3 sentences):
Review all of the material we collected today. What is illuminated about the play after having completed today’s activities? Explain, using examples (and be sure to include the historical/biographical lens).

6. Homework
HOURS DUE THURSDAY
Interview questions due Thursday.