The setting of a play can be a fundamental element in developing the plot.

Oscar Wilde adds a unique style to his play The Importance of Being Ernest by contrasting the play’s different settings.

Conclusion: How moving from one setting to another drives the plot.

The importance of knowing history of one’s native country.

Two contrasting settings used in the story.

Introduction: When does The Importance of Being Earnest take place.

It's one of few pre-20th century comedies able to have maintained its laugh factor to the present day.Thesis Statement: The role of setting in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde You'll delight at the witty banter, well-crafted jokes and insults at the expense of the upper classes and the ridiculousness of human behavior that have helped make The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde's most enduringly popular play.Ī mainstay of high school curriculum for decades this extremely clever and undeniably silly story about eccentric characters is a powerful social satire and criticism of Victorian high society's shallowness and materialism. This hilarious madcap farce about hidden and mistaken identities, secret engagements, lovers' entanglements, and the never-ending vanity and selfishness of high society members will have you laughing out loud. Set in late Victorian London, the play's major themes are the triviality with which it treats serious institutions like marriage, and the resulting satire of Victorian ways. In this farcical comedy the protagonists maintain fictitious identities to escape burdensome social obligations. Jack and Algernon are best friends, both wooing ladies who think their names are Ernest, 'that name which inspires absolute confidence'. One of the wittiest plays ever, it is a buoyant comedy of manners celebrated for the lighthearted ingenuity of its plot and its inspired rapid-fire dialogue.įrom the play's vivacious opening in Algernon Moncrieff's London flat to its hilarious finale in the drawing room of Jack Worthing's country manor this comic masterpiece will keep you breathlessly awaiting each and every plot twist. Description This brilliant tour de force by Oscar Wilde has delighted millions around the world since the play's first production in1895.

The importance of being earnest book