The Importance of Being Earnest (Magill Book Reviews)
At a glance:
- Author: Oscar Wilde
- First Published: 1899
- Type of Work: Drama
- Genres: Drama, Comedy, Comedy of manners
- Subjects: Love or romance, Nineteenth century, Marriage, Mistaken or secret identity, England or English people, Victorian era or Victorianism, Nobility
- Locales: London, England, Hertfordshire, England
The two main male characters, Algernon Moncrieff and Jack Worthing, constrained by the rigid conventions of the Victorian upper class, have been leading double lives. Algy’s alter ego is “Bunbury,” while Jack has invented a fictitious brother named Ernest, whose loose behavior he claims to control but which he actually emulates. Jack falls in love with Gwendolyn Fairfax, Algy’s cousin, and Algy falls in love with Cecily Cardew, Jack’s ward.
Each of these ladies, moreover, is attracted to her respective beau on the assumption that his name is Ernest. Gwendolyn’s...
[The entire page is 577 words long]
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