The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays

By Oscar Wilde, Sylvan Barnet, Elise Bruhl and Michael Gamer

A universal favorite, The Importance of Being Earnest displays Oscar Wilde’s wit and theatrical genius at their brilliant best.

Subtitled “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People,” this hilarious attack on Victorian manners and morals turns a pompous world on its head, lets duplicity lead to happiness, and makes riposte the highest form of art. Written, according to Wilde, “by a butterfly for butterflies,” it is a dazzling masterpiece of comic entertainment.

Although it was originally written in four acts, The Importance of Being Earnest is usually performed in a three-act version. This authoritative edition features an appendix that restores valuable lines that appeared in the original.

Also included in this special collection are Wilde’s first comedy success, Lady Windermere’s Fan, and his richly sensual melodrama, Salomé, which he called “that terrible coloured little tragedy I once in some strange mood wrote”—and which shocked and enraged the censors of his time.

Includes an Introduction by Sylvan Barnet
and an Afterword by Elise Bruhl and Michael Gamer

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Release date: Feb 7, 2012
• ISBN: 9781101560150

Oscar Wilde

Born in Ireland in 1856, Oscar Wilde was a noted essayist, playwright, fairy tale writer and poet, as well as an early leader of the Aesthetic Movement. His plays include: An Ideal Husband, Salome, A Woman of No Importance, and Lady Windermere's Fan. Among his best known stories are The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Canterville Ghost.

Reviews for The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays

[mickyfine · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've always enjoyed this play and couldn't turn down the opportunity to listen to this audio production with James Marsters (SPIKE!) in one of the lead roles. The play remains as funny and charming as ever, and while not all of the actors rocked the English accent as well as others, it was a delightful and fast listen. Highly recommended.

[solitaryfossil · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

A cute little trifle, just a middle-of-the-road blip, though. At least now I can say I’ve been exposed to it, and exposure is good - unless you’re arrested for it, or die from it.

[breic-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very funny, in the ridiculous sense, and often quotable. (I think Wilde could go further into illogic and non-sequiturs, and should try some longer-running gags.) Edited nicely; the humor doesn't overstay its welcome. Jack: You never talk anything but nonsense. Algernon: Nobody ever does.

[librarygeek33 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The 2 narrators on this version were incredible, immediately switching voices without missing a beat. I don't know how they did it. The book was amusing in a stuffy English way. Silly can be fun.

[villemezbrown · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I found the play amusing, so I'm giving the book three stars. However, I have to give one star to the homophobic creator biography and literary analysis that is contained in the edition I actually read, a 1959 book in the Barron's Educational Series. When it wasn't offensive, the literary analysis was just boring as hell and written in dry, tortured, overly academic prose that contrasted greatly with the witty dialogue in Wilde's play. Wilde's work stands the test of time, while the introductory matter is best left in the past.

[margaretfield · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

man pretends to be ernest; comedy

[carmacreator · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Oscar Wilde is a very witty Sass Master. This was a great comedy, and I'm sure it'd be even better on stage.

[hes7 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a hilarious and quick play centered around two couples and the name Ernest.

[lkernagh · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

After encountering references to this play in a book I recently read, I decided it was high time I "took in the play", which was rather easy to do with access to the audiorecording of a L.A. Theatreworks production. Now I understand why this play is considered by some to be the apogee of Wilde's work and such a wonderful precursor to the English farcical comic novel style perfected by P.G. Wodehouse. An entertaining Victorian story of courtship and manners, assumed names, mistaken lovers and the epitome of the "dragon" aunt. A whimsical mayhem romp!

[bookomaniac-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

zeer flauw, vol klassieke Wilde-oneliners. Misschien moet ik het nog eens herlezen.

[jillrhudy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As scrumptious a play as was ever penned.

[aliceap-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

After what feels like a millennium, I have read The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde and I totally get the hype now. Oscar Wilde's play focuses on two men who independently of the other have invented alternate personas that allow them to cut loose without (hopefully) any repercussions. One of the men has created Ernest who is by all rights a scoundrel and his creator has finally decided to do away with him so that he can settle down and get married. The problem is that his friend (the other deceitful man) has decided to take on the mantle of Ernest so that he can win the heart of a girl that he's just met. (I recommend reading this in one sitting because otherwise you're liable to get confused.) Wilde uses word play and absolutely ridiculous circumstances to discuss the folly of youth and poke fun at the whims and fancies of people who believe they are really truly in love even if they don't truly know the other person. For instance, the two women of the play are determined that they will only marry someone named Ernest but as it turns out no one is named Ernest there is a bit of a kerfuffle. After all is said and done, no one comes out on top and everyone is depicted as foolish and unimpressive. It was thoroughly amusing and I guess now I'll have to see the movie that was based on it. :-P If you haven't read it yourself and you'd like a quick, fun read this will do just the trick. 9/10I was staring at the book's title and then it hit me: "Oh because it's about two men proclaiming to be Ernest and they do it will all earnestness." *facepalm*

[kymberlee-6 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

So glad I had to read this for my AP British Literature class. This satire of Victorian England made me laugh more than most books and plays I have read. The humor is just unbeatable... I can't wait to read more from Oscar Wilde!

[katya0133 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A classic.

