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    The Importance of Being Earnest
    The Importance of Being Earnest
    The Importance of Being Earnest
    Ebook102 pages1 hour

    The Importance of Being Earnest

    By Oscar Wilde

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    "The Importance of Being Earnest," considered to be one of Oscar Wilde best plays, is a comedic satire of Victorian England. It is the story of Jack Worthing who lives in the country with his ward Cecily Cardew. Jack invents a brother named Ernest so that he has an excuse to travel to London to woo a woman, Gwendolen Fairfax. At the same time Jack's good friend, Algernon Moncrieff pretends to be Ernest so that he can woo Jack's ward, Cecily. A comedy of confusion is the result in Oscar Wilde's classic play.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDigireads.com Publishing
    Release dateJan 1, 2010
    ISBN9781596250017
    Author

    Oscar Wilde

    Born in Ireland in 1856, Oscar Wilde was a noted essayist, playwright, fairy tale writer and poet, as well as an early leader of the Aesthetic Movement. His plays include: An Ideal Husband, Salome, A Woman of No Importance, and Lady Windermere's Fan. Among his best known stories are The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Canterville Ghost.

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    Reviews for The Importance of Being Earnest

    4/5

    2,999 ratings91 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I've always enjoyed this play and couldn't turn down the opportunity to listen to this audio production with James Marsters (SPIKE!) in one of the lead roles. The play remains as funny and charming as ever, and while not all of the actors rocked the English accent as well as others, it was a delightful and fast listen. Highly recommended.
    • 1/5
      A cute little trifle, just a middle-of-the-road blip, though. At least now I can say I’ve been exposed to it, and exposure is good - unless you’re arrested for it, or die from it.
    • 4/5
      Aha! So THIS is what Wodehouse was trying to do. Algernon > Jeeves
    • 4/5
      The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde; (4*)The Importance of Being Earnest seems to start as a play about truth but quickly becomes a play about the false through the classical "simply a misunderstanding". The two male leads, Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, use imaginary friends they invent to avoid the boring and weekly family engagements. These imaginary friends lead to eventual confusion between them and the women they love. This misunderstanding is only half the fun though. Wilde mocks the ill portrayed English Aristocracy of the late 19th century; poking fun at not only their etiquette but also their stubborn and unpractical tendencies, their immoral behavior, and their exploitation of the lower classes. Very rarely do comedies strike to the heart of the matter and say something as meaningful as Oscar Wilde did with this great play of his.Wilde gives new meaning to the terminology irreverence and farce.His views on the virtues of having a satirically empty head as written by one understanding this is the funniest I have ever read. His characterization of the English upper class as both idle and clueless most likely came very close to the truth.But he wraps it all up happily (for most) and leaves us with a great laugh. Well done, Wilde!
    • 3/5
      The short three act play of Oscar Wilde, known more for the title than by being read. I was motivated to read the play after watching a recent movie adaption (with Colin Firth as Ernest/Jack). A nice little farce with plenty of opportunity for Wilde to show-off with his bon mots and carefully cynical witticisms. But, good fun, and pleasing to see how closely the movie had stuck to the original intentions of Wilde's creation. Read January 2012.
    • 5/5
      So funny! Did it as a high school play
    • 5/5
      This comedy reminds me of a episode of Friends.

      Making fun of human nature at it's most ridiculous moments. It is a play about nothing just everyday moments.

      I absolutely loved this theatre version of the play done by the LA Theatre company. Funny, Funny, Funny

