The Importance of Being Ernest Oscar Wild Day (text)
Key Words: Class and Money, Hypocricy, Comedy, Women's Role, Views on Marriage
Time Frame: 10 classes (1 pre-reading, 9 lessons, 1 day of assessment)
Day 1 | Day 2 |Day 3 | Day 4| Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Resources|
In this unit, students will analyze the relationship between money and class during the Victorian England. Through the comedy, students will see the hypocracy of the high society. Students will appreciate Wilde's wits and various language arts techniques such as pun, chiasmus and satire.
Enduring Understanding- Students will understand that
Essential Questions-
Students will understand-
Students will be able to-
Assessment-
Informal- prompted journals, dialectical journals , Q&A
Formal-AP Essay Use one of the critical quotations as the basis for your essay
1. Robert Boyle describes Wilde's last play as a humorous "treatment of decay and death," and of "human suffering," in which Wilde finally abandons the effort to balance "conventional moral norms with the realities of human behavior" (325). Responding to these remarks, develop an essay topic about an underlying, serious theme in The Importance Of Being Earnest. Please confirm by e-mail the precise wording of your topic.
2. According to Karl Beckson, "Central to Wilde's life and art was the idea of the dandy as the embodiment of the heroic ideal as well as of the aesthetic temperament hostile to bourgeois sentiment and morality" (205). Which of the characters in the play embodies this aesthetic principle, and how? From your consideration of these characters' utterances and actions develop an appropriate essay topic. Please confirm by e-mail the precise wording of your topic.
3. William Keach contends that Lady Bracknell's "cross-examination of Jack lays the groundwork for much of the rest of the plot" (184), and that the underlying tension of the play depends upon "the contrast of city and country so important to the double lives being led" (183). Explain these two points, then develop one of them into a suitable essay topic. Please confirm by e-mail the precise wording of your topic.
4. Otto Reinert claims that "Wilde's basic formula for satire is [his characters'] assumption of a code of behavior that represents the reality that Victorian convention pretends to ignore" (15). Reinert argues that in this play Wilde is principally concerned with the difference between conventional and actual manners and morality. Discuss these points, then refine this "formula for satire" into an essay topic. Please confirm by e-mail the precise wording of your topic.
5. Richard Foster believes that the terms "farce" and "comedy of manners" are unsuitable for this Wilde play because it is far more subtle, complicated, and artistic than such labels imply.
Farce . . .depends for its effects upon extremely simplified characters tangling themselves up in incongruous situations, and upon a knowing audience gleefully anticipating their falling victim, in their ignorance, to some enormous but harmless confusion of fact or identity." Furthermore, "A comedy of manners is fundamentally realistic: it requires the audience to accept the world presented on the stage as a real world, a possible world." [19]
Foster contends that the play is in fact an elaborate lampoon.
Apply the terms "farce," "comedy of manners," and "lampoon" to The Importance of Being Earnest, then develop an essay topic that utilizes these terms. Please confirm by e-mail the precise wording of your topic.
6. Pointing out that inverted relationships are the norm in this play, Robert J. Jordan, rejects the proposition that The Importance of Being Earnest is a satire or a social criticism; rather, "at the most important level it seems to be a fantasy in which unattainable human ideals are allowed to realize themselves." Elegance, symmetry, taste, indifference to conventional morality, and a total lack of sexual corruption (for which Wilde substitutes "food-lust") are achieved in this make-believe world.
Apply the term "fantasy" to Wilde's play, demonstrating how it achieves some of Foster's ideal elements listed above, then develop a suitable essay topic. Please confirm by e-mail the precise wording of your topic.
7. Wilde suggests that his Victorian contemporaries should treat trivial matters with greater respect and pay less attention to what society then regarded as serious. Discuss how Wilde expresses this philosophy and comment on the effectiveness with which he has communicated his 'message' with reference to ONE of the following in the play: death, politics, money, property, food, or marriage. Please confirm by e-mail the precise wording of your topic.
