The Importance Of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest is a play written by Oscar Wilde, first performed in 1895. The play is a comedy of manners that satirizes the upper-class society of Victorian England. The plot revolves around two young men, Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, who both pretend to be someone else to escape their social obligations. Jack pretends to be his fictional brother Ernest in order to escape his responsibilities as a guardian to his young ward, Cecily Cardew, while Algernon pretends to have an invalid friend named Bunbury in order to avoid his own social obligations. The play is full of witty dialogue, puns, and irony, and explores themes of deception, marriage, and social status. The characters are well-drawn and memorable, from the domineering Lady Bracknell to the flighty Gwendolen Fairfax. The Importance of Being Earnest is widely regarded as Wilde's masterpiece and is still performed and studied today.LANE. I believe it IS a very pleasant state, sir. I have had very little experience of it myself up to the present. I have only been married once. That was in consequence of a misunderstanding between myself and a young person.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.