CliffsNotes on

The Importance of Being Earnest

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About the Author

Wilde’s Early Years
Education, Travel, and Celebrity
Marriage and Commercial Success
A Playwright with a Secret Life
Disaster and Ruin
Wilde’s Last Years

About the Play

Introduction
Brief Synopsis
List of Characters
Character Map

Summaries and Commentaries

Act I: Part 1
Act I: Part 2
Act II: Part 1
Act II: Part 2
Act III

Character Analyses

John (Jack) Worthing
Algernon (Algy) Moncrieff
Lady Augusta Bracknell
Gwendolen Fairfax & Cecily Cardew
Rev. Chasuble & Miss Prism

Critical Essays

Duty and Respectability
The Absence of Compassion
Religion
Popular Culture
Secret Lives
Passion and Morality
Courtship and Marriage
Perpetuating the Upper Class
Class Conflict

Study Help

Quiz
Essay Questions
Practice Projects

Cite this Literature Note

Which is better, the Twilight books or the movie?

The books.
The movie.

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Study Help

Quiz

1:  Algernon is suspicious of Jack’s personal life because he finds a

a. letter to Jack from someone named Cecily

b. bill for a romantic dinner at Willis’s

c. cigarette case with an inscription to Jack from an unknown woman

d. woman's glove in Jack's carriage
2:  Jack wins Lady Bracknell’s blessing for his marriage to Gwendolen by

a. giving her a detailed written list of his finances

b. threatening to remove his consent for Algernon’s marriage to Cecily

c. offering to name their first daughter Augusta

d. revealing that he is a crown prince
3:  Jack makes up a story about his brother Ernest dying in

a. Paris

b. London

c. Geneva

d. Dublin
4:  Both Algernon and Jack make an appointment with Dr. Chasuble to discuss

a. their marriages

b. their religious qualms

c. being rechristened with new names

d. their wedding vows
5:  Cecily explains to Algernon that an engagement, to be serious, must be

a. approved by her guardian

b. broken at least once

c. published in the London Times

d. backed up by ready cash
6:  Cecily and Gwendolen’s conflict over their engagements is explored during

a. tea time

b. the christening of Ernest

c. Mr. Gribsby’s visit

d. Reverend Chasuble’s sermon
7:  Lady Bracknell changes her mind about Cecily’s suitability to marry Algernon when she learns of

a. Jack’s birth

b. Cecily’s education

c. Algernon’s latest escapade

d. Cecily’s fortune
8:  The secret of Jack’s birth and parentage is revealed through the past of

a. Cecily

b. Miss Prism

c. Reverend Chasuble

d. Gwendolen
9:  Two areas in which Victorians showed little sympathy or compassion were

a. childhood and old age

b. poverty and illness

c. childbirth and death

d. illness and death
10:  Who said the following: “Nothing annoys people so much as not receiving invitations.”

a. Oscar Wilde

b. Lady Wilde

c. Sir William Wilde

d. Willie Wilde
11:  Who said the following: “All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his.”

a. Jack

b. Miss Prism

c. Reverend Chasuble

d. Algernon
12:  Who said the following: “I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time.”

a. Cecily

b. Lady Bracknell

c. Reverend Chasuble

d. Gwendolen



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