The+Importance+of+Being+Earnest+-+ACT+3

1. Pp 54 / 55: Cecily ignores the content of Algy's 'explanation' because of its 'wonderful beauty'. How does this fit in with the play's thematic structure? See also Lady Bracknell's admiring comment on Algernon's supposed eligibility for marriage: 'He has nothing, but he looks everything.' 2. Is there any satirical significance in the immediate willingness of Jack and Algy to be christened, and in Dr Chasuble's willingness to perform the ceremony so quickly? 3. Lady Bracknell describes Cecily thus:

'... your dress is sadly simple, and your dress seems almost as Nature might have left it. But we can soon alter all that.'

How is Wilde subverting the normal dramatic pastoral convention that country living is better and 'purer' than life in the 'corrupt' city? Also, why would he wish to do this? 4. Lady Bracknell says, 'I do not approve of mercenary marriages.' There is (perhaps) a great deal of irony in the construction of these characters, or at least some of them.; that is, they do not actually realise how they 'come across'. Why has Wilde constructed them like this? Are there any exceptions (that is, are any of the characters perfectly aware of how trivial or hypocritical their behaviour is?) 5. P62 - In the exchange between Cecily and Algernon, she asks him if he would wait 'until I was thirty-five'. Algernon, true to the conventions of his character, replies chivalrously (if, we suspect, not entirely accurately) that 'of course' he would wait, only to be told that Cecily herself could not manage to do such a thing for him. Why is this bathetic? What effect does it have? Compare Gwendolen's parallel comment on page 65: 'If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life.' 6. P63 - Lady Bracknell says that she proposes 'celibacy' for Gwendolen, whilst 'Algernon, of course, can choose for himself.' Is there a theme about gender relations or inequality in the play? See also the stage direction on page 64: //'Jack and Algernon pretend to be anxious to shield Cecily and Gwendolen from hearing the details of a terrible public scandal.'// 7. How realistic is the reaction of the characters to the denouement of the play - that is, the revelation that Jack and Algy are brothers? IS it realistic? Does it matter? 8. Page 68: '...it is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth.' The diegesis of this play is clearly founded upon a somewhat 'warped' sense of honesty and morality. Does Wilde have a serious point to make? (IS the play 'for serious people', as he claims at the start?) Assuming there IS a serious satirical point to be made, does his method of presentation - as a farce - help or hinder the delivery of the theme or message? 9. The play finishes with Jack's realisation: '...I've now realised for the first time in my life the vital Importance of Being Earnest.' It is an Aristotleian convention of tragic drama that the protagonist undergoes an epiphany or //**anagnorisis**;// a profound moment of self-awareness and realisation. Has Jack 'learned a lesson' here? Is Wilde still being satirical? What is the significance of the play's title?

=[|Questions available for download here]=

Is it necessary for drama to attempt to represent the world in a realistic manner? Answer with reference to two or three of the plays you have studied.
=BACK TO EARNEST PAGE=

=BACK TO PAPER 2 PAGE=