Flashcards for The Importance of Being Earnest

Algernon Moncrieff

Algernon Moncrieff is one of the two male leads in Oscar Wilde's comic masterpiece, acting as the primary source of wit and mischief.

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Cecily Cardew

Cecily Cardew is Jack Worthing's eighteen-year-old ward, living under the watchful eye of her governess Miss Prism at the Manor House in Hertfordshire.

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Gwendolen Fairfax

Gwendolen Fairfax is the cultured daughter of Lady Bracknell, raised in London, and serves as the main romantic interest for John (Jack) Worthing in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.

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John (Jack) Worthing

John "Jack" Worthing is the main character of the play and drives its comedic storyline.

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Lady Bracknell

Lady Bracknell is the imposing aristocratic antagonist in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, serving as the play's main enforcer of upper-class social norms and delivering some of its sharpest comic lines.

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Lane

Lane is Algernon Moncrieff's manservant in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, appearing only in Act I at Algernon's flat on Half-Moon Street.

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Merriman

Merriman is the butler at the Manor House in Woolton, playing a minor yet crucial role in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.

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Miss Prism

Miss Prism is the governess of Cecily Cardew at the Manor House in Woolton, and she's one of Wilde's most humorously complex supporting characters.

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Reverend Canon Chasuble

Reverend Canon Chasuble, D.D., is the rector of the local parish near Jack Worthing's Hertfordshire estate, appearing in Acts II and III as a figure of gentle comic satire.

character

“The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means.”

This clever remark is made by Miss Prism, the governess, in Act II of Oscar Wilde's comedic gem The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).

Miss Prism · Act II

“I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.”

This clever line comes from Gwendolen Fairfax in Oscar Wilde's comedic masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).

Gwendolen Fairfax · Act II

“I don't like novels that end happily. They depress me so much.”

This clever line is delivered by Gwendolen Fairfax to Ernest Worthing (Jack) during their first private chat in Act I, which takes place in Algernon's Mayfair flat.

Gwendolen Fairfax · Act I

“To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.”

This sharp-witted remark comes from Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde's comedic classic The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), during Act I, as she interviews Jack Worthing, a potential husband for her daughter Gwendolen.

Lady Bracknell · Act I

“All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his.”

This epigram is delivered by Algernon Moncrieff to his friend Ernest Worthing (Jack) in Act I of Oscar Wilde's 1895 comedy The Importance of Being Earnest.

Algernon Moncrieff · Act I

“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.”

This line is delivered by Algernon Moncrieff to his friend Ernest Worthing (Jack) in Act One of Oscar Wilde's 1895 comedy The Importance of Being Earnest.

Algernon Moncrieff · Act I

“To be natural is such a very difficult pose to keep up.”

This epigram is delivered by Algernon Moncrieff in Oscar Wilde's comedy The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).

Algernon Moncrieff · Act I

“On an occasion of this kind it becomes more than a moral duty to speak one's mind. It becomes a pleasure.”

This clever remark is made by Gwendolen Fairfax in Act I of Oscar Wilde's comedy The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).

Gwendolen Fairfax · Act I

“Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone.”

This clever epigram is spoken by Lady Bracknell in Act I of Oscar Wilde's comedic masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).

Lady Bracknell · Act I

“We are the most over-educated people in Europe. We have nothing left to learn.”

This line is spoken by Algernon Moncrieff in Oscar Wilde's comedic masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).

Algernon Moncrieff · Act I

“I am not in favour of long engagements. They give people the opportunity of finding out each other's character before marriage, which I think is never advisable.”

This wickedly ironic line is delivered by Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde's comedic masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).

Lady Bracknell · Act I

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”

This epigram is delivered by Algernon Moncrieff in Act I of Oscar Wilde's comedic gem The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), during a drawing-room chat with his manservant Lane about marriage and truth.

Algernon Moncrieff · Act I

Cecily's Diary

In The Importance of Being Earnest, Cecily Cardew's diary highlights how imagination and personal identity can shape perceptions of reality.

Cucumber Sandwiches

In Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, cucumber sandwiches represent the absurdity, superficiality, and self-indulgence of the Victorian upper class.

The Cigarette Case

In Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, the cigarette case symbolizes the instability of identity and the way social personas are crafted.

The Handbag

In Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, the handbag represents the arbitrary and fragile nature of social identity.

The Name 'Ernest'

In Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, the name "Ernest" serves as a complex symbol highlighting the disconnect between how people present themselves and who they truly are.

