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The Importance of Being Earnest

by Oscar Wilde, James Marsters (Narrator), Charles Busch (Narrator), Emily Burgl (Narrator), Neil Dickson (Narrator), Jill Gascoine (Narrator), Christopher Neame (Narrator), Matthew Wolf (Narrator)

4.16 of 5 stars 4.16 · rating details · 95,840 ratings · 2,777 reviews

About the Author

Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854. He graduated from Oxford University in 1878 with a reputation as a brilliant scholar and quickly dazzled London society with his wit and his flamboyant dress. His first literary successes came in the 1880s with his lecture tour of America and the publication of his fairy tales. These were followed by five highly polis...more

Audio CD, Unabridged, 2 pages

Published November 28th 2009 by L.A. Theatre Works (first published August 1894)

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Apr 11, 2009 Trevor rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literature

When I was quite young – I guess, if you were of a mind to, you might say it was a generation ago – I was listening to a radio program and for some reason they decided to do the handbag scene from The Importance of Being Earnest. I’d heard of the play before, obviously, but only the name. I had thought it would be some terribly dreary thing, having no idea just how funny a man Wilde was. The guy on the radio gave it quite a build up – saying something to the effect that this scene is not just on...more

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Trevor I think the distinction you are pointing to is that, much like with Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, Wilde's other 'comedies' could very easily h...more
Feb 28, 2011 02:20am

Cecily Richard wrote: "That was Cecily. A scene later the other girl, Gwendolyn, produces her own diary with:
I never travel without my diary. One should alwa...more
Mar 17, 2013 12:30pm

May 06, 2012 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have come to a basic conclusion: Oscar Wilde was the man. And this play proves it. Full of zingers, witty banter, the well-crafted insult, and all things that make Wilde, well, Wilde, the play had me laughing out loud at lines like "The only way to behave to a woman is to make love to her, if she is pretty, and to someone else if she is plain" or, as a resigned Jack realizes none of them may be married, "Then a passionate celibacy is all that any of us can look forward to."

Also characteristic...more

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May 22, 2012 David rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Men named Earnest. Or Jack. Or Bunbury.

Shelves: humor, audiobook, british-literature, victorian, classic, play, england, 19th-century

Plays are generally better heard than read (I find Shakespeare dull as dirt to read, though I enjoy watching his plays), and that is certainly true of this Victorian comedy of misdirection and misunderstanding. Oscar Wilde was in full satiric mode though his humor was perhaps gentler than usual, even though he was sending up Victorian manners and hypocrisy.

Lady Bracknell. [Pencil and note-book in hand.] I feel bound to tell you that you are not down on my list of eligible young men, although I h

...more Plays are generally better heard than read (I find Shakespeare dull as dirt to read, though I enjoy watching his plays), and that is certainly true of this Victorian comedy of misdirection and misunderstanding. Oscar Wilde was in full satiric mode though his humor was perhaps gentler than usual, even though he was sending up Victorian manners and hypocrisy.

Lady Bracknell. [Pencil and note-book in hand.] I feel bound to tell you that you are not down on my list of eligible young men, although I have the same list as the dear Duchess of Bolton has. We work together, in fact. However, I am quite ready to enter your name, should your answers be what a really affectionate mother requires. Do you smoke?

Jack. Well, yes, I must admit I smoke.

Lady Bracknell. I am glad to hear it. A man should always have an occupation of some kind. There are far too many idle men in London as it is. How old are you?

Jack. Twenty-nine.

Lady Bracknell. A very good age to be married at. I have always been of opinion that a man who desires to get married should know either everything or nothing. Which do you know?

Jack. [After some hesitation.] I know nothing, Lady Bracknell.

Lady Bracknell. I am pleased to hear it. I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square. What is your income?

The plot is fairly simple: two young London rakes, Jack, aka "Earnest," and Algernon, aka "Bunbury," have been evading undesirable social engagements by making up alternate identities and/or relations for themselves. Unfortunately, this becomes a bit awkward when they both wish to become engaged. Hilarity ensues. The Importance of Being Earnest is not just a play on words. It's a predecessor to the screwball comedies and set piece sitcoms of the 20th century; modern comedies probably owe much to Oscar Wilde.

Wilde's dialog is very witty and his characters ridiculous without going completely into the realm of farce. There are probably a lot of Victorian in-jokes that modern listeners don't get, but it's still funny even without knowing much more than the time period. Some authors can transcend the conventions of the time period in which they were writing, and Wilde remains funny even in the 21st century.