    • 3/5
      a blend of hilarity and double speak... quit the woodhousian affair.
    • 5/5
      English language as art!
    • 4/5
      Even though I have seen and read the play a few times, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING ERNEST bears up under repeated scrutiny. The performance by L.A. Theater Works (starring James Marsters) had me laughing aloud, delivering the lines with excellent comic timing and all the appropriate absurdity. As an audio-only performance, the listener might expect to feel cheated in not being able to see the actors, but it's a testament to Oscar Wilde's writing and the performers that nothing was lost in this rendition. My only quibble was the inclusion of an interview with the director afterward:It simply wasn't interesting.
    • 5/5
      A gem of a play. Wilde at his best. Has also been transferred very successfully to the screen.
    • 4/5
      A very entertaining play by Wilde, with his typical wit and witticisms and oxymoronic statements.
    • 4/5
      A play about the importance of being earnest in life and in love. A humorous travesty on the social roles and standards of men and women in the Victorian Era.A great way to humorously introduce students to Victorian era standards and regulations for both men and women.
    • 3/5
      A fun play that made me laugh a few times.
    • 5/5
      Dear, dear Oscar. I don't know a play that gets away with being less a story than a collection of quips and epigrams and skewerings of the attitudes held by heavily bearded and/or crinolined people in dark clothes as handily as this one does. NB, apparently contemporary with publication "Is he earnest?" was gay slang for "Is he gay?" (later replaced by "Is he musical?"), but Sir John Gielgud assures us that any queer readings are only in our sex-obsessed imaginations. Everybody, treat the serious trivially and the trivial seriously today.
    • 5/5
      You can’t beat Oscar Wilde when it comes to witty dialogue. The playwright mastered the art form of clever repartee and The Importance of Being Earnest is the best example of that talent.Two bachelors, Jack and Algernon, both find themselves pretending to be someone they are not in order to get what they want. Their actions cause confusion and cat fights when two ladies, Gwendolen and Cecily find themselves falling for the fictional “Earnest.” Top it off with the indomitable Lady Bracknell, whose matchmaking skills rely heavily on evaluating someone’s social standing and you’ve got a recipe for hilarity. I’ve always loved this play and rereading it was a treat. I also had the chance to finally see it performed in May and I loved it. That version set the story in the 1990s instead of the 1890s, but the text was exactly the same, which reminded me that romantic comedies really haven’t changed too much. This play also contains many of Wilde’s most infamous lines. Here’s a few of my favorites:“I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.” “To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.”“I'll bet you anything you like that half an hour after they have met, they will be calling each other sister.Women only do that when they have called each other a lot of other things first.”BOTTOM LINE: Read it! It’s a quick and delightful play.
    • 1/5
      A cute little trifle, just a middle-of-the-road blip, though. At least now I can say I’ve been exposed to it, and exposure is good - unless you’re arrested for it, or die from it.
    • 4/5
      This merely 60 page comedy of errors had me chuckling quite a few times and was finished in one sitting. Book is full of quotable quotes which themselves are insight into timeless nature of humour (just like recently red Three Men in a Boat).
    • 5/5
      I have long enjoyed the wittiness that I found peeking around the corner of each page of this marvelous book. At many times, I found myself laughing quite hard at things that seemed both innocent and obvious at the same time. A must read for any hardcore literature fan.
    • 5/5
      One of my favourite plays, you can't beat Wilde for acerbic wit tied in with social commentary. I was in this play as the darling Miss Cecily Cardew, and remember the great problems we all had at first in managing to get through our lines without laughing!
    • 4/5
      A splendidly funny book. If I wasn't at work while reading this (through e-mail from dailyreader.net) I would have found myself laughing quite loudly. The only thing I wish it had done better is not ended. I hope one day to get to see this on stage perhaps. Great play, funny stuff.
    • 5/5
      Ah where to begin? A lifetime of quotes. Oh to be Lady Bracknell in my dotage. "To lose one parents, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness. " or "Hesitation of any kind is a sign of mental decay in the young, of physical weakness in the old." and finally "Three addresses always inspire confidence, even in tradesmen."
    • 4/5
      There's not a lot of depth to this play. Though Wilde does take on the Victorian notions of responsibility, respectability and...well...earnestness, you won't find strikingly real characters that will stay with you, nor any deep and revelatory social messages. What you will find, however, is one of the best assemblies of laugh out oud moments in the English language. Lady Bracknell, alone, had me in stitches for the entire play with her observations on orphans ("To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose both looks like carelessness.") to her theories of education ("I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance.").The invented relatives, the mistaken identities, the long-lost foundling, the Tartar of an aunt who controls the purse strings—all of them are sewn together in a way that seems so familiar because they've been a part of our comedic vocabulary ever since Shakespeare. Yet, Wilde's gift is that they don't seem hackneyed nor trite. I think the only downside is that the lawsuits over the play stopped Wilde from writing any more, and that's a loss.
    • 5/5
      I just love Oscar Wilde. He is fresh, he is ironic and he describes the english society of his time in a remarkable way. The importance of Being Earnest is a short play very easy to read that brings to the reader a great story that it can enjoy over and over again discovering the magic of his words at the time that we are transported in time...
    • 4/5
      The 2 narrators on this version were incredible, immediately switching voices without missing a beat. I don't know how they did it. The book was amusing in a stuffy English way. Silly can be fun.
    • 5/5
      I felt I needed a lighter read, and this was time for a re-read of this classic play that I have loved since childhood, one of my all time favourites. Huge portions of the dialogue are imprinted on my mind, and I can hear and see the actors in the 1952 film version as I am reading. Wonderful stuff (though I still get Jack and Algernon mixed up in my mind, probably as they are both trying to be earnest!)
    • 5/5
      This was my first experience of an Oscar Wilde play and it definitely exceeded my expectations. This was well-written, witty and intelligent, with charming characters and a great plot. I will definitely be picking up more Wilde in the future.
    • 5/5
      Fantastic. I admit I was a Wilde newbie, and now I'm kicking myself for not reading this sooner. Super short read (60 pages on my Nook) and they flew by. Not the usual play read, that's for sure (Ugh Shakespeare). Thoroughly enjoyed the wit and banter between the characters and fascinated by Wilde's life in general. Loved.
    • 5/5
      One of the awesome book I have ever read! Though the story was simple but the way it was presented by Oscar wilde was brilliant! It’s very difficult to put down this book once you start. Definitely a treat for those who love humor genre! Enjoyed every bit of it!
    • 3/5
      I just watched a movie version of this play the other day and, although I like Rupert Everett, Colin Firth and Dame Judi Dench, I found some of the embellishments for film too fanciful and distracting. The music was fun but didn't quite fit the period. I decided to read the play in order to really enjoy the language and wit as penned by the author, although I'd much rather spend an evening at the theater watching the original. If you've never experienced it, I cannot overstate the importance of seeing "Earnest".