[aubri-45 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This play is a delight. It's filled with Oscar Wilde's wonderful humor. The only thing that could be better than reading this gem is seeing it performed live.

[regoodrich · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An entertaining play full of wit and charm. I found myself laughing out loud now and then, wearing a constant smile. I thoroughly enjoyed the absurd humor and cleverly entangled story line.

[devil_llama · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Probably Oscar Wilde's most famous play, and certainly one of his best works. The story revolves around a couple of society gentlemen who have fallen in love with women who have the idea that they should marry a man by the name of Ernest. Since neither of the young men are named Ernest, this leads to a lot of pretense, and suddenly the world is blessed with two Ernest Worthingtons. The resolution might seem somewhat contrived, but since the entire play is a satire, this can be forgiven, since it is intended to appear that way. A fun work, and a quick read.

[maxernst11 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

zeer flauw, vol klassieke Wilde-oneliners. Misschien moet ik het nog eens herlezen.

[gingermama-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love this more with each rereading...

[adrianghilder · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I've read the screen play.
It is an absolute gem of characterisation and dialogue. Full of humour and wit and worth reading again every once in a while. An uplifting experience I can't recommend highly enough.
Go ahead and treat yourself, it not a lot to buy on ebook readers.

[schmerguls · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

5442. The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde (read 8 Feb 2017) I have read this before now but never in its own book, and have seen the movie and seen it performed. But I wanted it to be in my list of books read so when I came across a booklet containing only the work itself I decided to read it in that form. It is outrageously funny, but of course not as funny as seeing it performed. But one can't help laughing. A masterpiece indeed.

[benuathanasia · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

So very thoroughly enjoyable!!!It has much of the same style of humor of Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors, so if you enjoyed that, this is almost a guaranteed win.

[booksfordinner · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The single longest joke set-up in history. Brilliant.

[yvonne.sevignykaiser · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This comedy reminds me of a episode of Friends.

Making fun of human nature at it's most ridiculous moments. It is a play about nothing just everyday moments.

I absolutely loved this theatre version of the play done by the LA Theatre company. Funny, Funny, Funny

[regularguy5mb · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is one of my absolute favorite plays! I remember reading this in high school and instantly adoring the dialogue and the dry wit. And of course the nonsense.This particular copy is the same I had in high school, but I never read any of the supplemental material included. The most interesting of these was the original fourth act which was apparently never produced. Think of it as a series of deleted scenes, but the best is the scene where a creditor shows up looking for "Ernest" for the large debt he owes and gets mixed up in the name game Algernon and Jack are playing. It's a funny scene, but in the end unnecessary because the jokes are used earlier. It does explain Jack's later reference to the champagne Algy drinks, which isn't shown in the final version.There are also a series of critical reviews throughout the years, the first from George Bernard Shaw after the original performance. It's interesting reading.

[john257hopper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I felt I needed a lighter read, and this was time for a re-read of this classic play that I have loved since childhood, one of my all time favourites. Huge portions of the dialogue are imprinted on my mind, and I can hear and see the actors in the 1952 film version as I am reading. Wonderful stuff (though I still get Jack and Algernon mixed up in my mind, probably as they are both trying to be earnest!)

[sueincyprus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a well-known classic which I've seen on screen but don't think I had previously read the original play. A free e-book edition encouraged me to try it, and I was surprised at how easy it was to read despite the stage directions and dramatic format.

The story is a satirical jab at the silliness of society at the end of the 19th century, featuring two men who invent fictitious lives in order to escape from their families for a while. Two girls fall in love with them, but insist that they can only ever love men called Ernest...

I found myself smiling a few times, and irritated at others by the trivialities of upper-class society - but then that's the point of it, really. It's not a long play, and I read it in just a couple of days. Well worth reading, in my view.

[benkline · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very entertaining play by Wilde, with his typical wit and witticisms and oxymoronic statements.

[rainpebble_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde; (4*)The Importance of Being Earnest seems to start as a play about truth but quickly becomes a play about the false through the classical "simply a misunderstanding". The two male leads, Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, use imaginary friends they invent to avoid the boring and weekly family engagements. These imaginary friends lead to eventual confusion between them and the women they love. This misunderstanding is only half the fun though. Wilde mocks the ill portrayed English Aristocracy of the late 19th century; poking fun at not only their etiquette but also their stubborn and unpractical tendencies, their immoral behavior, and their exploitation of the lower classes. Very rarely do comedies strike to the heart of the matter and say something as meaningful as Oscar Wilde did with this great play of his.Wilde gives new meaning to the terminology irreverence and farce.His views on the virtues of having a satirically empty head as written by one understanding this is the funniest I have ever read. His characterization of the English upper class as both idle and clueless most likely came very close to the truth.But he wraps it all up happily (for most) and leaves us with a great laugh. Well done, Wilde!

[grlintrrptdrdng · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I didn't like this play at all. Wilde's humor is known for being witty and sharp tongued, but nothing was funny. The plot isn't bad, but his characters were just so bland it ruined the story for me. The ending was horrid for me, like I get that his point was to laugh at the fact that plays wrap up in neat little packages and he was trying to point out how ridiculous that is, but it was just pathetic, it just made his play look bad.