This free full-cast production from Audible is a great way to enjoy this play.(less)

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May 24, 2007 Kelly rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone, fans of comedies of manners.

Shelves: favorites, theatre, brit-lit, victorian, wits-and-fools, 19th-century, grande-dames

One of the best plays I've ever read/been in. This review is going to be remarkably short, because I think experiencing Oscar Wilde is really not something to be done except by actually doing so. The joke of it is ruined otherwise. I will say the play is fast, witty, extremely bright, and incredibly perverse. It is possible to actually make people roll in the aisles on this one. I've read in several sources that even George Bernard Shaw did when he saw this for the first time. The muffins scene...more

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Jul 25, 2012 Kirstine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: e-books, classics

I don't know what I was expecting when I opened this book. Something broody and serious and deep. Well, it certainly wasn't what I got.

I never expected it too be so funny, and I read it. Plays are so very rarely funny - I mean laugh out loud funny - when you read them, but this one was.

Oscar Wilde is an excellent writer (wow, who knew?) and I'll definitely be more active in reading his stuff. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Though I suspect he might have written this whole thing just so he co...more

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Sep 05, 2011 Anastasia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: uk

"Viviamo, mi spiace doverlo dire, in un'epoca superficiale."

E Oscar Wilde che fa, quindi? Scrive una commedia teatrale per prendere un po' in giro i suoi contemporanei. Con la loro mania dell'etichetta, del trovare il giusto consorte per i propri figli, e tutte le fissazioni superficiali degli inglesi dell'Ottocento. Con tanto di thé bevuto con molto garbo, ma quello non poteva mancare.
Io non impazzisco per Wilde, che diciamocelo, è uno degli autori "classici" più in voga, specie a scuola. Lo l...more

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Jun 16, 2007 Steven rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: theplayisthething, irish-blood

Oscar Wildre was pretty darn quotable, wasn't he:

The only way to behave to a woman is to make love to her if she is pretty and to someone else if she is plain.

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

All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his.

In married life, three is company, and two is none.

I have always been of opinion that a man who desires to get married should know either everything o...more

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Feb 07, 2012 Furqan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, plays, favourite-books, oscar-wilde, victorian-literature, british-literature

I started reading this play on the train while commuting, and had to stop myself after reading few pages because I found it impossible to suppress my laughter and as a result of it, I noticed I was attracting reproving looks from my fellow travelers. I can't remember reading anything as hilarious as this play. Wilde is the undisputed master of sardonic wit, which is cleverly employed in his characters' terse and opportune dialogues.

Some savouring quotes inculde:

"To lose one parent may be regard...more

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Feb 28, 2013 Stela rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: symbolism-decadentism, re-read, theatre, reviews

“In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the vital thing.”
Here is a quote in a truly Wildean spirit, one of those sayings that Umberto Eco called “aforismi cancrizzabili” (how the heck do you translate this in English?); in other words, a reversible aphorism (and you seem to be able to reverse it all right: “In matters of grave importance, sincerity, not style is the vital thing”), a second-hand aphorism somehow, since the interest for “jeu de mots” outmatches the need to express...more “In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the vital thing.”
Here is a quote in a truly Wildean spirit, one of those sayings that Umberto Eco called “aforismi cancrizzabili” (how the heck do you translate this in English?); in other words, a reversible aphorism (and you seem to be able to reverse it all right: “In matters of grave importance, sincerity, not style is the vital thing”), a second-hand aphorism somehow, since the interest for “jeu de mots” outmatches the need to express a general truth.
However, the question is: can this aphorism truly be reversed? In light of all beliefs Oscar Wilde stood for, the exercise I made above loses its significance, for everybody knows that the only matter “of grave importance” in the writer's view was to be “…perfectly phrased!” in order to become “quite as true as any observation in civilized life should be.” That is, life is not bearable if not translated into art, the only place where “earnest” ceases to mean serious or sincere and turns into a synonym of nontrivial.
“The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People” reveals thus gradually the full meaning of the apparent paradox in the title: life is trivially comic only for one who thinks that being earnest is not a moral value, but an aesthetic one, who is forever ashamed “to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth.” From this angle, Art might be untrue and unserious, because of its habit to mock human values, doubting not only their sincerity but even their reality. Moreover, the clichés of life are an unfailing source of comedy, from flippant inverted sayings (“Divorces are made in Heaven”) to scintillating nonsenses (“Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone”).
Wilde’s world courts the absurd and the caricature, his characters are hollow marionettes nourished, to use a Boris Vian image, with the foam of the days, preoccupied with social petty prejudices and personal laughable obsessions, uttering pompous rubbishes and generally strange fools of themselves. Two pairs of characters illustrate this complex affinity-in-opposition between life and art: Lady Bracknell’s scrupulous care to observe society rules, involuntarily mimicked by her daughter Gwendolen, and Jack’s double gratuitous identity, assumed also by his friend Algernon when being “Earnest” becomes suddenly important.
And voilà, the aphorism I quoted in the beginning of my review is no longer reversible, no longer “cancrizzabile”, since style has always prevailed over sincerity in Wilde’s artistic credo, putting elegance before accuracy, fiction before life and art before interdiction. In the long run, isn’t it true that “more than half of modern culture depends on what one shouldn’t read”?
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Apr 17, 2012 The UHQ Nasanta rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-books-2012, favorites, format-audiobook, genre-plays, it-was-fun, made-me-laugh, own, obtained-free, personal-2012-classics-challenge, reread-for-pleasure, rereading-queue, tone-humorous-comedic, reviewed

