70 pages • 2 hours read
Oscar WildeThe Importance of Being Earnest
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1895A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Essay Topics
In a play where identity is constantly shifting, how does the alter ego of Ernest serve as a character in its own right?
How do Cecily and Gwendolen’s interactions parallel those of Jack and Algernon?
How does theme of social obligation play out in the romance between Chasuble and Prism?
How can Algernon and Cecily’s courtship be read as a parody of Jack and Gwendolen’s?
Lady Bracknell often makes broad, categorical claims which she later contradicts or ignores. What motivates her to change her mind in these cases? What does this indicate about her real motivations and concerns?
What is Algernon’s motivation to marry Cecily?
Lady Bracknell refers to her husband and the recently widowed Lady Harbury. How does she describe these characters and what do her descriptions indicate about the play’s attitude towards marriage?
What is Lady Bracknell’s attitude towards education and how does she justify it? Are Gwendolen and Cecily examples of people raised with this attitude towards education? Does their behavior validate her ideas or contradict them?
What do London and the countryside represent in the play? How are these two locations used in opposition to one another?
What view of marriage does the play present? Is Algernon correct when he says "it is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal?”
Related Titles
By Oscar Wilde
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