    Book preview

    The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde

    THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

    BY OSCAR WILDE

    A Digireads.com Book

    Digireads.com Publishing

    Print ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-2595-1

    Ebook ISBN 13: 978-1-59625-001-7

    This edition copyright © 2011

    Please visit www.digireads.com

    CONTENTS

    THE PERSONS IN THE PLAY

    THE SCENES OF THE PLAY

    ACT I

    ACT II

    ACT III

    THE PERSONS IN THE PLAY

    John Worthing, J.P.

    Algernon Moncrieff

    Rev. Canon Chasuble, D.D.

    Merriman (Butler)

    Lane (Manservant)

    Lady Bracknell

    Hon. Gwendolen Fairfax

    Cecily Cardew

    Miss Prism (Governess)

    THE SCENES OF THE PLAY

    ACT I. Algernon Moncrieff's Flat in Half-Moon Street, W.

    ACT II. The Garden at the Manor House, Woolton.

    ACT III. Drawing-Room at the Manor House, Woolton.

    TIME: The Present. PLACE: London.

    ACT I

    SCENE. Morning-room in Algernon's flat in Half-Moon Street. The room is luxuriously and artistically furnished. The sound of a piano is heard in the adjoining room. [LANE is arranging afternoon tea on the table, and after the music has ceased, ALGERNON enters.]

    ALGERNON. Did you hear what I was playing, Lane?

    LANE. I didn't think it polite to listen, sir.

    ALGERNON. I'm sorry for that, for your sake. I don't play accurately—any one can play accurately—but I play with wonderful expression. As far as the piano is concerned, sentiment is my forte. I keep science for Life.

    LANE. Yes, sir.

    ALGERNON. And, speaking of the science of Life, have you got the cucumber sandwiches cut for Lady Bracknell?

    LANE. Yes, sir. [Hands them on a salver.]

    ALGERNON. [Inspects them, takes two, and sits down on the sofa.] Oh!... by the way, Lane, I see from your book that on Thursday night, when Lord Shoreman and Mr. Worthing were dining with me, eight bottles of champagne are entered as having been consumed.

