Customer Reviews
A very witty masterpiece - By: kimbofo, 11 Mar 2008 
In my quest to read more work by Irish literary greats this year, I recently purchased a newly repackaged Penguin Popular Classic version of Oscar Wilde's 1895 play The Importance of Being Earnest. This edition, with its vibrant green cover & tracing-paper thin paper (all 100 per cent recycled), retails for a meagre £2 -- that's a very cheap price for a masterpiece,in my opinion.
I had seen a film version of this play a couple of years ago (the 2002 version starring Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Frances O'Connor, Reese Witherspoon & Judi Dench) & I remember laughing out loud at a lot of it. But seeing the wordsin black-and-white print makes them seem even funnier -- if that is possible.
For those who don't know the storyline, the brief synopsis goes something like this: Country gentleman Jack Worthing invents a younger brother, Ernest, whom he pretends to be when he visits the city. This gives him free reign to pursue the beautiful Gwendolen. Meanwhile his city-based friend, Algernon Moncrieff, invents a poorly relative, Bunbury, whom he pretends to visitin the countryin order that he can leave his dull city existence behind for a bit of fun & frivolity. One day Algernon pretends to be Ernest & visits Jack's pretty charge, Cecily,in the country, which leads to all kinds of confusion about identity. Obviously, Jack is not happy, but when his own deceptive behaviour is called into question, the scene is ripe for much farce & hilarity.
In three short acts, this play delivers so many laughs & classic one-liners it's difficult to appreciate the genius of itin just one reading. Fortunately, it's short enough -- just 67 pagesin this edition -- to read cover-to-cover twicein a very short amount of time.
How many people haven't heard this line?
* (Delivered by Lady Bracknell to Jack): To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as misfortune: to lose both looks like carelessness.
Or this one:
* (Delivered by Gwendolen to Cecily): I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to readin the train.
But it's not just the lines which are funny, but the setting & the waysin which they are delivered that makes certain scenes especially comedic. This scene,in which Cecily serves tea & cake to her new rivalin love, Gwendolen, is a good example of Wilde's ability to capture the little detailsin people's behaviour that conveys so much about their character & mood.
Cecily [sweetly]: Sugar?
Gwendolen [superciliously]: No thank you. Sugar is not fashionable any more. [Cecily looks angrily at her, takes up the tongs & puts four lumps of sugarin the cup.]
Cecily [severely]: Cake or bread & butter?
Gwendolen [in a bored manner]: Bread & butter, please. Cake is rarely seen at the best houses nowadays.
Cecily [cuts a very large slice of cake & puts it on the tray]: Hand that to Miss Fairfax.
Without wishing to wax lyrical, this is a sumptuous, dazzling read -- a wonderfully clever farce to brighten up the dullest day. It's tightly written, with not a word wasted, & there's a delightful conclusionin which all the lose ends are brought together & tied up with an unexpected flourish. Masterpiece, indeed.
absolutely brilliant! - By: Ms. F. I. Macdonald, 29 Nov 2007 everything about this book is perfect, the timing, the comedy, the situation. I can't even go into how fantastic it is, but i know that Osar Wilde is a genius & i wish he was still around, read this book, & don't loose out another second without it!
A very enjoyable reading, witty and full of "English" humor - By: Fabio Moioli, 16 Jun 2005 
Despite the fact that I usually like to watch plays, not so much to read them on paper, I found "The Importance of Being Earnest" a very enjoyable reading. The plot is greatly witty & I had a real fun reading several scenes describedin this book. Given the theatrical style, the overall plot is not quite realistic, yet it is highly brilliant & full of "English" humor. After having read the book, I also bought the Audio-CD version of it, which I also enjoyed sincerely.
The Importance of Reading Earnest - By: , 14 Dec 2004 I personally think that this play is fantastic. Superficially it is a very trivial, lighthearted play with little plot but peppered with witty conceits. On a deeper level it provides an incredible, satirical view of Victorian moral society, from one of the the 'insiders'. The links between the play & the life of Wilde are rife, especially regarding Algernon. I would recommend it wholeheartedly.
