I. Read the following texts and say what is so appealing about the play.

“The Importance of Being Earnest”. Why reading the play is a must!

…Oscar Wilde’s comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest was first performed in 1895, and since then it has become the most performed play in the English theatre. They say that every Englishman is (or wants to be) an actor, and amateur dramatics are certainly a popular pastime. Local groups from churches, schools and clubs perform plays in small halls all over the country, and this is their favourites play. On any Friday or Saturday night in the winter months it is being performed somewhere in the country. (from “Streamline English” by Peter Viney)

…According to George Sampson in the Concise Cambridge History of English Literature, The Importance of Being Earnest “is one of the two best comedies written since Sheridan.”…

…The Importance of Being Earnest is his (O. Wilde’s) exuberant parody of the ‘trivial comedies’ (his own among them) which the ‘serious people’ had established in the English theatre. It contains all the features of Wilde’s earlier plays – the shameful secret (Worthing’s origin in a handbag), the mistaken and assumed identities (Bunburying), and the sensational denouement in which Worthing turns out to be Lady Bracknell’s long-lost nephew. It even contains a sally against the dual morality which distinguishes male and female identity [ see the dialogue between Jack and the woman he momentarily takes for his mother, Miss Prism].

…The playwright with characteristic wit and a tendency towards epigrams satirizes the British nobility in the person of Lady Bracknell and the British clergy in the person of the Reverend Canon Chasuble. The play centers around the aspiration of a Wilde-like young aristocrat named Jack Worthing for the hand of the more obviously blue-blooded Gwendolen Fairfax. The marriage is opposed by the girl’s mother, the imperious Lady Bracknell, because of Worthing’s obscure origins: he was found as an infant in a handbag in London’s Victoria Railway Station (still the terminus for trains to the south of England), and consequently has no idea as to who his real parents are. Eventually the difficulty is resolved by the discovery that Jack is in fact Ernest Moncrieff, the older brother to his scape-grace friend Algernon and nephew to Lady Bracknell. (by Philip V. Allingham)

…The plot of this brilliant comedy is quite difficult to explain, but everything hinges on a pun in the title: earnest means serious, but it is pronounced exactly the same as “Ernest”, the name. The two main protagonists, for various reasons, wish to lead double lives: Jack wishes to marry Gwendolen, who has her heart set on marrying someone called Ernst; at the same time Jack has pretended to his niece Cecily that he has a rakish brother named Ernest (who does not exist) to justify his frequent trips to London. Algernon pretends to be Jack’s brother Ernest in order to court Cecily, who has fallen in love with the idea of his dissolute brother. When the four meet up great confusion entails.

However it is not for the admittedly elegant plot that the play delights, but for the cut and thrust of its dialogue, which lays bare the foibles and hypocrisy of the upper classes of Wilde’s day. (from “Focus on English and American Literature” by Kenneth Brodey and Fabio Malgaretti)

II. Prepare a short report on British drama. Name the best known British playwrights and their world famous plays, e.g. W. Shakespeare, R. Sheridan, O. Goldsmith, B. Shaw, S. Beckett.

III. Choose three quotations from the play (use your previous notes of paradoxes and witty sayings) that best describe each of the main characters, learn them by heart and include them in character-sketches.

IV. 1. Questions for discussion:

1. How can you account for the fact that “The Importance of Being Earnest ” is a most frivolous play? How is the double meaning of the title brought to mind in different situations in the course of the play?

2. What is the role of the language in creating a unique atmosphere of Oscar Wilde’s play? What language means make criticism of upper class morals both witty and entertaining?

3. How does Jack Worthings ’s idea of duty and responsibility characterize him?

How do you understand moral duty, social responsibilities, family duties? How do your views compare with Jack’s.

4. What does Algernon ’s character reveal about young aristocrats of O. Wilde’s time: the life they lead, their set of values and views on marriage, family, society, literature, education, and occupation, business, work, etc.

5*. Jack and Algernon’s views might be taken as typical of their time and class. Compare their views on marriage, family; education; duty; occupation, business, work with the way we understand them today.

6. At the beginning of the play Jack appears to be a most earnest looking young man, whereas Algernon seems to be talking nothing but nonsense. How do the two characters develop throughout the play? What are the defining characteristics of each of the two young men? Compare them with your first impressions.

7. Does the fact that Jack and Algernon turn out to be brothers seem believable to you? Give your reasons.

8. Describe the difference between the ways of London high society and society in the country? Consider Gwendolen’s first meeting with Cecily and Lady Bracknell’s remarks in Act One and Three. Explain the reasons for the difference. Speak on the community of people in the capital and that living in any other place.

9 *Do you, your friends or group mates come from a place other than Moscow? Do you or your friends find life in Moscow hard? Outline the difference between the people and the way of life in Moscow and any other Russian town or area.

10. Gwendolen is a refined girl from an aristocratic family, whereas Cecily is less sophisticated, rather more practical and her social position is lower than Gwendolen’s. Can we say that the girls’ ideas and behaviour are as different as their (social) backgrounds suggest?

11. How does the girls’ ideal of a young man characterize them? What is the girls’ idea of a young man of their dreams? What is your idea of a perfect young man? Make a short-list of today’s idols and things they are admired for. Would you say that contemporary ideals aren’t really different from those of Cecily and Gwendolen?

12. What was the girls’ main objection to marrying the young men? How does that characterize them as members of the upper classes? Is O. Wilde critical of them?

13. Judging from the play how were marriages among the upper classes arranged in Wilde’s time? What are modern views on arranged marriages? What are advantages and disadvantages of these arrangements?

14. Could Lady Bracknell ’s concerns about her future relatives be shared by parents at the present time? Are her major requirements very different from modern parents’ desires? What about your own parents?

15. When Lady Bracknell is looking for an eligible young man for her daughter, she expects him to meet a whole set of requirements. Yet she considers her nephew Algernon to be an eligible young man only because he is an aristocrat. How can that attitude be described? To what other aspects of life does Lady Bracknell apply double standards? Can we say double standards are still common in contemporary society?

16. Discuss Lady Bracknell’s views on education, knowledge, experience; marriage, engagements, family; (high) society, fashion and style.

17. What makes Lady Bracknell a real representative of London high society?

Sum up all the facts and write an essay on the topic, using active vocabulary and quotations.

18. What does the episode in which Jack mistakenly takes Miss Prism for his mother tell us about the attitude to what we now call single mothers?

19. How do Miss Prism’ s remarks characterize her? Does she have qualities necessary for a good governess? What should a good governess be like in your opinion?

20*. Could Miss Prism’s story be repeated in contemporary Britain (would she manag to find employment after losing a baby in her charge)? What do you know about requirements for a person working in education or childcare in contemporary Britain? Compare them with the situation in this country.

21. How does O. Wilde criticize the British clergy of his time? How does the author manage to make Canon Chasuble ’s “deep” religious feelings and profound knowledge seem ridiculous? Could we really consider Dr. Chasuble an intelligent and highly educated person?

2. Give character-sketches of:

Jack Worthing,

Algernon Moncrieff,

Cecily Cardew,

Gwendolen Fairfax,

Lady Bracknell.