8. Using three examples drawn from the play, show how Algernon uses Wilde's aesthetic principles to transform his life into a work of art. Please confirm by e-mail the precise wording of your topic.
9. How does Wilde portray food as both a weapon and a means of demonstrating one's power? Discuss three examples from the play to demonstrate how Wilde uses food. Please confirm by e-mail the precise wording of your topic.
10. Describe how this play mayor may not fit the criteria associated with the genre of the lampoon. Define the term "lampoon" and apply this definition to the play: what is Wilde lampooning? What is his intention in lampooning it? What are his techniques, and do these produce appropriate attitudes in the audience? Please confirm by e-mail the precise wording of your topic.
11. Define the term "fantasy," then demonstrate how Wilde treats ONE of the following fantastically (as opposed to realistically): Victorian society's class structure, food and the Victorian conventions surrounding it, the resolution of the plot. Please confirm by e-mail the precise wording of your topic.
12. Using appropriate quotations and paraphrases from at least one major scene in the play, show how Wilde treats humorously serious issues and conflicts that existed within Victorian society. You might wish to demonstrate how the play deals with one of the following matters: marriage and courtship, sexual double standards, the class structure, money and property, and attitudes towards illness and death. Please confirm by e-mail the precise wording of your topic.
The above questions were quoted from http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/wilde/ibetopics.html
Day 1 (About the Author; Money and Class) Pre-Reading Activity
Objectives: Students will understand
Aim: How did money affect class or visa versa in the Victorian England? Is Oscar Wilde a sage?
Agenda-
Do Now: 1. In your journal describe your understanding of the relationship between class and money in today's society. 2. Define sage.
Acqusition:
Part I Money and Class in Victorian's England
Discuss-
Part II What kind of writer can be considered a sage?
Meaning Making- Is Oscar Wilde a sage?
In small groups, read the article Is Oscar Wilde a sage? Jot down the comments about Oscar Wilde as a writer, a sage.
Transfer: Each group hands in one sheet of your thoughts on Class and Money and Wilde as a sage.
HW# 1 Read half of Act I of The Importance of Being Ernest. Prepare for the questions-
Act I:
Objective: Students will understand how Wilde uses certain peculiar objects to reveal his character.
Aim: How does Wilde use the subject of cucumber sandwiches to reveal the characters of Jack and Algy? ( Food and gluttony suggest and substitute for other appetites and indulgences. )
Agenda-
Do Now: In your journal, describe an object or a scent or special color that you associate with a person. Why?
Acqusition:
Part I Money and Class in Victorian's England
Discuss-
Part II Read Act I PAGE 115-130 and discuss-
Meaning Making- The Importance of Being Earnest :Theme of Lies and Deceit
The most prevalent reason characters in The Importance of Being Earnest lie is to get out of social or familial duties and, instead, to do something more enjoyable. Not surprisingly, few characters hold honesty in high regard. However, we see how hard it is for characters to set things straight once they’ve lied about them. As the situation gets increasingly complicated, characters must weave more complex lies to get out of the tangles of their previous lies. Eventually they reach the point where lies will no longer work and the truth is revealed. Perhaps the most striking thing is that none of the characters ever shows true remorse or guilt about lying.
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
In The Importance of Being Earnest, the men’s lies are justified because they lie primarily so that they could spend time with the women they love.
In The Importance of Being Earnest, the men’s lies are not justified because they lie primarily to get out of social responsibilities.
HW#2 Repond to the questions in "Acqusition" and collect evidence for your "debate".
Day 3 -Day 4 Act I PAGES 131-141 Central Metaphor: "Bunbury"; pun
Objective: Students will understand the rhetorical technique of paradox.
Aim: How does Wilde satirize the vacuous mentalities and lifestyles of the British aristocracy in Lady Bracknell's interview with Jack?