The wittiest play ever written in the English language - By: Lawrance M. Bernabo, 11 Jul 2004 "The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People" is one of the first plays writtenin English since the works of Shakespeare that celebrates the language itself. Oscar Wilde's comedy has one advantage over the classic comedies of the Bardin that "The Importance of Being Earnest" is as funny today as it was when it was first performed at the St. Jame's Theaterin London on February 14, 1895. After all, enjoying Shakespeare requires checking the bottom for footnotes explaining the meaning of those dozens of words that Shakespeare makes upin any one of his plays. But Wilde's brilliant wit, his humor & social satire, remain intact even though he was a writer of the Victorian era.
Wilde believedin art for art's own sake, which explains why he emphasized beauty while his contemporaries were dealing with the problems of industrial England. "The Importance of Being Earnest" is set among the upper class, making fun of their excesses & absurdities while imbuing them with witty banter providing a constant stream of epigrams. The play's situation is simplein its unraveling complexity. Algernon Moncrieff is an upper-class English bachelor who is visited by his friend Jack Worthing, who is known as "Ernest." Jack has come to town to propose to Gwendolen Fairfax, the daugher of the imposing Lady Bracknell & Algy's first cousin. Jack has a ward named Cecily who livesin the country while Algernon has an imaginary friend named "Bunbury" whom he uses as an excuse to get out of social engagements.
Jack proposes to Gwendolen but has two problems. First, Gwendolen is wiling to agree because his name is Ernest, a name that "seems to inspire absolute confidence," but which, of course, is not his true Christian name. Second, Lady Bracknell objects to Jack as a suitor when she learns he was abandoned by his parents & foundin a handbagin Victoria Station by Mr. Thomas Cardew. Meanwhile, Algernon heads off to the country to check out Cecily, to whom he introduces himself as being her guardian Jack's brother Ernest. This meets with Ceclily's approval becausein her diary she has been writing about her engagement to a man named Ernest. Then things get really interesting.
Wilde proves once & for all time that the pun can indeed be elevated to a high art form. Throughout the entire play we have the double meaning of the word "earnest," almost to the level of a conceit, since many of the play's twists & turns deal with the efforts of Jack & Algernon to be "Ernest," by lying, only to discover that circumstances makes honest men of themin the end (and of the women for that matter as well). There is every reason to believe that Wilde was making a point about earnestness being a key ideal of Victorian culture & one worthy of being thoroughly & completely mocked. Granted, some of the puns are really bad, & the discussion of "Bunburying" is so bad it is stands alonein that regard, but there is a sensein which the bad ones only make the good ones so glorious & emphasize that Wilde is at his best while playing games with the English language.
But if Wilde's puns are the low road then his epigrams represent the heights of his genius, especially when they are used by the charactersin an ironic vein (e.g., "It is very romantic to bein love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal" & "I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance"). Jack is the male lead, but it is Algernon who represents the ideal Wilde character, who insists he is a rebel speaking out against the institutions of society, such as marriage, but with attacks that are so flamboyant & humorous that the cleverness of the humor ends up standing apart from the inherent point.
In the end, "The Importance of Being Earnest" is the wittiest play every written,in English or any other language, & I doubt that anything writtenin the future will come close. Wilde was essentially a stand-up comedian who managed to create a narrativein which he could get off dozens of classic one-liners given a high-class sheen by being labeled epigrams. Like a comedian he touches on several topics, from the aristocracy, marriage, & the literary world to English manners, women, love, religion, & anything else that came to his fertile mind. But because it is done with such a lighthearted tone that the barbs remain as timely today as they were at the end of the 19th-century & "The Importance of Being Earnest" will always be at the forefront of the plays of that time which will continue to be produced.
