The Importance of Being Earnest
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The Importance of Being Earnest |
The Importance of Being Earnest is a classic
comedy of manners by
Oscar Wilde. It was first performed for the public on
February 14,
1895 at the St. James' Theatre in
London. The play, written in either three or four acts, depending on edition, is regarded by many critics and scholars as being the wittiest play in the English language.
It is set in
England during the
Victorian era, and its primary source of humour is based upon the main character John's fictitious younger brother Ernest. John's surname,
Worthing, is taken from the town where Wilde was staying when he wrote the play.
Wilde's plays had reached a pinnacle of success and anything new from the playwright was eagerly awaited. The press were always hungry for details and would pursue stories about new plots and characters with a vengeance. To combat this Wilde gave the play a working title,
'Lady Lancing'. The use of seaside town names for leading characters, or the locations of their inception, can be recognised in all four of Wilde's society plays.
Algernon, a wealthy young Londoner, pretends to have a friend named Bunbury who lives in the country and frequently is in ill health. Whenever Algernon wants to avoid an unwelcome social obligation, or just get away for the weekend, he makes an ostensible visit to his "sick friend." In this way Algernon can feign piety and dedication, while having the perfect excuse to get out of town. He calls this practice "
Bunburying."
Algernon's real-life best friend lives in the country but makes frequent visits to London. This friend's name is Ernest...or so Algernon thinks. When Ernest leaves his silver cigarette case at Algernon's rooms he finds an inscription in it that claims that it is "From little Cecily to her dear Uncle Jack". This forces Ernest to eventually disclose that his visits to the city are also examples of "Bunburying," much to Algernon's delight.
In the country, "Ernest" goes by his real name, John Worthing, and pretends that he has a wastrel brother named Ernest, who lives in London. When honest John comes to the city, he assumes the name, and behaviour, of the profligate Ernest. In the country John assumes and more serious attitude for the benefit of Cecily, who is his
ward.
John himself wishes to marry Gwendolen, who is Algernon's cousin, but runs into a few problems. First, Gwendolen seems to love him only because she believes his name is Ernest, which she thinks is the most beautiful name in the world. Second, Gwendolen's mother is the terrifying Lady Bracknell. Lady Bracknell is horrified when she learns that John is a foundling who was discovered in a handbag at a railway station.
John's description of Cecily appeals to Algernon who resolves to meet her. Algernon soon gets the idea to visit John in the country, pretending that
he is the mysterious brother "Ernest." Unfortunately, unknown to Algernon, John has decided to give up his Bunburying, and to do this he has announced the tragic death of Ernest.
A series of comic misunderstandings follows, as Algernon-as-Ernest visits the country (as a dead man, as far as the hosts are aware), and John shows up in his mourning clothes. There he encounters John's ward, Cecily, who believes herself in love with Ernest - the non-existent brother she has never met. After Lady Bracknell arrives, it is discovered that John is a nephew of Lady Bracknell who was lost by Miss Prism, Cecily's governess, who was then working for Lady Bracknell's sister. It is also discovered that John's real name is Ernest. It is suggested at the end of the play that Ernest/John will marry Gwendolen and Algernon will marry Cecily. The play contains many examples of Wilde's famous wit.
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Lady Bracknell and Jack Worthing |
It has a small cast, which is as follows:
* Jack Worthing ('John' in some versions)
* Algernon Moncrieff
* Lady Bracknell
* Cecily Cardew
* Gwendolen Fairfax
* Miss Prism (Cecily's governess)
* Dr. Chasuble (a minister who lives near Jack's country house)
* Lane (Algernon's butler)
* Merriman (John's butler)
The comedy has been successful even when performed in translation. The title being almost untranslatable ("Ernest" and "earnest" being
homophones in English), it is then usually staged under the title
Bunbury -referring to deceit in general. In Norway it is staged as
Hvem er Ernest?, which means Who is Ernest?