Agenda-
Do Now: In your journal, describe one example of corrupted lives our modern "aristocracy" lives in our society to show their "vacuous" mentalities.
Acqusition:
Literary Concepts- Paradox, allusion , aphorism, homosexuality , hypocrisy, setting, symbolisim, political criticism
Meaning Making-
Questions About Society and Class
Although many of Wilde’s characters in Earnest are aristocrats, he ultimately parodies the upper class’s pride and pretension.
By imitating and trying to marry into the aristocracy, Jack is a hypocrite and a traitor to his own class.
Transfer: Analyze the situation at the end of the first act, including Algy's overhearing Jack's real country address, to predict what will happen in the second act.
HW#3 a. Answer the 9 questions in the "Acqusition". b. Write a reflection on "Society and Class" as portrayed in the play.
Day 5 Act II Part I pages 141- 156 paradox and epigrams, gender roles
Objectives: Students wiill understand the hypocricy and paradoxical nature of the main characters.
Aim:Why do Jack and Algernon need Ernest and Bunbury, respectively? How doe this contribute to the motif of satire?
Agenda-
Do Now:
Acqusition: Read 141-157. Review and discuss-
Meaning Making -The Importance of Being Earnest Theme of Gender
In The Importance of Being Earnest, the question of each gender’s role in society often centers on power. In the Victorian world of this play, men have greater influence than women. Men make the political decisions for their families, while women work around the house, quietly taking care of the children. Men are valued for their intellect and judgment, while women are attractive to men for their beauty and chastity. However, Wilde raises interesting questions about gender roles in The Importance of Being Earnest, by putting women (like Lady Bracknell) in positions of power and by showing that men (i.e., Jack and Algernon) can be irresponsible and bad at decision-making.
In Earnest, figures like Lady Bracknell, Gwendolen, and Cecily reverse gender role stereotypes by exercising power and control over the opposite sex.
Although the female characters in Earnest exercise power briefly, they also conform to many female stereotypes – ultimately ensuring that the play upholds traditional gender stereotypes instead of challenging or changing them.
Transfer: How has female's role in marriage changed ? How has gender's role changed in the past century?
HW#4 a. Respond to the questions based on Act II in the "Acqusition". b Write a reflection on the differences between "gender role" of Victorian England and modern American society.
Day 6 pages Act II pages 157-173
Objectives: Students will understand the devices Wilde uses to create the epigrams, which reveals his critical views on marriage.
Aim: Does Wilde use his verbal humor as witticism or social criticism, or both? Why?
Agenda-
Do Now:
Acqusition: Parallelism, inversion, Victorian Views on Marriage
1. parallelism of clauses: Perch are inexpensive; cod are cheap; trout are abundant; but salmon are best.
2.PARALLELISM: When the writer establishes similar patterns of grammatical structure and length. For instance, "King Alfred tried to make the law clear, precise, and equitable." The previous sentence has parallel structure in use of adjectives. However, the following sentence does not use parallelism: "King Alfred tried to make clear laws that had precision and were equitable."
If the writer uses two parallel structures, the result is isocolon parallelism: "The bigger they are, the harder they fall."
3. Inversion- A reversal of the usual order or words to receive some sort of emphasis.(Chiasmus)
4. Victorian Views on Marriage : jigsaw puzzle
5. Read Act II pages 157-173 (PART II) . Guiding questions-
Meaning Making-
Themes: The Importance of Being Earnest Theme of Marriage
The big question The Importance of Being Earnest raises is whether marriage is pleasurable or a restrictive social duty. In general, the older generation thinks of marriage as a means to an end, a way of maintaining or bettering your social position. If you want to get married, you submit to an interrogation: "State your name, rank, and serial number." The number that matters in this case, however, is your income; you better have bank. You also need to have an acceptable title, along with the parents to prove it. The hot-blooded youngsters think they are interested in love. One of the huge ironies in the play – and what makes it a satire of Victorian society – is that, in the end, nobody really breaks the rules. They color within the lines, and marry exactly the type of person their society are expects them to.
