Oscar Wilde's wittiest comedy — mistaken identities and trivial matters.
Why this book matters
The funniest play in the English language, written by a man who had no idea his world was about to collapse.
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Free Audiobook · ACT I. Algernon Moncrieff’s Flat in Half-Moon Street, W.
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ACT II. The Garden at the Manor House, Woolton. ACT III. Drawing-Room at the Manor House, Woolton. TIME: The Present. LONDON: ST. JAMES’S THEATRE Lessee and Manager: Mr. George Alexander February 14th, 1895 * * * * * John Worthing, J.P.: Mr. George Alexander…
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The funniest play in the English language, written by a man who had no idea his world was about to collapse.
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- Jack Worthing (Ernest (in town))
- A respectable country gentleman and guardian to Cecily Cardew, who maintains a fictitious wicked younger brother named Ernest as an excuse to visit London.
- Algernon Moncrieff
- Jack's witty, idle friend who invents a permanent invalid named Bunbury as an excuse to escape social obligations and visit the country.
- Gwendolen Fairfax
- Algernon's sophisticated cousin and Lady Bracknell's daughter, who is fixed on the idea of loving a man named Ernest.
- Cecily Cardew
- Jack's pretty and imaginative eighteen-year-old ward, who lives in the country under Miss Prism's tutelage and dreams of Jack's fictional brother Ernest.
- Lady Bracknell
- Gwendolen's formidable, socially exacting mother who interrogates suitors about their eligibility, fortune, and family origins.
- Miss Prism
- Cecily's prim governess, who lectures her charge on serious subjects like German and geology while harboring a mysterious past.
- Dr. Chasuble (The Rector)
- The local clergyman with an interest in christenings, who becomes entangled with Miss Prism.
- Lane
- Algernon's imperturbable manservant in London, who offers dry commentary on domestic matters.
- Merriman
- The butler at Jack's country house, who announces guests and manages household affairs.
Glossary
- Bunburying
- Algernon's invented practice of using a fictitious invalid friend named Bunbury as an excuse to escape social duties; it becomes shorthand in the play for maintaining a convenient double life.
- Bunburyist
- A person who practices Bunburying — i.e., someone who invents excuses or alter egos to escape obligations.
- the Albany
- A fashionable set of bachelor apartments in London where Jack claims his fictitious brother Ernest resides.
- dog-cart
- A light, horse-drawn two-wheeled carriage, used here for travel between the country house and the train station.
- basinette
- An old spelling of 'bassinet,' a wicker basket used as a baby's bed, mistakenly swapped with a handbag in Miss Prism's backstory.
- Terminus
- A railway station's end point; Lady Bracknell uses the word mockingly to question whether Cecily's family originated from a train station, referencing Jack's own origin.
- University Extension Scheme
- A real Victorian program offering public lectures on academic subjects; invoked as a cover story for Gwendolen's whereabouts.
- muffins vs. tea-cake
- Victorian afternoon tea foods distinguished with comic seriousness by Algernon, symbolizing the play's mockery of trivial matters treated with gravity.
- Gorgon
- A monstrous female figure from Greek mythology; Jack uses it as an insult for the intimidating Lady Bracknell.
Table of contents
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