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The Importance of Being Earnest

Oscar Wilde, 1895

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Two young men about town each keep an invented second self to dodge social duties. Jack Worthing is Ernest in London and a guardian in the country, while Algernon Moncrieff invents a sick friend named Bunbury to escape dinners with his aunt. Both end up wooing women who say they could only love a man named Ernest. Algernon turns up at Jack's country house pretending to be Jack's brother Ernest, and the two lies collide in front of Gwendolen, Cecily, the imposing Lady Bracknell and the governess Miss Prism. A lost baby and a handbag at a railway station then settle who Jack really is.

Where it happens

  1. St James's Theatre, London Where the play opened on 14 February 1895 and was revived in 1909, 1913 and later years.1
  2. Worthing, Sussex Where Wilde spent the summer of 1894 with his family and began writing the play.1
  3. Half Moon Street, London The street of Algernon Moncrieff's flat, where the first act is set.1
  4. Paris Wilde's place of exile after prison, from where he saw the play into print.1
  5. Empire Theatre, New York The first Broadway production opened here on 22 April 1895 and closed after sixteen performances.1

Through time

  1. 1894Wilde spends the summer at Worthing and begins work on the play.1
  2. 1895The play opens at the St James's Theatre on 14 February, then closes in May after 86 performances as Wilde's trials unfold.1
  3. 1898Leonard Smithers agrees with Wilde to publish the play, Wilde's last.1
  4. 1909Alexander revives it at the St James's with Aynesworth, and it runs for 316 performances.1
  5. 1952Anthony Asquith directs the first of three English-language film versions.1

Who is in it, and behind it

Oscar Wilde author

Wrote the play as the last of his four drawing-room comedies, then published it from exile in Paris after prison.1

Algernon Moncrieff character

A young man about town who invents the invalid Bunbury, and who later poses as Ernest at Jack's country house.1

Jack Worthing character

Known as Ernest in town and Jack in the country, he invents a wicked brother to excuse his trips to London.1

Lady Bracknell character

Gwendolen's formidable mother, who interviews Jack as a suitor; the part has sometimes been played by men.1

Gwendolen Fairfax character

Algernon's cousin, who places her faith in the name Ernest.1

Miss Prism character

Cecily's fussy governess.1

George Alexander subject

Actor-manager at the St James's Theatre, who played Jack in 1895 and asked Wilde to cut the play from four acts to three.1

Marquess of Queensberry subject

Father of Lord Alfred Douglas, whose feud with Wilde led to the 1895 trials.1

Leonard Smithers printer

Agreed with Wilde in 1898 to publish the play, and Wilde sent detailed instructions on the proofs.1

What it is about

Double lives as escape

Both men invent a second self, Ernest or Bunbury, to get out of social duties, and the lies pile up into farce.1

Faith in a name

Gwendolen and Cecily both insist on marrying a man called Ernest, so the name matters more than the man.1

Satire of Victorian manners

Wilde mocks late Victorian etiquette and dramatic conventions, with Lady Bracknell as its sharpest voice.1

What Bunbury means

Critics offer several origins for the word and read the play's double lives in light of Wilde's own secret life.1

In its own words

Please don’t touch the cucumber sandwiches. They are ordered specially for Aunt Augusta.
Act I. Algernon guards the sandwiches, then eats them himself, the first small hypocrisy of the play. Read on
To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.
Act I. Lady Bracknell's interview of Jack, and one of the best-known lines in the play. Read on
Very seriously. Yes, Lady Bracknell. I was in a handbag
Act I. Jack explains how he was found as a baby, the absurd fact the plot will hang on. Read on
now that I know you to be a confirmed Bunburyist I naturally want to talk to you about Bunburying. I want to tell you the rules.
Act I. Algernon names the practice of keeping an invented excuse, which gives the play its engine. Read on
I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time. That would be hypocrisy.
Act II. Cecily's reply to Algernon, who is posing as the wicked brother, inverts the usual moral order. Read on
In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the vital thing.
Act III. Gwendolen's line, close to the play's own motto about manner over matter. Read on

The shape of the book

5 chapters, 20,598 words. Point at a bar.

How it came to be here

Wilde began the play in the summer of 1894 while staying with his family at Worthing on the Sussex coast. It opened at the St James's Theatre in London on 14 February 1895, trimmed from four acts to three at the request of the actor-manager George Alexander. Within weeks Wilde's feud with the Marquess of Queensberry led to the trials that ended in his imprisonment, and the play closed in May after 86 performances. Leonard Smithers agreed in 1898 to publish it, and it has since become Wilde's most performed play.

Sources

  1. The Importance of Being Earnest (Wikipedia)
  2. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde (Standard Ebooks)

Text: Standard Ebooks edition of the public-domain text. Standard Ebooks markup CC0 1.0; text public domain in the USA.

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