Start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
In The Importance of Being Earnest, Miss Prism and Dr. Chasuble challenge the social order by ultimately yielding to marriage based on love instead of marrying for social rank or wealth, as most of the older generation espouse.
In The Importance of Being Earnest, Algernon represents a modern mindset towards marriage because he is skeptical about the happiness of couples in marriage, and has fears about committing to one woman, unlike Jack – who holds more traditional nineteenth-century views on marriage.
Transfer: Has our view or tradition on marriage changed? What caused the change?
HW#5 Repond to the study questions and prepare evidence for the "debate".
Objective: Students will understand the nature of satire in the play.
Aim: How does Wilde use character caricature and wittisim to satirize the social conventions?
Do Now: In your journal, write a short skit tosatirize a social issue. Consider Saturday Night Live as your examples.
Aqusition:
1. WILDE'S STYLE: In this satire, being earnest is made as superficial a trait as possible; it means simply having the name Earnest. The characters are motivated and controlled by a hollow and artificial set of social standards that have little substance but are used to maintain social distinctions and social class privileges. Against this rigid system of controls the young lovers pursue their dreams of romance. The play is structured as a series of verbal fencing matches in which showing the right form is as important as making one's point. The plot is nonsensical, a mere excuse for causing the lovers some temporary setbacks before the inevitable comic happy ending. The tone is brightly serious; none of the characters have any inkling that they are speaking absurdities. Even the self-indulgent Algernon is earnest in his self-indulgence. (http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/english/English151W-03/importanceofbeingearnest.htm)
2. Satire is a literary device that uses irony or wit usually in a humorous way, to comment on or criticize a person, group or event. Usually the intention of satiric writing is to force a change in behavior or to sway public opinion.
Use the following questions to guide your satire-
3. Read Act III and respond to-
Meaning Making-
What devices does Wilde use to satirize the Victorian notion of "respect and reputation"?
The Importance of Being Earnest Theme of Respect and Reputation
In this play, the upper classes care about being respectable – so much so that they do a lot of lying about it. In general, Victorian upper-class society holds slightly different expectations of men and women. Men need to be upstanding, rich, and from a good family. Women need to be upstanding, rich, from a good family, and chaste. Any deviation from the rules (being born poor, or being found in a handbag, in Jack's case) may prevent a young person from making a good match, and continuing his noble line.
The ultimate goal in Earnest is to reconcile romantic desires and respectability; in other words, Jack, Algernon, Gwendolen, and Cecily all strive to make their less-than-honorable courtship look appropriate to Lady Bracknell.
Although each character in Earnest strives to be respectable, none actually believes in the socially-proscribed standards, and all often mock the idea that one can be both respectable and happy.
Transfer: Can we respect a person with bad reputation? Why or why not? Explain the scenario.
HW #7 Respond to the study questions in "Acqusition" and collect evidence for your argument.
Write a satire on a current event. See an example on Time Warner Bill & ON Going Outside . See Rubric for the Satire.
Day 8 Chiasmus
Objectives: Students will understand the structure of chiasmus and crete their own.
Aim: What's the most essential feature of chiasmus? How do you see this as an effective device to be applied in writing?
Agenda-
Do Now: In your notebook, write down one very famous chiasmus you have heard.
Acqusition: Chiasmus
Read the examples of Chiasmus from the link above and analyze the most effective ones. What different meanings does each example entail due tot he unique structure?
Meaning Making-
In pairs, make your own chiamus.
Transfer: I what case will you use this device?
HW# 8 Make three sentence of chiamus on the character, theme, social issues, etc on The Importance of Being Ernest.
Day 9 Plot & Structure (excerpt from Victorian Web) , Inversion and Pun
Objective: Students will understand the structure and pun of The Importance of Being Ernest.
Aim: How are the literary devices such as pun, structure and inversion used effectively in The Importance of Being Ernest?
