Importance_of_Being_Earnest

Portfolio on ‘*The Importance *Of* Being Earnest*’ Point 1 {draw:frame} {draw:frame} Jack and Algernon are wealthy gentlemen. Jack (known to Algernon as Ernest) lives a respectable life in the country providing an example to his young ward Cecily. Algernon lives in luxury in London and has invented an imaginary invalid friend (Bunbury) who he visits in the country whenever an unappealing social engagement occurs. Jack has also invented a character – an unstable younger brother called Ernest who he uses as an excuse for going up to London and enjoying himself. Jack wants to marry Algernon’s cousin Gwendolen, but must first convince her mother, Lady Bracknell, of the respectability of his parents. For Jack, having been abandoned in a handbag at Victoria station, this is quite a difficult task. {draw:frame} Algernon visits Jack’s house in the country and introduces himself to Cecily as Ernest, knowing that Cecily is already fascinated by tales of Ernest's wickedness. He further wins her over and they become engaged. {draw:frame} Shortly after, Jack arrives home announcing Ernest’s death. This sets off a series of absurd events. Cecily and Gwendolen have an argument over which of them has a prior claim on ‘Ernest’. Jack and Algernon compete to be christened Ernest. Eventually, Jack discovers that his parents were Lady Bracknell’s sister and brother-in-law and that he is, in fact, Algernon’s older brother, called Ernest. The two sets of lovers are therefore free to marry. {draw:frame} During these events, there is also a sub-plot involving the Reverend Dr. Chasuble and Cecily's teacher Miss Prism who have also fallen in love with one another, and as the tradition goes the story ends with all the loose ends tied up and everyone set to live happily ever after. Point 2 Lady Bracknell Lady Bracknell plays a small part in the play she is not present on stage a lot but in most scenes we feel her authority and power. For the characters in this play it seems that for their happiness to come true they have to overcome Lady Bracknell. In this time the high society stood in the way of this. An example of this is present in the scene with Jack and Lady Bracknell. Jack has just demanded Gwendolen to marry him. But she must ask the permission to her mother. Lady Bracknell prefers asking some questions to Jack. In this scene, Jack and lady Bracknell are alone and she puts a lot of strange questions to Jack in order to know more about him, as he is interested in her daughter. The situation is comic because Lady Bracknell and Jack are alone. She takes out the ‘list’ on which she writes the name of the young men that represent a good match for her daughter. It seems as if it was an interrogation as we can see in the beginning of the scene she says ‘You can take a seat’ in a stage direction this could show the authority of Lady Bracknell. We get the impression that she is a sort of judge. She asks a lot of questions to him, but the content of these questions is sometimes totally meaningless: She asks his age, only after She both asks some practical questions (as in smoke, his income...) and figurative questions ‘Which do you know'’ ‘What are your politics'’ The interrogation is informal, not organized and it lacks of practicality. Point 4 The Importance of Being Earnest takes place in Victorian England. We can assume both Gwendolen and Lady Bracknell wear dresses of high-society Victorian women. These dresses include hard bustles, elaborate hats, and (as in the production I saw) puffed sleeves. Miss Prism and Cecily, on the other hand, are much plainer in attire. As Lady Bracknell mentions to Cecily, "Your dress is strangely plain and your hair as Nature might have left it". Thus Cecily must be dressed in a simple dress and her hair without the accessories that Gwendolen might have. Jack and Algernon should be dressed similarly as men of upper-class society. But, remember that Algernon often "overdresses". Thus, while Jack may be dressed in solid colors, Algernon should wear patterned clothing to seem "overdressed".