Exceptions to this include Germany, The Netherlands, France and Hungary. In Germany the reprint of the play and the 2002 movie are called "Ernst sein ist alles" (literally Being Earnest is all), keeping the pun of the original title. (Ernst being both a first name and a synonym for being serious in German). In The Netherlands it has been translated as
Het belang van Ernst, in which the pun is also fully functional. In France, the play is known as "De l'importance d'être Constant"; Constant being both an uncommon but not rare first name and the quality of steadfastness, the pun is preserved but with a slightly different meaning. The same approach has been used in Hungarian; the title has been translated as "Szilárdnak kell lenni" (lit. One Must Be Steadfast), Szilárd being also an uncommon first name meaning "steadfast". In the Czech Republic the play is translated as "Jak je důležité mÃti Filipa" (literally The Importance of Having Phillip) â€" which is an idiom for being clever and Filip is a quite common name.
When Wilde handed his final draft of the play over to theatrical impresario George Alexander it was complete in four acts. The actor manager of the St. James' Theatre soon began a reworking of the play. Whether to provide space for a 'warmer' or a musical interlude, as was often the bill, it is not entirely clear. However, Wilde agreed to the cuts and various elements of the second and third acts were combined. The "missing" extra act, coming between the current second and third, was heavily cut. The greatest impact was the loss of the character Mr Gribsby, a solicitor, who turns up from London to arrest the profligate "Ernest" (John) for his unpaid dining bills. Algernon - who is going by the name "Ernest" at this point - is about to be led away to Holloway Jail unless he settles his accounts immediately. The four-act version was first played on the radio in a BBC production and is still sometimes performed. The 2002 film includes the Gribsby scene from the missing act.
* Wilde's use of the name Earnest was most likely a homosexual in-joke.
John Gambril Nicholson in his poem
"Of Boy's Names" (
Love in Earnest: Sonnets, Ballades, and Lyrics (1892)) contains the lines: " Though Frank may ring like silver bell, And Cecil softer music claim, They cannot work the miracle, â€"'Tis Ernest sets my heart a-flame." The poem was promoted by
John Addington Symonds and Nicholson and Wilde contributed pieces to the same issue of
The Chameleon magazine. See D'arch Smith, Timothy:
Love In Earnest: Some Notes on the Lives and Writings of English "Uranian" Poets from 1889 to 1930 (1970). Theo Aronson has suggested that the word "earnest" became a code-word for homosexual, as in: "Is he earnest?", in the same way that "Is he so?" and "Is he musical?" were also employed. See Aronson, Theo:
Prince Eddy and the Homosexual Underworld (1994).
* The words bunbury and bunburying, which are used to imply double lives and as excuses for absences are, according to a letter from
Aleister Crowley to
Bruce Lockhart, an in-joke conjunction that came about after Wilde boarded a train at Banbury on which he met a schoolboy. They got into conversation and subsequently arranged to meet again at Sunbury. See D'arch Smith, Timothy:
Bunbury - Two Notes on Oscar Wilde (1998).
* Lady Bracknell's phrase
A handbag? has been claimed to be the single quotation in English drama that has given rise to the most varied
readings, ranging from incredulous through scandalized to just plain baffled. There is scarcely an actress who has not tried to put her own personal stamp on it, but the most famous is that of
Edith Evans in
Anthony Asquith's film, who delivered the line loudly in a mixture of horror, incredulity and condescension.
*
The Marquess of Queensberry, father of Wilde's male lover Lord
Alfred Douglas, attempted to enter the theatre on the play's opening night to publicly expose Oscar Wilde's homosexuality, but Wilde was tipped in advance and Queensberry was refused a ticket. Due to Wilde's personal troubles, however, the play was closed after only 83 performances, despite its success.
* The 1952 film of the play was directed by Anthony Asquith and stars
Michael Dennison (Algernon),
Michael Redgrave (John), Dame
Edith Evans (Lady Bracknell),
Dorothy Tutin (Cecily),
Joan Greenwood (Gwendolen), and
Margaret Rutherford (Miss Prism).
* The 1992
remake was directed by
Kurt Baker.
* The
2002 remake stars
Colin Firth (John),
Rupert Everett (Algy), Dame
Judi Dench (Lady Bracknell),
Reese Witherspoon (Cecily),
Frances O'Connor (Gwendolen),
Anna Massey (Miss Prism), and
Tom Wilkinson (Dr. Chasuble) and was directed by
Oliver Parker.
* In the
2004 summer blockbuster
Spider-Man 2,
Mary Jane Watson (
Kirsten Dunst) is shown playing Cecily.
*
The Importance of Being Earnest on
Project Gutenberg*
The full script*
Criterion Collection essay by Charles Dennis