Agenda-
Do Now: Give an example of pun and explain in what situation the pun could be used effectively.
Acqusition: Pun, Inversion & Structure
Pun: widely considered to be the lowest form of verbal wit, is rarely just a play on words. The pun in the title is a case in point. The earnest/Ernest joke strikes at the very heart of Victorian notions of respectability and duty.
Inversion: "One of the most common motifs in The Importance of Being Earnest is the notion of inversion, and inversion takes many forms. The play contains inversions of thought, situation, and character, as well as inversions of common notions of morality or philosophical thought. When Algernon remarks, “Divorces are made in Heaven,” he inverts the cliché about marriages being “made in heaven.” Similarly, at the end of the play, when Jack calls it “a terrible thing” for a man to discover that he’s been telling the truth all his life, he inverts conventional morality. Most of the women in the play represent an inversion of accepted Victorian practices with regard to gender roles. Lady Bracknell usurps the role of the father in interviewing Jack, since typically this was a father’s task, and Gwendolen and Cecily take charge of their own romantic lives, while the men stand by watching in a relatively passive role. The trick that Wilde plays on Miss Prism at the end of the play is also a kind of inversion: The trick projects onto the play’s most fervently moralistic character the image of the “fallen woman” of melodrama." (excerpts from Sparknotes.com )
The terms "plot" and "structure" are often confused. The plot is simply everything that happens in — and sometimes, outside, for example by means of allusion or inference — a story in a narrative or play, that is, events arranged in an order that will make sense to the readers or audience. Structure, on the other hand, is an aspect of the narrative that is composed on three things:
As an example, take Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. The plot or story im the play involves two young men who fall in love with young women while pretending to be other people. The play's structure, however, is much more complicated. Wilde arranges the events of the dramatic action in such a way that he keeps the audience guessing as to whether or not the young men will be able to marry the girls. Wilde also causes conflict by creating an improbable situation in which each of the girls says she can love only a man named Ernest. Conflict also arises in the form of Lady Bracknell, mother of the one girl and prospective mother-in-law of the other; as is appropriate to a social comedy, Lady Bracknell has a habit of getting in the way or acting as a blocking figure at the least convenient times.
To involve the audience emotionally in his characters' predicaments, Wilde creates gaps in the story that the audience must fill in for themselves. Although most things in the play are explained by the characters themselves as the action proceeds, things that happened to the characters before the play began are not. Since a dramatist cannot provide explanatory flashbacks as easily as a novelist, the audience is left to fill in the blanks as each member feels is appropriate. For example, what was Mr. Cardew, Cecily's father and Jack's guardian, like? Exactly how dreadful is it to dine with Mary Farquhar? And just what goes on the servants' quarters after all that champagne has been consumed? All of these questions fall into the categories of understood and antecedent action (including, for example, how Jack and Cecily met, and what sorts of adventures Jack and Algernon have had), which are the opposite of anticipated action.
Events that the playwright or author leads the audience or reader to expect, including how the story will end and what will happen after the story ends. In Wilde's play, for example, the audience is reasonably certain — given the expectations of the genre of romantic comedy as developed by Shakespeare and subsequent dramatists — that Jack/Ernest will marry Gwendolyn but wonders what kind of mother-in-law Lady Bracknell will make. How will she behave at the weddings of Jack/Ernest and Gwendolyn and of Algernon and Cecily? Given her dictatorial proclivities, how will these marriages work out? Algernon has said (perhaps acting as the dramatist's mouthpiece) that "a man who marries without knowing Bunbury has a very tedious time of it" (124), "it" presumably meaning "married life." Does this remark suggest that as a married man Algernon will create a new, habitually ill friend and continue his Bunburying ways? Will he reform and became an "ideal husband" (the title of another play by Oscar Wilde)? Because these questions about both the antecedent and anticipated action are left unanswered, it is up to the audience to fill in the gaps--and argue subsequently among themselves about the acuteness of their judgments."
