Play
The Importance
MAIN CHARACTERS
Wit Is More
Important
Than Truth
Jack Worthing
Creates an imaginary
brother, Ernest, as an
excuse to have fun in town
Pretends to be Ernest in
town to woo Gwendolen
Discovers he was not
abandoned as a baby but is
from a respectable family
Gwendolen Fairfax
Lady Bracknell’s daughter;
Jack’s beloved
Themes
Social Conventions
Wilde satirizes Victorian
society through wordplay and
mockery of marriage.
The Importance
of Being Earnest
by the Numbers
2
Characters in the play
pretending to be named
Ernest (Jack and Algernon)
14
Play’s rank in The Drama
100: A Ranking of the
Greatest Plays of All Time
1895
Year Wilde was convicted
for homosexuality and
sentenced to prison for
two years
he truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very
tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility!
Algernon Moncrieff, Act I
Sources: Cornell Chronicle, The Drama 100: A Ranking of the Greatest Plays
of All Time by Daniel Burt, Encyclopaedia Britannica, New York Times, Variety,
Victoria and Albert Museum
Copyright © 2016 Course Hero, Inc.
Comedy
of Being Earnest
Author First Performed Original Language
Oscar Wilde 1895 English
Oscar Wilde’s dramatic masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest brings
two couples together happily and resolves one case of a long-lost baby.
Along the way, it satirizes the social customs of 19th-century England with a
continuous barrage of wit. Nothing is sacred in this play, which is both
hilarious and profound.
INVENTION Algernon Moncrieff
Creates an imaginary friend,
Bunbury, as an excuse to
avoid social obligations
PRETENDING
Pretends to be Jack’s brother
Ernest in the country to
woo Cecily
REVELATION
Discovers Jack is in fact his
real long-lost brother
Lady Bracknell Cecily Cardew
Algernon’s aunt and Jack’s rich and beautiful ward;
Gwendolen’s mother; a Algernon’s beloved
commanding matron
Language Love
Much of the comedy in this The plot revolves around several
play comes from its witty romantic relationships and the
language and use of double way deception affects them.
entendre.
Symbols
Handbag Bunbury
Symbolizes the arbitrary role Represents polite excuses
of fate and white lies
Author
An Irish poet, playwright, critic,
and novelist, Wilde grew up in a
literary family. He was famous for
his wit, flamboyance, and
devotion to art. Wilde’s
best-known works explore forms
of double or secret identity, such
as his plays and his only novel,
OSCAR WILDE
The Picture of Dorian Gray.
1854–1900