Choose 1 reading from the course material (poem, short fiction, novel, essay, or play)

The Importance of Being Earnest

wo young men, Jack and Algernon, are in love with two young women, Cicely and Gwendolen. They have a major problem to overcome first—the two women are determined to marry someone named Earnest. So, these two guys try to seduce the girls under the same alias identity. Just to complicate matters, one of the men has created an imaginary friend called that often gets involved in bad situations whenever Algy needs to get out of town for some fun. Set in England in the late 19th century, this is a trivial play for serious people—the Victorian jet set! Rich, idle, frivolous, shallow, over-bred, under-employed, cynical, useless, and witty characters spend their days and nights in an endless round of parties, teas, proposals, gossip, and divorces, concealing shameful secrets and revealing damaging scandals. Appearances count more than true moral fibre and worthy values in this world. Honour is synonymous with reputation. Truth is equated with a glib tongue and steady eye. Much like the real world sometimes! Written in only three weeks (he badly needed the money ), Wilde said that “the first act is ingenious, the second beautiful, and third abominably clever.” He’s so humble. This funny play, a satiric attack on social hypocrisy, the aristocracy, and Victorian conventions, is full of humorous one-liners, faced-paced dialogue, absurd coincidences, irony, and paradox; however, just because it’s classed as a comedy of manners doesn’t make it fluff (not that there’s anything wrong with light entertainment). Wilde’s play advances profound ideas concerning philosophy, existentialism, identity, institutions such as marriage, theatre of the absurd, decadence, aestheticism, and why it’s important to dress well. As we read it, we’ll have to decide if our own culture is relapsing into the earnestness of the Victorians, what the “state of love” entails, and whether or not Lady Bracknell is really a drag queen. You’ll laugh; you’ll learn. In that order.