THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

By the end of this unit, students will be able to: outline the social and moral conventions and expectations associated with upper-class society in Victorian England; describe and analyze the practice of creating alternative identities for Jack and Algernon; explore the principles of Aestheticism and its relation to traditional Victorian upper-class society; discuss the play as a critical commentary on the superficiality and insincerity of the upper class in Victorian England; analyze the play as a commentary on social identities and social masks; study the relationship between writing and reality with regard to the diaries of Gwendolen and Cecily; discuss the play as a critical commentary on marriage; trace the connection between names and identities in the play; examine the language of The Importance of Being Earnest and analyze the impact Wilde’s irony and sarcasm have on the reader; analyze how the play complicates nineteenth-century notions of gender and sexuality; analyze the complex and contradictory meanings of "being earnest/Ernest"; and explain the relationship between earnestness and triviality. 73 pages. ©2008.