SHORT ANSWERS
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST BY OSCAR WILDE
QUESTION NO. 33
Answer the following questions.
(i) What is the significance of the title 'The Importance of Being Earnest'?
Ans. The title "The Importance of Being Earnest" features a salient pun in the form of the word "earnest", which means "honest", and "truthful" and the name "Ernest" which is the name of the alter ego that main character Jack uses to slide away from responsibilities and do as he pleases. What is important, however, is that the title reflects that there is something valuable and even honourable about being "earnest".
(ii) What is the subtitle of the play 'The Importance of Being Earnest'?
Ans. The subtitle of the play "The Importance of Being Earnest" is "A Trivial Comedy for Serious People". His intentions were to make people think more deeply and make them more aware of the serious things in life, which should be treated with sincerity, and the trivial things with seriousness.
(iii) What are the major themes in 'The Importance of Being Earnest'?
Ans. The nature of marriage, the constrains of morality, the absence of compassion, hypocrisy vs. inventiveness, lies and deceit, respect and reputation, society and class, duty and respectability, passion and morality, religion and secret lives are the major theme in "The Importance of Being Earnest".
(iv) Define comedy of manners.
Ans. The comedy of manners is an entertainment form which satirizes the manners and affections of a social class or of multiple classes, often represented by stereotypical stock characters. "The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde is a comedy of manners.
(v) What is the setting of the play 'The Importance of Being Earnest'?
Ans. The primary setting is London and Hertfordshire, England in the late late 19th century. Specific places include; Algernon Moncrieff's flat in Half-Moon Street (Act I), the garden at the Manor House, Woolton (Act II), and drawing room of the Manor House, Woolton (Act III).
(vi) What are the major conflicts in 'The Importance of Being Earnest'?
Ans. There are two major conflicts. The first conflict is that Lady Bracknell does not allow Gwendolyn to marry Jack because he does not know his real parents. Bracknell wants a husband for her daughter that is rich and has a title. The second conflict is that Gwendolyn thinks that Jack's real name is Ernest, but it is not. She seems to love him for his name only and Jack fears he cannot tell her the truth.
(vii) Which moment from the play 'The Importance of Being Earnest' struck you as the funniest?
Ans. "The Importance of Being Earnest" is funny all the time. However, the conversation among the vacuous Cecily, the idiot Miss Prism, and the foolish hypocrite Dr. Chasuble in Act II struck me as the funniest. The final moment in which Jack is identified as the lost brother of Algernon and he is accepted by Gwendolen is also a very funny moment.
(viii) Give two examples of inversion in 'The Importance of Being Earnest'.
Ans. When Algernon remarks, "Divorces are made in Heaven," he inverts the cliche about marriages being "made in Heaven." Similarly, at the end of the play, when Jack calls it "a terrible thing" for a man to discover that he has been telling the truth all his life, he inverts conventional morality. Most of the women in the play represent an inversion of accepted Victorian practices with regard to gender roles.
(ix) What is Wilde's opinion of the aristocracy?
Ans. Aristocrats mask their true nature and fill their lives with trivial traditions. Throughout the play "The Importance of Being Earnest" Oscar Wilde makes fun of aristocrats in a cheerful way. He seems to think that they are practically useless to society.
(x) What is Wilde's view towards formal education?
Ans. Wilde says, "Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.". This shows he has no value for formal education since it deprives man's contemplation.
(xi) Who is "Ernest" in the play 'The Importance of Being Earnest'?
Ans. In "The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde, there is no character named "Ernest", but everything depends on pretending to be Earnest. Jack creates a young brother named "Ernest" to fool his lady friends, all of whom have an obsession with the name "Ernest". However, in the end of the play, Jack finds out that his real name is "Earnest" and his middle name is Jack.
(xii) What is a dandy?
Ans. A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance on nonchalance in a cult of Self. Algernon is a dandy in the play "The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde.
(xiii) How do characters in 'The Importance of Being Earnest' view marriage differently?
Ans. The characters in "The Importance of Being Earnest" are divided on whether a person should marry because of duty or because of pleasure. The older generation thinks of marriage as a business transaction, through which a person upholds or improves their rank in society. The younger generation, however, wants to marry of love regardless of social standing.
(xiv) Interpret 'The truth is rarely pure and never simple'.
Ans. This line is spoken by Algernon in "The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde. Because most of the play involves the various lies and deceits told by the protagonist, the purity of truth is always suspect. Moreover, truth is never simple, as most of it always requires explanation of the deeper layers.
(xv) Interpret 'Women only call each other sister when they have called each other a lot of other things first'.
Ans. This line is spoken by Algernon in "The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde. It means that women call each other names, bicker, fight and fall out before they feel comfortable to become sisters. Friendship or relationship starts with enmity.
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