This presentation is based on Oscar Wilde's play "The Importance of Being Earnest".

1. Oscar Wilde
Importance of Being
Earnest
Prepared by
Aakash Chavda & Jay Solanki
Department of English
M.K.B.U.

2. About Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)
❏ Oscar Wilde, in full Oscar Fingal
O’Flahertie Wills Wilde
❏ Was an Irish wit, poet, playwright, and
dramatist
❏ His glory chiefly rest upon his only novel,
‘Picture of Dorian Gray’ (1891)
❏ Was integral part of ‘Fin de Siecle’ group
of artist, who made up the Aesthetic
movement in late 19th century ( Art for
Art’s Sake)
❏ Wilde educated at Trinity college, Dublin,
and won demyship at Magdalen College at
Oxford

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❏ He was the object of celebrated civil and criminal suits involving
homosexuality, and ending in his imprisonment
❏ Wilde was very funny and a clever man, people wanted to listen to him and
to laugh at his jokes
He used to say,
“ A little sincerity is a dangerous thing,
And a great deal of it is absolutely fatal “

4. Key Facts about The Play
❏ Full Title - The Importance of Being Earnest : A Trivial Comedy for
Serious People
❏ Author - Oscar Wilde
❏ Type of Work - Play in 3 Acts, containing 2 scenes each
❏ Genre - Social comedy, Comedy of Manners, Satire, Intellectual farce
❏ Time and Place Written - Summer 1894 in Hertfordshire, England
❏ Play Written in - 1894
Produced in - 1895
Published in - 1899

5. His Works
(1890) (1893) (1895)

6. Characters

7. Plot Summary
Jack Worthing, the protagonist, is pillar of the community in Hertfordshire, where he is guardian
to Cecily Cardew
Jack has responsibilities, he is major landowner and justice of peace, he also pretends to be
Ernest, to escape from his responsibilities
Jack is in love with Gwendolen, the cousin of his best friend, Algernon, who knows Jack as Ernest.
Jack proposed Gwendolen, and she’s agreed to marry with him just because she fancy the name
Ernest ( inspires absolute confidence). Lady Bracknell forbids the match because Jack is adopted
and don’t know, who his parents are.
Algernon went to meet Cecily as Ernest and Jack has to go along with the charade, if he doesn’t
his own lies and deception will be revealed.
Algernon fell in love with Cecily, and asked her to marry. She is convinced because of the name
‘Ernest’.
Algernon went to Dr. Chasuble for christened himself as Ernest.
Meanwhile, Gwendolen arrived, and both come to know that they both have been deceived.

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The two women demand to know where Jack’s brother Ernest is. Jack is forced to
admit that he has no brother and Ernest is completely fiction.
However, two pair of lover embrace because, Jack and Algernon made arrangements
to be christened as Ernest. Lady Bracknell followed Gwendolen from London.
Initially she is not ready for Algernon and Cecily’s marriage, after knowing that
Cecily is worth great deal of money she’s convinced.
At this point, the governess Miss Prism arrives. Lady Bracknell accused her of having
left her sister’s house 28 years before with a baby and never returned.
Truth revealed that, Jack is legitimate child of Lady Bracknell’s sister, and
therefore older brother of Algernon, originally christened as “Ernest John”. Again
lovers embraced.
And, Jack understands “the vital Importance of Being Earnest”

9. Major Themes
- Social Conventions
- Witty Language
- Secret Lives
- Courtship and Marriage
- Class Conflict
- Constraints of Morality
- The Importance of Not Being “Earnest”
- Hypocrisy V/s Inventiveness

10. Thank you