4.5 stars

Narrated by James Marsters, Charles Busch, Emily Bergl, Neil Dickson, Jill Gascoine, Christopher Neame, Matthew Wolf

I had managed to avoid reading Oscar Wilde for over twenty years but I cannot resist freebies, and when Audible offered this one, naturally I grabbed it. Oh, okay. I listened to the sample AND THEN, I grabbed it. It was hard not to. The sample was so much fun! I had not realized how funny "The Importance of Being Earnest" was. I would have read it so much sooner. I'm not...more

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May 18, 2013 Vash rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

One of the awesome book I have ever read! Though the story was simple but the way it was presented by Oscar wilde was brilliant! It’s very difficult to put down this book once you start. Definitely a treat for those who love humor genre! Enjoyed every bit of it!

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Apr 16, 2009 Anthony D Buckley rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literature

When the frivolous Jack Worthing visits the country, he disguises himself as “Ernest” to escape from London Society. Unfortunately, he loves Gwendolyn, but she will never marry him if he is not truly Earnest. Her mother, Lady Bracknell, has parallel concerns. She wants her daughter to marry a man of good family. Unfortunately, not only is Jack not “Earnest”, it also turns out that he is a foundling. He was found in a handbag in the left luggage department at Victoria Station, on the Worthing lin...more When the frivolous Jack Worthing visits the country, he disguises himself as “Ernest” to escape from London Society. Unfortunately, he loves Gwendolyn, but she will never marry him if he is not truly Earnest. Her mother, Lady Bracknell, has parallel concerns. She wants her daughter to marry a man of good family. Unfortunately, not only is Jack not “Earnest”, it also turns out that he is a foundling. He was found in a handbag in the left luggage department at Victoria Station, on the Worthing line.

Lady Bracknell is the main obstacle to Jack’s plan. Her husband’s title and lands, we assume, date back to the Conquest or Flood. She, however, had had no fortune of her own. Like other aristocratic wives, her position in Society is fragile, because second-hand. She must bolster her place in Society and choose rescue her daughter from a frivolous bachelor who was born into a lowly station.

Oscar Wilde resolves the play’s dilemmas with an outsider’s waspishness. Snobbery and the marriage market were major concerns in upper class London, but Wilde dismisses them unlikely coincidences and an easy laugh. He was homosexual and (which was worse) he was Irish. Also, he was scarcely a gentleman. His father, Sir William Wilde, was a Dublin surgeon, not a landowner. This made him almost in “trade”. A jester at court, Oscar was in Society but not of it, admired for his frivolity but not much else.

Famously, he once remarked to a customs official, “I have nothing to declare but my genius”, and therein lay his difficulty. Genius was not much prized in upper class England where a title and a large estate counted for more.

His patrons, thus satirised, finally got their revenge, and the jester ended up in gaol. Wilde died a Catholic, this being a radical step for an Irish Protestant. Thrown out of English Society and also from the Anglo Irish establishment which was his more natural home, perhaps he felt he had nowhere else to go. It is to the credit of the Church that they took him in.
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Jun 21, 2012 April rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, classics, school, 2012

Oscar Wilde is my backup husband, after William Shakespeare.

I don't care that he was gay; he's also dead, but I'm not really making that an issue, am I?

