5/23/2020 1 Comment The Importance of Being EarnestMay I just start with, “Wow”? This play was full of highs and lows and twists and turns. Honestly, nothing that happened was really expected at all. So, to start off, we have Algernon who is friends with Jack, but later becomes Ernest who is Jack’s made up brother, then is found out to be pretending to be this Ernest character and in the end really does end up being Jack’s brother, but with his real name Algernon. Now we have Jack which is a nickname for John who pretends to be his own fake brother Ernest when he’s in the city but is found out to be pretending to be Ernest and then he discovers his real identity which is actually Ernest who is Algernon’s brother. Did you follow that? Me either.
The entire play follows the friendship and love lives of Algernon and Jack. In the first act, they clearly have a good friendship where they can be blunt with each other in the moment, but it also seems like they may not always be completely honest with each other. We see Algernon being blunt with Jack in the first act when Jack claims he’s going to propose to Algernon’s cousin Gwendolen. He says to Jack, “You are not married to her already, and I don’t think you ever will be (Wilde).” There’s no hesitation, he just comes right out and says it to his friend. We then see there’s not complete honesty between the two of them when Jack finally comes out and explains who he really is after some very probing questions from Algernon: “Well, my name is Ernest in town and Jack in the country, and the cigarette case was given to me in the country (Wilde).” Then, Algernon admits he has made up a person as well: “You have invented a very useful younger brother called Ernest, in order that you may be able to come up to town as often as you like. I have invented an invaluable permanent invalid called Bunbury, in order that I may be able to go down into the country whenever I choose (Wilde).” Both men have now admitted to each other that they have made up fake people to get away from their real lives. In the second act and third acts, things get a little messy because of these fake personas. Algernon can’t marry his love because Jack won’t allow her to marry him because he is her guardian. But Algernon’s aunt won’t allow Jack to marry her daughter (Algernon’s cousin) because he’s not from a well-known family in the society, which was important to people at this time. In the end, everyone does seem to get what they want, and Jack is indeed Ernest. Here’s the play!
1 Comment
Desiree Hayton
5/29/2020 07:08:12 pm
For my discussion, I chose to analyze, "The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hide", which also had the element of creating an alter ego to escape to a second life. I imagine society during that period must have been harsh for escapism to be such a prevalent theme in the literature of the time.
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AuthorHello! Welcome to my blog page! My name is Abbie and I'm a Communication Studies student at Wright State University. I like to spend my free time shopping, playing Animal Crossing, and watching Netflix, of course. I'm currently not working so I get to hang out with my fiancé's two kids who are 4 and 5 every day. |