Irony

Irony drives the entire play.

Pun

The central pun on 'Earnest/earnest' drives the entire plot.

Epigram

Wilde's knack for epigrams is the most celebrated aspect of the play.

Paradox

Paradox lies at the heart of Wilde's humor.

Dramatic Monologue

Lady Bracknell's lengthy questioning of Jack in Act One acts like a dramatic monologue, even though it's framed as a dialogue.

Oxymoron

Wilde uses oxymorons to condense social critique into sharp phrases.

Juxtaposition

Wilde consistently contrasts serious themes with trivial matters to create comedic and satirical effects.

Motif

Food — especially cucumber sandwiches, muffins, and bread and butter — appears repeatedly in the play, often tied to themes of deception and self-indulgence.

Allusion

Wilde spices up the play with clever allusions that entertain an informed audience while still being funny for everyone else.

Repetition

Repetition plays a key role in both the rhythm and humor of the play.

Symbolism

The handbag where baby Jack was found at Victoria Station serves as the most powerful symbol in the play.

Conceit

The whole concept of 'Bunburying' acts as a drawn-out metaphor for living a double life.

Bunburying

The practice of inventing a fictional sick friend or relative as a convenient excuse to escape social obligations and go wherever one pleases.

verb · Chapter 1

invaluable

Extremely useful; so helpful that its value cannot be measured. Here used with comic irony to praise a completely made-up person.

adjective · Chapter 2

permanent invalid

A person who is supposedly ill all the time and never recovers, used here as a fictional character invented to justify repeated absences from London.

phrase · Chapter 2

ward

A young person placed by law under the care and authority of a guardian who is not their parent, responsible for their upbringing and finances.

noun · Chapter 1

guardian

A person legally appointed to care for and make decisions on behalf of a child who has no parents able to do so.

noun · Chapter 1

suitor

A man who is formally courting a woman with the intention of asking her to marry him.

noun · Chapter 1

carelessness

A lack of attention or proper concern; here used satirically to suggest that losing both parents is not just bad luck but a kind of negligence.

noun · Chapter 1

misfortune

An unfortunate event or piece of bad luck that happens to someone, not through their own fault.

noun · Chapter 1

inspires

Produces or arouses a particular feeling in someone; here, the name Ernest is said to produce a feeling of complete trust.

verb · Chapter 1

absolute confidence

Complete, unqualified trust with no doubts whatsoever; used here to show how Gwendolen judges a man's character entirely by his name.

phrase · Chapter 1

girlish dream

A romantic fantasy held since childhood, presented here as a deeply felt but slightly absurd personal wish.

phrase · Chapter 2

mourning attire

Black clothing worn as a public sign of grief after someone has died, following strict Victorian social convention.

phrase · Chapter 2

governess

A woman employed to live in a wealthy household and privately educate the children there, covering academic subjects and social manners.

noun · Chapter 2

pram

A four-wheeled baby carriage pushed by hand, used to transport an infant; short for perambulator.

noun · Chapter 3

handbag

A woman's small bag carried by hand; in this play, the object in which a baby was accidentally left at a railway station, making it central to the plot.

noun · Chapter 1

vital

Absolutely essential and of the greatest importance; here used in the play's climactic line to signal that sincerity truly matters.

adjective · Chapter 3

earnest

Sincere, serious, and genuinely meaning what one says; the opposite of the playful deception practised by the characters throughout the play.

adjective · Chapter 3

realised

Came to understand or grasp something fully for the first time; the British spelling used in the original text.

verb · Chapter 3

on the contrary

Used to introduce a statement that directly contradicts or reverses what has just been said by another speaker.

phrase · Chapter 3

wayward

Difficult to control; tending to behave in an unpredictable or irresponsible way that causes trouble for others.

adjective · Chapter 1

manor house

The main house on a large country estate, traditionally belonging to the landowner of that district; signals high social standing.

noun · Chapter 2

drawing-room

A formal reception room in a large house where guests were entertained after dinner; a distinctly upper-class Victorian domestic space.

noun · Chapter 3

bachelor flat

A fashionable apartment occupied by an unmarried man living alone, associated in the play with a stylish, leisured London lifestyle.

noun · Chapter 1

manservant

A male domestic servant employed in a private household to attend personally to his employer's needs.

noun · Chapter 1

registered

Officially recorded in an official document or register; here refers to a name entered in the birth records at the time of baptism.

verb · Chapter 3