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Feb 19, 2012 Cheryl in CC NV rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: to-enjoy-again, for-the-sony

I know I've loved this, and I remember some of the word-play. But it deserves a re-read - and I can get it for my Sony Reader now!

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Aug 23, 2012 Pauline rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, classics

Every line was perfect.

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Feb 16, 2011 Malak Alrashed rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As a very big fan of Wilde myself, I have been dying to get my hands on this play and it was exactly like what I had in mind: smart and simply hilarious! I finished it in one day and then went back to it and read it again. No wonder why it's pretty famous the characters are just awesome and as usual the dialogue is clever. Loved the muffin's scene and how Jack and Algernon get along with each other.
In a few words, it's a very delightful play and it has plenty of funny\clever scenes. Oscar was re...more

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Feb 01, 2008 Kara who rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Penguins, Ghandi, all the prim and proper American and English society

Plot Summary: Two friends get in trouble when they use the same pseudoname "Earnest" while trying to marry the women they love.

After rereading Mr. Oscar Wilde's "A Trivial Comedy for Serious People" I have learned that The Importance of Being Earnest is sorely needed to be written in modern times. We as a society need another satire to point out the problems in our lovely system, just as Wilde (and others, such as Voltaire) have done in their times.

Now, before I get on a soapbox...

I really don't...more

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Sep 04, 2007 Aristogama Inounu rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Well, actually... it's not a book. It's originally a play, I read the script. I also have the audio-book (available for free through LibriVox.org). Oscar Wilde is a genius, you will never guess how the story will end. It is very funny and witty, lots of irony and cynical remarks. My eyes were teary because I laughed so hard when I was reading the book. It's hilarious, by far the funniest book I ever read. It tells the story of mistaken identity and failing attempts to cover it up. Two young men...more

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Jul 02, 2008 Scott rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: plays, 1890s, victorian, humor

A deliciously funny read and the perfect antidote to an overdose of Henry James, Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) is a madcap comedy of manners whose clever plot serves up some of Wilde's funniest and must cutting wit. Wilde is at his epigrammatic best satirizing the hypocrisy and pretense of the Victorian upper classes. He repeatedly suspends his drama so that his characters can deliver impudent and hilarious asides lampooning the trinity held most sacred by the fin de siècl...more

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Sep 17, 2011 Toni rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I learnt about this play from its continuous appearance on the best books lists. Before I began to read it I was a bit sceptical. I mean Oscar Wilde is so well known and therefore in my naive logic I figured it was therefore inaccessible. How wrong I was! I have never laughed so much at a book in my life. I managed to read the whole thing in one night and loved it. I would recommend it to anybody who enjoys humour!

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Sep 10, 2012 Melissa Jeanette rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics-challenge-2012, classics

I got an email today saying this audiobook was available, and I thought it occupy me a few days. I was wrong. It was hilarious, and I listened to it all in one go! I tried reading a few pages once, and I just couldn't get into it. Hearing this performed made all the difference. The initial scene with Algernon playing the piano didn't make a whole lot of sense until I heard it. I suppose that's not surprising since it's meant to be a play. Now that I've enjoyed the performance, I want to sit down...more

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Jul 06, 2012 Gyula rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: humor

This the first play I listened from Oscar Wilde. It was so much fun! Actually I was laughing out loud, it's a really funny comedy. I loved the way the conflicts were built on the different worldviews of the characters. And I liked the happily ever after ending.

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Sep 19, 2007 Mark rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: plays

I think my take on Oscar Wilde plays is this: He is a man who wrote mildly amusing (really -- when was the last time you guffawed during a Wilde play?) plays in which the Wilde character always said wittily epigrammatic things which no casual partygoer could ever pull off on the spur of the moment. I believe I read someplace that Wilde himself would create and then practice these epigrams for hours in preparation for sprinkling them into conversations.

In other works, when characters are impossi...more

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Mar 24, 2009 Christina rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009-reads, list-ap-literature, required-for-high-school, plays, textbook, classics

The Importance of Being Earnest is, hands down, one of the best plays I’ve ever read. It’s witty and extremely bright, and my entire class was laughing out loud with every turn of the page, every line read. The play is essentially “a trivial comedy,” but The Importance of Being Earnest is a hilarious satire of nineteenth century society that posses a tone throughout is light and clever so that the entire play is simply a joy to watch or read.

