Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 822
EAN: 9781580495806
ISBN: 158049580X
Label: Prestwick House Inc.
Manufacturer: Prestwick House Inc.
Number Of Pages: 76
Publication Date: 2005-01-01
Publisher: Prestwick House Inc.
Studio: Prestwick House Inc.

This Prestwick House Literary Touchstone Edition includes a glossary and reader‚s notes to help the modern reader appreciate Wilde's wry wit and elaborate plot twists.

Oscar Wilde’s madcap farce about mistaken identities, secret engagements, and lovers’ entanglements still delights readers more than a century after its 1895 publication and premiere performance. The rapid-fire wit and eccentric characters of The Importance of Being Earnest have made it a mainstay of the high school curriculum for decades.

Cecily Cardew and Gwendolen Fairfax are both in love with the same mythical suitor. Jack Worthing has wooed Gewndolen as Ernest while Algernon has also posed as Ernest to win the heart of Jack’s ward, Cecily. When all four arrive at Jack’s country home on the same weekend—the "rivals" to fight for Ernest’s undivided attention and the "Ernests" to claim their beloveds—pandemonium breaks loose.

Only a senile nursemaid and an old, discarded hand-bag can save the day!

Customer Rating:
Summary: The Importance of Being Earnest
Comment: This has always been a favorite of mine since I first experienced it in high school. I now use this version in the British Literature Class I teach at that level. It includes a glossary, divided by Act, in the back, too.

I tell my students this is the original sitcom, and they actually have to get out of their chairs and "act it out" as we read. They love the puns and the sniping comments and often tell me after we've read it, that it was their favorite book of the semester.

A laugh out loud book even if not used in the classroom!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Oscar Wilde was a genius
Comment: It's hard to believe how long ago this play was written, as the wit and sarcasm used by Wilde back then can easily be understood and appreciated by today's readers. If you're looking for a quick but highly entertaining introduction to the world of Oscar Wilde, read this play. One of his absolute best.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Quick, clean, and to the point!
Comment: I recieved this script within three days of ordering. Well packaged inside and out this book was without even a dent (being paperback).

The script itself is fabulous! Very witty and entertaining. Keeps the audience interest and the ending is very satisfying.

Thanks! Very happy with my purchase!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The constraints of morality; does absolute confidence really exist???
Comment: The play's protagonist Jack makes up an imaginary brother called Earnest, who he uses as an excuse to get out of town and do what he likes, but is too embarrassed to admit he likes.
Jack and Algernon are best friends, who amusingly get tangled in the web of being mistaken for Earnest and falling in love with women who are mesmerized by the name Earnest, which as Jack's object of affection Gwendolen puts it: "it inspires absolute confidence".

The ladies, despite their fixation with Earnest's name, accept their loved ones, but will these two men give up the dream of being Earnest, and if they do, will society and other people accept the lie they made up?

As expected, a forcibly happy ending will reveal an unexpected surprise about Jack and the made up character.

If it wasn't Oscar Wilde's play, I would've asked, what are the odds? Given the playful plot and the masked serious topics like deception, double lives, hypocrisy and mainly the nature of marriage, I can accept some deviation from reality.

The importance of being Earnest is a fun read, and a special sarcastic way of dealing with Victorian morals and values as Wilde perceived them. The play absolutely deserves all the attention it got and still gets.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: a really good novel
Comment: this is a novel always on fashion. hte dialogs are simply brilliant. oscar wilde picture a great variety of original personalities

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