The Importance of Being Earnest (Legend Classics)

By Oscar Wilde

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”

Oscar Wilde was already one of the best known literary figures in Britain when he was persuaded to turn his extraordinary talents to the theatre. Between 1891 and 1895 he produced a sequence of distinctive plays which spearheaded the dramatic renaissance of the 1890s and still retain their power among today's audiences.

The final comic or dramatic work from undisputed genius Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is his most enduring popular play and a must-read for any Wilde fan.

A farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personæ to escape burdensome social obligations, the play is an unforgettable satire of Victorian ways. Working within the social conventions of late Victorian London, the play's major theme is the triviality with which it treats institutions.

Wilde's notoriety caused the play, despite its early success, to be closed after 86 performances. This latest edition allows you to discover or enjoy once again the writing of one of history's great comedy and drama writers.

The Legend Classics series:
Around the World in Eighty Days
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Importance of Being Earnest
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
The Metamorphosis
The Railway Children
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Frankenstein
Wuthering Heights
Three Men in a Boat
The Time Machine
Little Women
Anne of Green Gables
The Jungle Book
The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories
Dracula
A Study in Scarlet
Leaves of Grass
The Secret Garden
The War of the Worlds
A Christmas Carol
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Heart of Darkness
The Scarlet Letter
This Side of Paradise
Oliver Twist
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Treasure Island
The Turn of the Screw
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Emma
The Trial
A Selection of Short Stories by Edgar Allan Poe
Grimm Fairy Tales
The Awakening
Mrs Dalloway
Gulliver’s Travels
The Castle of Otranto
Silas Marner
Hard Times

• Language: English
• Publisher: Legend Press
• Release date: Jun 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781787199798

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) was a Dublin-born poet and playwright who studied at the Portora Royal School, before attending Trinity College and Magdalen College, Oxford. The son of two writers, Wilde grew up in an intellectual environment. As a young man, his poetry appeared in various periodicals including Dublin University Magazine. In 1881, he published his first book Poems, an expansive collection of his earlier works. His only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, was released in 1890 followed by the acclaimed plays Lady Windermere’s Fan (1893) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).

Book preview

Canninge.

FIRST ACT

SCENE—Morning-room in Algernon’s flat in Half-Moon Street. The room is luxuriously and artistically furnished. The sound of a piano is heard in the adjoining room.

[Lane is arranging afternoon tea on the table, and after the music has ceased, Algernon enters.]

ALGERNON

Did you hear what I was playing, Lane?

LANE

I didn’t think it polite to listen, sir.

ALGERNON

I’m sorry for that, for your sake. I don’t play accurately—any one can play accurately—but I play with wonderful expression. As far as the piano is concerned, sentiment is my forte. I keep science for Life.

LANE

Yes, sir.

ALGERNON

And, speaking of the science of Life, have you got the cucumber sandwiches cut for Lady Bracknell?

LANE

Yes, sir. [Hands them on a salver.]

ALGERNON

[Inspects them, takes two, and sits down on the sofa.] Oh!…by the way, Lane, I see from your book that on Thursday night, when Lord Shoreman and Mr. Worthing were dining with me, eight bottles of champagne are entered as having been consumed.

LANE

Yes, sir; eight bottles and a pint.

ALGERNON

Why is it that at a bachelor’s establishment the servants invariably drink the champagne? I ask merely for information.

LANE

I attribute it to the superior quality of the wine, sir. I have often observed that in married households the champagne is rarely of a first-rate brand.

ALGERNON

Good heavens! Is marriage so demoralising as that?

LANE

I believe it is a very pleasant state, sir. I have had very little experience of it myself up to the present. I have only been married once. That was in consequence of a misunderstanding between myself and a young person.

ALGERNON

[Languidly.] I don’t know that I am much interested in your family life, Lane.

LANE

No, sir; it is not a very interesting subject. I never think of it myself.

ALGERNON

Very natural, I am sure. That will do, Lane, thank you.