We watched the 2002 version of The Importance of Being...more

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May 07, 2013 Hannah Odenthal rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In this book, the entire plot depends on lies. Jack has a home in the city and a home in the country. In the country, he is Jack and constantly mentions a troublesome brother in the city named Ernest. While he is in the city, he goes by Ernest and falls in love with Gwendolyn. Her mother disapproves of the match because of his sketchy origins and Gwendolyn says that she will never marry a man who is not named Ernest. Ernest plans to marry Gwendolyn get complicated by his friend Algernon who deci...more

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Apr 17, 2013 Farnoosh Brock rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Thank you Oscar Wilde for expressing your genius through words and for leaving us the better for it.

I loved reading this book while waiting in line for the Toronto Film Festival movies to start..... I have so many nuggets from my recent indulgence of Oscar Wilde's witty, fun, original, and rhythmical play, "The Importance of Being Earnest".

Every phrase and expression is a thought worth enjoying and applying to our life today. The play on words, the glittering conversation, the unexpected turn o...more

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Apr 15, 2013 Mimi Nguyen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This play was crafted quite well to entertain a range if audiences. Whether it be youthful or aged by many years, you're bound to love the humor and excitement Oscar Wilde has written. Its bearable and quick-paced to hold the attention of an adolescent. I read it for my British Literature class and thought of it as a delightful time to begin a humorist play which so happened to be a classic. The mix of events were purely amusing and it was fun to keep track of who is who without confusing the re...more

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Mar 22, 2013 Charles rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bunburyism, comic, plays, wilde, classics

Dubbed as the 'Perfect Play', 'The Importance of Being Earnest' has a lot of comic/humourous elements which make it ideal for a theatre performance. However, although I do like this play a lot, and I am a big fan of Wilde's 'pluck' as a writer especially considering his social context, I felt that this play did not manage to live up to my high expectations.

Not to say that this is a bad play. Not once did I find myself bursting out laughing spontaneously at Wilde's random comic wit. When one cons...more Dubbed as the 'Perfect Play', 'The Importance of Being Earnest' has a lot of comic/humourous elements which make it ideal for a theatre performance. However, although I do like this play a lot, and I am a big fan of Wilde's 'pluck' as a writer especially considering his social context, I felt that this play did not manage to live up to my high expectations.

Not to say that this is a bad play. Not once did I find myself bursting out laughing spontaneously at Wilde's random comic wit. When one considers the fact that this was written in the late nineteenth century, this is no small feat. The interactions between Algernon Moncrieff and John Worthing crack me up. The element of 'Bunburyism' is comic genius, and it owes for much of the laughs in the play. You see, or as you may already may know, Mr. Worthing invented an imaginary brother so that he could visit London as often as he pleases (he pretended that his visits were owed to his 'brother',who conveniently suffered from chronic ill health). Now,the name given to this imaginary brother is 'Earnest'. Someone who practices the fine art of creating an imaginary character to suit one's convenience was termed as a 'Bunburyist' by Algernon, after an imaginary character (Mr. Bunbury) he created. Worthing was a prospecting Bunburyist by Algernon's veteran 'bunbury' standards.

This is precisely what makes Wilde's plays such a delight to experience. Of course, I did not delve into the plot's details and characters. I explained the 'bunbury' element, a term which Wilde invented and which is responsible for much of the action in this play. The mess Algernon and Worthing get themselves into because of it... However, the name Earnest becomes relevant to the play's development. Not to spoil anything for those who have not read it, I will stop from going into the plot any further. What I also like about this play is its title. The title corresponds to the plot, and it intrigues the audience/reader. His other comedy plays seemed a little bit lacking when it comes to their respective titles; 1) Lady Windermere's Fan, 2) A Woman of no importance and 3) An Ideal Husband. I prefer this play more than the first two, but I think that 'An Ideal Husband' is better on the whole.

I think that the fact that I read 'An Ideal Husband' before this play, 'damaged' my opinion of this one. I enjoyed 'An Ideal Husband' immensely and I do believe that it is better as a play, although it is less popular. I think that what George Bernard Shaw said about this play, about it being 'heartless', is true. The other plays were more 'socially conscious' and involved a lot of character development in an arduous society. Also, I did not like this play's ending. The 'revelation' concerning Mr. Worthing's seemed to be too improbable for me. However, I do not wish to imply that this is a mediocre play, for it is not. Very witty and entertaining, I think that it is better to enjoy this play as a theatrical performance.

