1. THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST
By OSCAR WILDE
1895

2. Key Facts
full title · The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People
genre · Social comedy; comedy of manners; satire; intellectual farce
time and place written · Summer 1894 in Worthing, England
date of first production · February 14, In part because of Wilde’s disgrace, the play was not published until 1899.
tone · Light, scintillating, effervescent, deceptively flippant
setting (time) · 1890s
setting (place) · London (Act I) and Hertfordshire, a rural county not far from London (Acts II and III)

3. SUMMARY
protagonist · John Worthing, known as “Ernest” by his friends in town (i.e., London) and as “Jack” by his friends and relations in the country
major conflict · Jack faces many obstacles to his romantic union with Gwendolen. One obstacle is presented by Lady Bracknell (Gwendolen’s Mother), who objects to what she refers to as Jack’s “origins” (i.e. his inability to define his family background). Another obstacle is Gwendolen’s obsession with the name “Ernest,” since she does not know Jack’s real name.
rising action · Algernon ( Jack’s friend in town) discovers that Jack is leading a double life and that he has a pretty young ward named Cecily. The revelation of Jack’s origins causes Lady Bracknell to forbid his union with Gwendolen. Identifying himself as “Ernest,” Algernon visits Jack’s house in the country and falls in love with Cecily.
climax · Gwendolen and Cecily discover that both Jack and Algernon have been lying to them and that neither is really named “Ernest.”
falling action · Miss Prism is revealed to be the governess who mistakenly abandoned Jack as a baby and Jack is discovered to be Algernon’s elder brother, and is in actual fact named Earnest.

5. Victorian Period England (1837-1901) Manners were supremely important
English society was divided into classes
The Upper-class was well-educated, came from a rich and respected family (“old money”), and having good manners mattered more than anything else
Considered bad manners to flaunt wealth

6. Victorian Period
Young women were always chaperoned until they were married
Women’s clothing covered them from neck to ankle; clothes had to be modest
In the upper classes, people with a bad reputation were outcasts no matter how much money they had
Good manners were extremely important

7. THEMES, MOTIFS & SYMBOLS
Big ideas ·Victorian Social Issues. The nature of marriage; the constraints of morality; hypocrisy vs. inventiveness; the importance of not being “earnest”.
motifs · Puns; inversion; death; the dandy
symbols · The double life; food; fiction and writing

8. Comedy
Comedy has the power to take fear and nobility out of the object opposed, and in doing so, functionally diffuses tension.
Classical comedy can be thought of as the fulfillment of future generations – ends in procreation rites or marriages
This allows humans to critically view what might be unbearable, or merely uncomfortable, and find solutions, comfort, or solace in situations that could otherwise be unfathomably heinous or merely humiliating.
Opposing forces and culturally different enemies can find common ground in laughter.
And mostly, comedy gives us the uncanny ability to humbly see fault within ourselves, and to change accordingly, without need for defensive repercussions.

9. Conventions of Comedy
Hyperbole: exaggeration, overemphasis, overstatement
Incongruity: literary element out of place (time, space, character)
Anticipation: looking forward to something funny
Plant: idea, line, or action established early in the play that is repeated later on

10. Conventions of Comedy
Blocking figure: A character, often old and cranky, who interferes with the romantic desires or the other main characters and provides comic action
Deus ex machina: artificial contrivance used to resolve comedic plots
Ambiguity: double meaning, puns, vagueness; leads to misunderstanding.

11. Comedy of Manners
Comedy of Manners is a term that is generally applied to Restoration Comedy, Victorian Comedy, Neoclassical Comedy – both forms existing in the post-Renaissance world of England and France. (Molière, William Congreve, Oliver Goldsmith, Richard Sheridan).
These plays include elements of Romantic comedy and satire. They tend to mock the relations and intrigues of people in the upper classes, rely largely on words and wit, and are often sophisticated and refined.
The Restoration period refers to the restoration of the king (Charles II) to the throne of England, after the Commonwealth Era of Oliver Cromwell, which begins with the beheading of Charles I. ( )
Moliere: The Misanthrope; The Imaginary Invalid
William Congreve: The Way of the World
Oliver Goldsmith: She Stoops to Conquer
Richard Sheridan: The Rivals; The School for Scandal
William Wycherly: The Country Wife

12. A comedy of errors: Definition
Tone is light, satirical and farcical
Involves cases of mistaken ID
Usually has a positive resolution for everyone

13. LANGUAGE & STRUCTURAL DEVICES
Language style ~ "The major influence on Wilde and his writing style was not that of his contemporaries, George Bernard Shaw being one, but rather the inheritance of Restoration Comedy. . . It has been argued that Wilde's plays are not so much about people as about words. The characters live through their speech, merely conveying the role they are playing, rather than their psychology."
The play is structured as a series of verbal fencing matches in which showing the right form is as important as making one's point.
foreshadowing · In stage comedy and domestic melodrama, foreshadowing often takes the form of objects, ideas, or plot points whose very existence in the play signal to the audience that they will come up again.

14. LANGUAGE & STRUCTURAL DEVICES cont
FARCE ~ Broadly humorous play based on the exploitation of improbable or ludicrous situations.
Humorous play using exaggerated physical action, slapstick, absurdity & improbability.
Contains surprises where the unexpected is disclosed: Jack
misidentifies Prism as his unmarried mother – typical farcical ending.
Farces ~ 3 Acts
Changes in identity
Stock Characters
Misunderstandings between lovers
Mourning clothes & gobbling food down at times of stress are conventions used in early farces.

15. LANGUAGE & STRUCTURAL DEVICES cont:
Marriage plots / Social comedies typical of 1890’s literature
Many comedies of the time were Social comedies, plays set in contemporary times discussing current problems.
White Anglo Saxon male society of the time provided many targets of complacency & aristocratic attitudes that playwrights, such as Wilde, could attack.

16. MOTIFS – motifs are reoccurring structures, contrasts or literacy devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes
Puns
Inversions
Death 
Food
Literature/Writing