CULTURE, ART & LITERATURE The Importance of Being Earnest WARM-UP Traduci in inglese le seguenti parole. matrimonio verità innamorarsi approvare relazione sposare sentimento proposta marito moglie responsabilità identità VOCABULARY without telling Jack/Ernest, he goes to his country house to meet the girl. There, he tells everybody he is Ernest, Jack s evil brother, and falls in love with Cecily, who is very happy to marry someone whose name is Ernest, just like Gwendolen. Soon after, Jack/Ernest returns to his country house, and Gwendolen follows him. There, they meet Algernon/Ernest and Cecily. After some misunderstandings , Cecily and Gwendolen become friends and understand that their future husbands have lied about their real identity. At the end of the play, Miss Prism, Cecily s private tutor, reveals the truth: Jack is Algernon s brother, who, by mistake, she lost while she was looking after him by herself. Not only that, his real name is also Ernest! Finally, Algernon and Jack have the blessing of Gwendolen s mother (their aunt) to marry the two girls. Quotations Interior, St James's Theatre (built 1835), London. Watercolour by John Gregory Crace 37 The Importance of Being Earnest is a play in three acts by Oscar Wilde, first performed on 14th February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London and published in 1898. It is a satirical comedy based on paradoxes in which the protagonists have a double life to escape the oppressive social obligations of the rigid Victorian upper-class society. Plot The comedy is based on a pun : earnest is an adjective meaning honest and serious , but it is pronounced as Ernest, a male name. The protagonists of the play are Jack and his friend Algernon. They both have a double identity. Jack, who lives in the countryside, changes his name to Ernest when he goes to London so that he can behave the way he wants without being identified. In the country, in fact, he has a girl under his responsibility, Cecily, who he must be an example for and who believes he is Ernest s good brother. In London, Jack/Ernest falls in love with Gwendolen (Algernon s cousin), but her mother does not approve of their marriage because Jack/Ernest is an orphan. Gwendolen, however, wants to marry him because the name she knows, Ernest, inspires her with positive feelings. Algernon knows Jack as Ernest, but one day he finds out the truth. He is curious to meet Cecily, so, 78 The play ridicules Victorian hypocrisy. Here s a list of quotes from the play. Algernon: All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That is his. Gwendolen: I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train. Gwendolen: In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the vital thing. Algernon: I really don t see anything romantic in proposing. It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal. Why, one may be accepted. GLOSSARY beyond: oltre blessing: benedizione detail: dettaglio grave: serio hierarchical: gerarchico misunderstanding: incomprensione pun: gioco di parole quotation/quote: citazione reversal: rovesciamento