All in all, I liked this play. I do not feel that it deserves five stars as a literary composition, but as a theatrical experience, that is another matter. Still, while it is certainly enjoyable and delightful, it is a slight exaggeration to say it is a 'perfect play'.
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Feb 25, 2013 Susanna Olson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a very different portrait of Victorian England. A play where every protagonist is an antagonist, and vice versa. There are no bad guys, there are no good guys, there are only people. Oscar Wilde's characters have not the unforgettable personalities of Dickens nor the impressive realism of Tolstoy, yet they are somehow undeniably human. Lovable, relatable, susceptible, and somewhat incorrigible.
This is a satire, an attempt to poke fun at himself and his culture. Wilde jabs and jokes fro...more This is a very different portrait of Victorian England. A play where every protagonist is an antagonist, and vice versa. There are no bad guys, there are no good guys, there are only people. Oscar Wilde's characters have not the unforgettable personalities of Dickens nor the impressive realism of Tolstoy, yet they are somehow undeniably human. Lovable, relatable, susceptible, and somewhat incorrigible.
This is a satire, an attempt to poke fun at himself and his culture. Wilde jabs and jokes from the title to the last sentence. You cannot go a paragraph without encountering some witty line or clever pun. His main character (Jack) is a picture of the Victorian dandy: Elegant, refined, philanthropic - yet also ( surprise surprise) a hypocrite and a liar.
The other lead man, Algernon ( who most definitely steals the show in my humble opinion) is less of a picturesque Victorian gentleman. He is more dandy with a heavy helping of Oscar's own "wilde" personality" ( excuse the horrid pun, I think one pun is permissible in a review of the "punniest play in the English language"). He leads the same sort of life as Jack, and yet his actions do not effect others quite as profoundly. He is a soloist, his mistakes are all games, and as such are stamped with approval by the author.
In the end, this book is an extremely funny fun-read. Although he does jest and joke, he makes no profound statements or analysis of anything. He makes no strong points, and doesn't seem to have any purpose beyond just writing a really funny play. This is not the sort of thing that you read and then muse over for an hour feeling really good about yourself and thinking "Wow, I am much smarter then when I first opened the cover" ( I'd head over to War and Peace or any Dostoevsky/Tolstoy novel if that is what your looking for). And yet there is a time and a season for the short, complicated, and extremely hilarious "love story" that Oscar Wilde has provided for us.
My only advice is to read this in a private place. Apparently (based on the queer face expressions of local librarians and other patrons ) reading a book while stifling laughter and occasionally breaking out into giggles is not acceptable, at least not in my hometown library.
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Jan 23, 2013 Ilona rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Frankly speakng, I'm not a fan of Oscar Wilde's works but this very play is really good. In fact it was the first book by this author which I don't regret having read. I laughed all the time while reading it, I can't actually remember any other book which made me laugh so much except only Three men in a Boat by Jerome. K. Jerome. The humour is not only in the words but in the mere situations, especially in the last act. Here are some quotations that i really like:

"To speak frankly, I am not in

...more

"To speak frankly, 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."

"I think it is high time that Mr. Bunbury made up his mind whether he was going to live or to die. This shilly-shallying with the question is absurd."

"Gwendolen. You have filled my tea with lumps of sugar, and though I asked most distinctly for bread and butter, you have given me cake. I am known for the gentleness of my disposition, and the extraordinary sweetness of my nature, but I warn you, Miss Cardew, you may go too far.
Cecily. To save my poor, innocent, trusting boy from the machinations of any other girl there are no lengths to which I would not go."

"...it is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth"

But in spite of being extremely funny it emphasizes serious problems of society which are still characteristic for it nowadays. In fact it is a sharp satire which reveals such vices as snobbery, lie, pretentiousness and shows that the moral of the society seems to be rotten all over. By hyperbolizing the human drawbacks of society Oscar Wilde succeeds in drawing the readers attention towards those problems. Probably some of the readers will see their own drawbacks in the play and make corresponding conclusions.

To sum up I should say that this play is a combination of easily perceivable language, witty jokes and urgent social problems whcih is advisable for everybody to read at least at once.

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About Oscar Wilde

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish playwright, poet and author of numerous short stories and one novel. Known for his biting wit, and a plentitude of aphorisms, he became one of the most successful playwrights of the late Victorian era in London, and one of the greatest celebrities of his day. Several of his plays continue to be widely performed, especially The Importance of Being E...more

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