Part 1: A Comedy of Manners: The Importance of Being Earnest

Question 1

Lady Bracknell.

Revolt · Accepted Answer

her concern with a party instead of Mr. Bunbury’s health

Question 2

Lady Bracknell.

Revolt · Accepted Answer

imply that young women do not have a choice in their own marriages.

Question 3

Jack.

Revolt · Accepted Answer

Algernon says it is hard work to live in this leisurely manner.

Question 4

Read the excerpt from Act I of The Importance of Being Earnest.Jack. My dear Algy, you talk exactly as if you were a dentist. It is very vulgar to talk like a dentist when one isn’t a dentist. It produces a false impression.

Revolt · Accepted Answer

witty wordplay

Question 5

Read the excerpt from Act I of The Importance of Being Earnest.[Algernon.] [Jack puts out his hand to take a sandwich. Algernon at once interferes.] Please don’t touch the cucumber sandwiches. They are ordered specially for Aunt Augusta. [Takes one and eats it.]Jack. Well, you have been eating them all the time.Algernon. That is quite a different matter. She is my aunt. [Takes plate from below.] Have some bread and butter. The bread and butter is for Gwendolen. Gwendolen is devoted to bread and butter.

Revolt · Accepted Answer

Algernon scolds Jack for eating sandwiches while eating them himself, satisfying his own needs.

Question 6

Read the excerpt from Act I of The Importance of Being Earnest.[Lady Bracknell.] I have always been of opinion that a man who desires to get married should know either everything or nothing. Which do you know?Jack. [After some hesitation.] I know nothing, Lady Bracknell.Lady Bracknell. I am pleased to hear it. I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever.

Revolt · Accepted Answer

education

Question 7

Jack.

Revolt · Accepted Answer

Gwendolen says that her brother proposes to all her friends.

Question 8

Read this sentence from a report on Oscar Wilde.Oscar Wilde’s humor points out that many people are not who they appear to be, which is a critique on the emphasis placed on appearance in society.

Revolt · Accepted Answer

“Well, my name is Ernest in town and Jack in the country . . .”

Question 9

Jack.

Revolt · Accepted Answer

Algernon pokes fun at the fact that marriage in his society often is based on social rules, not romance.

Part 1: A Comedy of Manners: The Importance of Being Earnest Answers

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