Part 2: Literary Devices in The Importance of Being Earnest — Quiz
Question 8 • English Language Arts 12
Read the excerpt from Act I of The Importance of Being Earnest . Algernon: In the third place, I know perfectly well whom she will place me next to, to-night. She will place me next Mary Farquhar, who always flirts with her own husband across the dinner-table. That is not very pleasant. Indeed, it is not even decent . . . and that sort of thing is enormously on the increase. The amount of women in London who flirt with their own husbands is perfectly scandalous. It looks so bad. It is simply washing one’s clean linen in public. Besides, now that I know you to be a confirmed Bunburyist I naturally want to talk to you about Bunburying. Which part of the excerpt contains a paradox?
Answer
A
“. . . I know perfectly well whom she will place me next to . . .”
B
“She will place me next Mary Farquhar, who always flirts . . .”
C
“It is simply washing one’s clean linen in public.”
D
“Besides, now that I know you to be a confirmed Bunburyist . . .”
Explanation
A paradox is a statement that seems contradictory or unexpected but expresses a meaningful idea. “Washing one’s clean linen in public” twists the familiar expression “washing one’s dirty linen in public,” which means exposing private problems; the linen here is clean, making the phrase paradoxical. The other choices describe what Algernon knows, predicts, or wants to discuss without that contradiction.
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