    LANE. Yes, sir; eight bottles and a pint.

    ALGERNON. Why is it that at a bachelor's establishment the servants invariably drink the champagne? I ask merely for information.

    LANE. I attribute it to the superior quality of the wine, sir. I have often observed that in married households the champagne is rarely of a first-rate brand.

    ALGERNON. Good heavens! Is marriage so demoralising as that?

    LANE. I believe it is a very pleasant state, sir. I have had very little experience of it myself up to the present. I have only been married once. That was in consequence of a misunderstanding between myself and a young woman.

    ALGERNON. [Languidly.] I don't know that I am much interested in your family life, Lane.

    LANE. No, sir; it is not a very interesting subject. I never think of it myself.

    ALGERNON. Very natural, I am sure. That will do, Lane, thank you.

    LANE. Thank you, sir. [LANE goes out.]

    ALGERNON. Lanes views on marriage seem somewhat lax. Really, if the lower orders don't set us a good example, what on earth is the use of them? They seem, as a class, to have absolutely no sense of moral responsibility.

    [Enter LANE.]

    LANE. Mr. Ernest Worthing.

    [Enter JACK.]

    [LANE goes out.]

    ALGERNON. How are you, my dear Ernest? What brings you up to town?

    JACK. Oh, pleasure, pleasure! What else should bring one anywhere? Eating as usual, I see, Algy!

    ALGERNON. [Stiffly.] I believe it is customary in good society to take some slight refreshment at five o'clock. Where have you been since last Thursday?

    JACK. [Sitting down on the sofa.] In the country.

    ALGERNON. What on earth do you do there?

    JACK. [Pulling off his gloves.] When one is in town one amuses oneself. When one is in the country one amuses other people. It is excessively boring.

    ALGERNON. And who are the people you amuse?

    JACK. [Airily.] Oh, neighbours, neighbours.

    ALGERNON. Got nice neighbours in your part of Shropshire?

    JACK. Perfectly horrid! Never speak to one of them.

    ALGERNON. How immensely you must amuse them! [Goes over and takes sandwich.] By the way, Shropshire is your county, is it not?

    JACK. Eh? Shropshire? Yes, of course. Hallo! Why all these cups? Why cucumber sandwiches? Why such reckless extravagance in one so young? Who is coming to tea?

    ALGERNON. Oh! merely Aunt Augusta and Gwendolen.

    JACK. How perfectly delightful!

    ALGERNON. Yes, that is all very well; but I am afraid Aunt Augusta won't quite approve of your being here.

    JACK. May I ask why?

    ALGERNON. My dear fellow, the way you flirt with Gwendolen is perfectly disgraceful. It is almost as bad as the way Gwendolen flirts with you.

    JACK. I am in love with Gwendolen. I have come up to town expressly to propose to her.

    ALGERNON. I thought you had come up for pleasure?... I call that business.

    JACK. How utterly unromantic you are!

    ALGERNON. I really don't see anything romantic in proposing. It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal. Why, one may be accepted. One usually is, I believe. Then the excitement is all over. The very essence of romance is uncertainty. If ever I get married, I'll certainly try to forget the fact.

    JACK. I have no doubt about that, dear Algy. The Divorce Court was specially invented for people whose memories are so curiously constituted.

    ALGERNON. Oh! there is no use speculating on that subject. Divorces are made in Heaven—[JACK puts out his hand to take a sandwich. ALGERNON at once interferes.] Please don't touch the cucumber sandwiches. They are ordered specially for Aunt Augusta. [Takes one and eats it.]

    JACK. Well, you have been eating them all the time.

    ALGERNON. That is quite a different matter. She is my aunt. [Takes plate from below.] Have some bread and butter. The bread and butter is for Gwendolen. Gwendolen is devoted to bread and butter.

    JACK. [Advancing to table and helping himself.] And very good bread and butter it is too.

    ALGERNON. Well, my dear fellow, you need not eat as if you were going to eat it all. You behave as if you were married to her already. You are not married to her already, and I don't think you ever will be.

    JACK. Why on earth do you say that?

    ALGERNON. Well, in the first place girls never marry the men they flirt with. Girls don't think it right.

    JACK. Oh, that

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