LANE

ALGERNON

Lane’s views on marriage seem somewhat lax. Really, if the lower orders don’t set us a good example, what on earth is the use of them? They seem, as a class, to have absolutely no sense of moral responsibility.

[Enter Lane.]

LANE

Mr. Ernest Worthing.

ALGERNON

How are you, my dear Ernest? What brings you up to town?

JACK

Oh, pleasure, pleasure! What else should bring one anywhere? Eating as usual, I see, Algy!

ALGERNON

[Stiffly.] I believe it is customary in good society to take some slight refreshment at five o’clock. Where have you been since last Thursday?

JACK

[Sitting down on the sofa.] In the country.

ALGERNON

What on earth do you do there?

JACK

[Pulling off his gloves.] When one is in town one amuses oneself. When one is in the country one amuses other people. It is excessively boring.

ALGERNON

And who are the people you amuse?

JACK

[Airily.] Oh, neighbours, neighbours.

ALGERNON

Got nice neighbours in your part of Shropshire?

JACK

Perfectly horrid! Never speak to one of them.

ALGERNON

How immensely you must amuse them! [Goes over and takes sandwich.] By the way, Shropshire is your county, is it not?

JACK

Eh? Shropshire? Yes, of course. Hallo! Why all these cups? Why cucumber sandwiches? Why such reckless extravagance in one so young? Who is coming to tea?

ALGERNON

Oh! merely Aunt Augusta and Gwendolen.

JACK

How perfectly delightful!

ALGERNON

Yes, that is all very well; but I am afraid Aunt Augusta won’t quite approve of your being here.

JACK

May I ask why?

ALGERNON

My dear fellow, the way you flirt with Gwendolen is perfectly disgraceful. It is almost as bad as the way Gwendolen flirts with you.

JACK

I am in love with Gwendolen. I have come up to town expressly to propose to her.

ALGERNON

I thought you had come up for pleasure?…I call that business.

JACK

How utterly unromantic you are!

ALGERNON

I really don’t see anything romantic in proposing. It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal. Why, one may be accepted. One usually is, I believe. Then the excitement is all over. The very essence of romance is uncertainty. If ever I get married, I’ll certainly try to forget the fact.

JACK

I have no doubt about that, dear Algy. The Divorce Court was specially invented for people whose memories are so curiously constituted.

ALGERNON

Oh! there is no use speculating on that subject. Divorces are made in Heaven—[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.

JACK

[Advancing to table and helping himself.] And very good bread and butter it is too.

ALGERNON

Well, my dear fellow, you need not eat as if you were going to eat it all. You behave as if you were married to her already. You are not married to her already, and I don’t think you ever will be.

JACK

Why on earth do you say that?

ALGERNON

Well, in the first place girls never marry the men they flirt with. Girls don’t think it right.

JACK

Oh, that is nonsense!

ALGERNON

It isn’t. It is a great truth. It accounts for the extraordinary number of bachelors that one sees all over the place. In the second place, I don’t give my consent.

JACK

Your consent!

ALGERNON

My dear fellow, Gwendolen is my first cousin. And before I allow you to marry her, you will have to clear up the whole question of Cecily. [Rings bell.]

JACK

Cecily! What on earth do you mean? What do you mean, Algy, by Cecily! I don’t know any one of the name of Cecily.

[Enter Lane.]

ALGERNON

Bring me that cigarette case Mr. Worthing left in the smoking-room the last time he dined here.

LANE

JACK

Do you mean to say

Reviews for The Importance of Being Earnest (Legend Classics)

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[margaretfield · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

man pretends to be ernest; comedy

[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.

[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!

[hes7 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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

[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.

[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*

[maxernst11 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[katya0133 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A classic.

[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!

[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.

[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.

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

I love this more with each rereading...

[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

[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.

[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!

[benkline · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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

[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.

[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!)

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

He should have stuck to plays. His beautifully witty high-brow humor shines in this wonderful work. The mistaken identity convention is used to great effect.