"The Importance of Being Earnest" is about two couples hopelessly entangled in a scam involving "Bunburying", or the act of creating a fake counterpart to solve personal problems through distractions and duplicity. The two main bachelors, Algernon and Jack,both have created "Bunburies"to escape from family situations: Jack escapes from the rural and lower class country, and Algernon escapes from the wealthy and uptight city. Jack, pretending to be his "brother" Ernest, attempts to marry his true love Gwendolen, wealthy cousin of Algernon, who ironically only wants to marry a man by the name of Ernest. Her mother and Algernon's Aunt, Lady Bracknell, refuses to allow them to marry due to Jack's lack of noble family.
In mentioning his family in the country, Jack unknowingly entices Algernon to visit them to woo Jack's beautiful ward Cecily. When he arrives, Algernon pretends to be Jack's Bunbury Ernest, and Cecily falls in love with him, also proclaiming that she would only marry a man by the name of Ernest. Eventually, Gwendolen and Cecily meet (and angry words are passed), and the identity of the two suitors are revealed. Both women are instantly upset with their bachelors and team together. At the end of the play, it is revealed that Jack does in fact come from a wealthy family and was (ironically again) born with the name Ernest. The two couples' problems are resolved and they live happily ever after in love.
Like I said before, I really wasn't sure if I liked the play at all at first. I thought it was weird. The more I thought about it though, the more I liked it. The humor in this play is dry, and is mostly derived from the play of words between the name Ernest and the word earnest. I found it very funny, and most would too. The characters are all a bit weird, but its to illustrate the stereotypes of aristocrats, women, and young adults. This work epitomizes Oscar Wilde's funky and very modern writing style. This work is great because you can easily relate it to modern society; there are very few issues discussed in "The Importance of Being Earnest" that can't be applied to today.
Rating for an adult audience: 3.5/5
An adult who likes literature and is familiar with Oscar Wilde would know this is his best work and would love it. An adult who isn't familiar with Oscar Wilde, however, might find the plot absolutely ridiculous, as hilarious as it is.
Rating for a teenage audience: 4.5/5
I am pretty sure that any teenager or young adult would love the humor in this book. The drama between the four main characters also resembles teenage relationship drama, which would be very appealing to many young readers. The only thing that might be off for younger people is the aspect of marriage: most of us don't even consider marriage until their mid-twenties.
Story: 4/5
The story in "The Importance of Being Earnest" is very, very clever. The play on words isn't exactly obvious, but it is easy to see (the effect is not easy to describe, just believe me when I say that the plot is delicately and masterfully constructed). Anyone can have fun with the political undertones and the rebellious purpose of the story.
Characters: 3.5/5
All of the characters in the story personify a sociological stereotype, whether it be a wealthy mother, a privileged daughter, a naive middle-class girl, or a young, vagabond businessman. Because of this, though, not all of the characters are very deep, and they are all pretty predictable.
Difficulty: 3/5
This is a very easy read, considering that it is a Victorian play. The prose is clear and the sentences are of normal length. Its not really that different from modern works. Rest assured that this play is nowhere near as hard to read as a play of the Shakespearean variety.
First-ever Reader Reaction!
I've never really had to write a review for a book before so here goes nothing. So the book was pretty funny in my opinion; I especially loved the subtle humor in the book. Even though it was required for me to read, I very much enjoyed the 2 hour read. Read it!1!! :D
-Sophia Boucher
"The Importance of Being Earnest" is an enjoyable play that is a great to start getting into literature. A lot of us can learn from its message *wink wink*.
Happy Reading!
