"The Importance of Being Earnest" or "A Trivial
Comedy for Serious People" is a comedy of manners by playwright,
novelist and poet Oscar Wilde.
It was the last
play written by the celebrated Oscar Wilde, and proved to be his most popular and enduring. This hilarious satire is all about the double lives of two would-be bridegrooms.
The plot involves two fashionable young gentlemen,
Algernon Moncrieff (Algy) and his close friend John Worthing (Jack), and their eventual successful courtship of Gwendolen Fairfax (Algy's
cousin), and Cecily Cardew (Jack's cousin).
Act one: Jack Worthing (who calls himself Earnest), comes to town to see his friend Algernon (Algy), cousin of Gwendolen Fairfax, Jack's true love. Algy's aunt shows up, and he distracts his aunt long enough for Jack (or Earnest) to propose to Gwendolen. Jack's not sure of Gwendolen's feelings for him as she seems only excited about the name 'Earnest'. When her mother,
Lady Bracknell, returns and finds that Jack and her are
engaged, she inquires about his means of support, possessions, and family, but the trouble is he can't answer her satisfactorily about his beginnings. Jack is supposed to have been found in a leather handbag and was adopted by Mr. Carew, who was given the luggage by mistake as his own.
Act Two: The scene opens at Jack's country house. His sweet young ward, Cecily Cardew, is talking with her tutor
Miss Prism about her lessons. The pastor Rev. Chasuble comes by, and he and Miss Prism go for a walk. While they are away, Algernon, arrives, pretending also to be Earnest, and talks to Cecily. They fall in love and become engaged. Cecily thinks he is Jack's younger brother, Earnest, and also loves the name.
Gwendolen shows up and they get on beautifully until they both claim to be engaged, to Earnest! The matter gets complicated. But when Jack and Algy enter the room, and the discovery of their true names and relationships occur, the two girls back out from their engagement and both wonder why the men deceived them.
Lady Bracknell arrives to take Gwendolen home. She finds Algernon engaged to Cecily, actually a very wealthy heiress, and who Lady Bracknell wants Algy to
marry. Jack, as Cecily's guardian, refuses to let Cecily marry Jack unless he gets to marry Gwendolen, a union Lady Bracknell still opposes. <
br/> Finally Miss Prism returns and everything is finally cleared up. It turns out it she who left Jack in the handbag at the train station. He is actually Algernon's older brother, and his real name is Earnest John Moncrieff. A happy ending. A delightful comedy! What is most entertaining in the play is the continuous flow of humour – witty dialogues, and the characterizations by Wilde in which he was famous for.
Aside from the main characters, others who added to make the play more fascinating and enjoyable are Lady Bracknell (Gwendolen's mother), Miss Prism (governess of Cecily) and Canon Frederick Chasuble.
There is a movie adaptation of "The Importance of Being Earnest" released in 2002, directed by Oliver Parker. It starred Rupert Everett as Jack, and Colin Firth as Jack.