1
Q
Algernon’s house in half moon street
A
Is rich, is of high class.
Wilde is mocking the higher class.
2
Q
“I don’t play accurately, - anyone can play accurately- but I can play with wonderful expression.”
A
- Algernon
- doesn’t admit that he is wrong
3
Q
“sentiment is my forte”
A
- Algernon
- Pun
- “forte” = loud, has more volume and emotion than accuracy.
- not accurate
4
Q
“Is marriage as demoralising as that?”
A
- Algernon
- First of many comments about marriage.
- doesn’t like the concept of it.
5
Q
“I have only been married once”
A
- Lane
- Has no real concept if only allowed to be married once.
- Better understanding if married multiple times.
6
Q
“If the lower classes don’t set us a better example”
A
- Algernon
- Inversion (swapping) leads to submission.
- challenging societal concepts at the time.
- Higher classes supposed to be better and set the example.
7
Q
” When one is in the country, one amuses himself.
When one is in the countryside, one amuses oher people.”
A
- Jack
- epigram
- Audience gets the point, easy to remember why he has a second persona.
- country= selfless city= selfish
- behave differently in different situations.
8
Q
“How utterly unromantic.”
A
- Jack
- Talking about marriage
- Marriage is arranged in the upper classes
- Starts to show contrasting characters.
9
Q
“Divorces are made in heaven”
A
- Algernon
- Inversion = takes common phrase, changes a words. Makes it almost the opposite.
- Can’t get divorced, is really frowned upon, less likely to get into heaven.
- Only separate by one dying.
10
Q
Always eating/ consuming
A
- always wanting something else at lower classes disadvantage.
11
Q
“Bunbury” and “Ernest”
A
- Contrasting characters (Smart and Stupid)
- Both have double lives and are rich.
12
Q
“The truth is rarely pure and never simple”
A
- Algernon
- Applying to literature and culture.
- is not what appears to be (Good and truthful)
13
Q
“Invaluable permanent invalid”
A
- Jack
- Makes going off seem like he’s doing good
- Seems moral, but leading a different life.
14
Q
“A high moral tone can hardly be said to conduce very much to either one’s health or happiness”
A
- Jack
- City does what he wants
- Country is responsible.
- becomes a reckless escape route for them.
15
Q
“It is simply washing one’s clean linen in public”
A
- Algernon
- changing a common phrase.
- Dirty= immoral
- “clean” = very moral, too nice for him.
16
Q
“You are the most earnest person”
A
- Algernon
- “earnest”= worthy, honest, dull.
- “Ernest” as a name claims that he is honest and earnest, when not in reality.
- pun
17
Q
“You had much better get the thing out at once.”
A
- Algernon
- have the truth out.
- Dentistry puns “False impression” “Talk like a dentist”
- Connotes getting a tooth out, painful and difficult could be messy.
18
Q
“A man who marries without knowing Bunbury has a very tedious time of it”
A
- Algernon
- Marriage without an affair is boring
- Adultery is common in England
19
Q
“In married life, three is company, two is nothing.”
A
- Algernon
- Having one partner is boring
- Must sleep with multiple people to make marriage interesting
20
Q
“The theory that corrupt French drama has been propounding for the last 50 years and the English home has shown in half the time.”
A
- Algernon
- Adultery is commonly shown in French theatre
- not “English way of thinking about it.
- French are more permissive and tolerant.
- Adultery happens in English marriage, but is taboo.
- Proved / common knowledge 1/2 time I English households.
- Happens a lot everywhere.
21
Q
“I hope that you are behaving well” LB
“I am feeling very well” Algy
“That’s not quite the same thing.” LB
A
- Lady Bracknell & Algernon
- Feeling well does not mean behaving well
- Bracknell may have a suspicion, knows that Algy is not as good as he appears to be.
22
Q
“I intend to develop in many ways”
A
- Gwendolen
- Flirtatious with Jack (Ernest at time)
- Starting to lead the relationship
23
Q
“She looks quite 20 years younger”
A
- Lady Bracknell
- After husbands death, feeling better.
