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For Tuesday: Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, Acts One & Two

John Singer Sargent, Lady Agnew (1893) 

Feel free to read the entire play (it's pretty short) for Tuesday, but we'll only discuss Acts One and Two. But be careful--the dialogue is suspiciously smooth and you can race over ten pages without really thinking about what you've read. Read slowly and really try to think about his little witticisms, and how seriously (or not) we're supposed to take them. 

Answer TWO as usual:

Q1: This is the first play we've read in class, even though the theater was huge throughout the 19th century, even though it produced very few great playrwights (Wilde being an exception). Why do you think this work--its story, characters, themes, etc.--is more suited to a play than, say, a novel or a short story? Why might it be beneficial to see it being acted in front of you on a stage? 

Q2: One of the most repeated lines of dialogue, usually by Jack, is "Oh, that's nonsense!" How does Wilde use nonsense very similarly to the way Carroll uses it in Alice in Wonderland? In other words, what does 'speaking nonsense' allow him to do or get away with? And why are characters like Algernon so good at it?

Q3: Like Alice in Wonderland, how is this also a work about identity vs. appearance? Alice is always being mistaken for someone else (or something else), and never quite knows who she is from one moment to the next. Why might this be true of Jack and even some of the other characters? 

Q4: Some critics believe that Wilde was drawn to writing comedies (after several failed poetic dramas on Classical themes), because it gave him a chance to parody and mock the audience that previously rejected him. In reading this play, do you feel he has a certain contempt or even condescension towards his audience? Does the mockery have a little too much of an edge? Example of this? 

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