Meaning Making-
Give one example of pun, inversion and unique structure from The Importance of Being Ernest and discuss its effectiveness on the reader.
Transfer: How do the literary devices help a writer convey his or her message more effectively?
HW#9 Create a pun about one of the characters or events in The Importance of Being Ernest.
Objective: Students will generate a thematic statement based on the play The Importance of Being Ernest.
Aim: Wilde originally subtitled The Importance of Being Earnest “A Serious Comedy for Trivial People” but changed that to “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People.” What is the difference between the two subtitles?
Agenda-
Do Now: In your note book, respond: In another theoretical essay, "The Decay of Lying," Wilde insists that art (which he aligns with "lying"--spinning stories and creating beautiful images to serve as forms for the imagination) is superior to everyday life. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
Acqusition: Discuss-
Meaning Making-
1. The subtitle of the play is A Trivial Comedy for Serious People. What are the superficial or trivial things that are considered serious by the characters? What are the serious things that get trivialized? What, do you think, are the serious problem these characters have? Does the play itself suggest that we should be serious about anything?
2. What does Wilde mean by "We should treat all trivial things seriously and the serious things in life with sincere and studied triviality"
Consider Wilde's explanation:
3.. How is the play a comedy of manners? (What are the main themes? What are the characters' foibles? What do they value most? How are they--the themes, the foibles, and the values--treated?)
4.. The characters in the play are paired. Compare and contrast Jack and Algernon, Gwendolen and Cecily, Lady Bracknell and Mr. Prism.
5. What do the main characters think about the lower class, or class society? (E.g. Ms. Prism reminds Cecily that watering Bracknell's disagree with universal education; Gwendolen is happy that she has never seen a spade.)
6. Do you consider the play "realistic"? Why and how is it (un-)realistic? Try to relate the world of the play to our society. Are there any similarities in terms of values, manners or views of marriage?
7..
To follow up on the previous question on Wilde's language, let's consider his art. Do you like it?
To borrow words from his fictional character in The Picture of Dorian Gray--
"All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril"--do you appreciate both "surface" and "symbol"?
8. .
For George Bernard Shaw, the play is "rib-tickling" but lacking in "humanity." Later on he said that he picked up "his passion for fun from Oscar Wilde" (The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays Signet, 1985: xviii, xxxii) Do you agree with Shaw's criticism of the play?
HW#10
A.Debate-The Importance of Being Earnest Theme of Love
In The Importance of Being Earnest, it is often hard to distinguish Wilde’s notion of romance from that of real love. Readers must settle for a decidedly un-modern definition of love. For example, in Earnest physical beauty – both female and male – can initiate and sustain a love affair. Forgiveness is an ingredient of love as well. Both women forgive the men for their earlier deceptions when they discover the good intentions behind their crimes. It seems that the definition of love in this play is not so much unconditional and self-sacrificing love, but a general attitude of good intentions, admiration, and honest affection.
The concept of love in Earnest is never challenged; each of the four main characters complacently adores his or her lover purely for their looks or their names and never questions each other’s character.
The integrity of each character’s love in Earnest is challenged – both by the standards of high society and by the characters’ own dishonesty – and all of them pass the test.
In The Importance of Being Earnest, the characters’ foolishness is the core of the comedy. Often, we don’t know whether a character says something contradictory or random in a serious way, or if the character is just joking. This ambiguity in tone makes readers both slightly uncomfortable and prone to laughter. Wilde shows his characters’ folly in a number of ways: spinning something that is out of human control as if it were a simple matter of mundane choice, inverting aphorisms so that they mean the opposite of what common sense dictates, and simply juxtaposing random things so that they create an absurd situation.
In The Importance of Being Earnest, the crux of Wilde’s humor depends on inversion of common sense and juxtaposition of random elements.
Other Study Questions-
'Importance of Being Earnest' Questions for Study and Discussion