- better to not be married.
- Joke about marriage.
24
Q
“No cucumbers in the market this morning”
A
- Lane
- Algernon ate all the cucumber sandwiches
- Always consuming, representing the greed of the overall upper classes.
- Has to lie, being corrupt, influenced by Algernon
25
"Ready money"
- Lane
- Means cash
- Algernon runs on death, doesn't pay upfront
- running himself into debt.
26
"Living entirely for pleasure" LB
| "Her hair has turned quite gold from grief" Algy
- Lady Bracknell & Algernon
- Has become happier, less restrained when not married.
- Effect of husband's death
- Better when not married.
27
" Your husband will have to dine upstairs. Fortunately he is accustomed to that."
- Lady Bracknell
- Has money and power in the relationship.
- Distant relationship.
- Controlling husband, defying gender roles at the time.
- Women may not want to marry, but forced to.
28
"My idea has always been to love someone of the name Ernest"
- Gwendolen
- Loves the name and the ideal a lot
- Jack has to keep the persona and name of Ernest
29
He tries to rise, but she restrains him.
- Stage directions
- women has control over men
- New woman and power?
- Visual metaphor.
30
"I... will inform you of the fact... as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant"
- Lady Bracknell
- Arranged marriage in the upper classes
- Based on status and background to build connections
31
"I have the same list as the dear Duchess of Bolton has".
- Lady Bracknell
- Upper classes in circles of the same people
- Based on status and general suitability.
32
"Natural ignorance... The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound."
- Lady Bracknell
- Protecting women's (Social and sexual) ignorance.
- So men are thought/ feel in control.
33
"I have lost both my parents" Jack
| "To lose both seems like carelessness" LB
- Lady Bracknell & Jack.
- Joke/ euphemism taken literally
- Shows upper classes and Lady Bracknell as cold.
34
"I was found"
- Jack
- Is a foundling
- Children abandoned by unmarried mothers
- Brought shame on family and individuals
- Has ambiguous social status, no connections, can't marry.
35
"Reminds one of the worst excesses of the French Revolution"
- Lady Bracknell
- 1780s- 1790s aristocracy murdered
- Could happen in England, again in France
- Cities grew exponentially.
- Upper classes worried about it.
36
"To marry into a cloakroom..."
- Lady Bracknell.
| - Unaware of social status, no automatic links.
37
"What has it to do with me?"
- Lady Bracknell
| - Has no control to how society sees things.
38
"Relations... haven't got the remotest knowledge of how to live, nor the smallest instinct about when to die"
- Algernon
- Superlatives, "Remotest," "Smallest".
- Shortest noun phrase.
- Relatives are a hassle.
39
"All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. no man does. That's his."
- Algernon.
- Noun phrase shortened
- Gender roles trapping, forced to become like that in the future.
- Sounds good, showing aestheticism through Algernon.
40
"The only way to behave to a woman is to make love to her if she is pretty, and someone else if she is plain."
- Algernon
- Adultery is common
- Has to be good looking
- Rise of aestheticism.
41
"... Call each other sister" Jack
| " … Have called each other a lot of other things first" Algernon
- Algernon and Jack
- Women are benign, passive, orderly according to Jack.
- They will argue, have voices and use them according to Algernon.
42
"Old fashioned respect for the young is dying out".
- Gwendolen
- Inversion from a common phrase.
- Algernon and Gwendolen challenge conventions, marriage and gender roles.
43
"I may marry someone else and marry often".
- Gwendolen
- Challenges idea women controlling marriage.
- Separates idea of love and marriage
- Wants romance, won't necessarily get in marriage, arranged.
44
"The simplicity if your character makes you exquisitely incomprehensible."
- Gwendolen
- Paradoxical
- Simple is often easy to understand
- Smart sounding like Algernon.
- Aestheticism?
- New Woman?
