Comic Effects in ́The Importance of Being Earnest ́ by Oscar Wilde

Comic Effects in ́The Importance of Being Earnest ́ by Oscar Wilde PDF Author: Stefanie Grill
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3638756246
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2001 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7 (A-), University of Stuttgart (FB Anglistics), course: Critical Analysis: Comedy, 8 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: "The Importance of Being Earnest" was written by the famous Irish author Oscar Wilde. Wilde was born in 1854 and died of cerebral meningitis in 1900. "The Importance of Being Earnest" was his final and most lasting play - "by all accounts, a masterpiece of modern comedy."1 This play is filled with wit and wisdom, which Wilde himself wrote of it, too. "Well I think, an amusing thing with lots of fun and wit might be made."2 It represents Wilde ́s late -Victorian view of the aristocracy, marriage, wit and social life. The play tells the story of Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff. Both men lead a double life. One in the country and one in the city. Then, they both fall in love, and a series of crises threatens to spoil their romantic pursuits. The main plot line of the play is definitely marriage. "Of course Wilde pokes fun at the institution of marriage, which he saw as a practice surrounded by hypocrisy and absurdity."2 He focuses on the higher class and satirises the life of the English aristocracy. His characters are typical Victorian snobs who are arrogant, overly proper, formal and concerned with money. This essay will provide an outline of the comic effects in this play. How Wilde uses humour, satire, farce and irony. The analysis will show, what makes this comedy so funny and so special. The essay will show some combinations of dialogue, dramatic irony, social criticism, characterisation and exaggeration and it will prove that the dialogues with its puns and epigrams are the basis for the humour in Wilde ́s last play.

Comic Effects in ́The Importance of Being Earnest ́ by Oscar Wilde

Comic Effects in ́The Importance of Being Earnest ́ by Oscar Wilde PDF Author: Stefanie Grill
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3638756246
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2001 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7 (A-), University of Stuttgart (FB Anglistics), course: Critical Analysis: Comedy, 8 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: "The Importance of Being Earnest" was written by the famous Irish author Oscar Wilde. Wilde was born in 1854 and died of cerebral meningitis in 1900. "The Importance of Being Earnest" was his final and most lasting play - "by all accounts, a masterpiece of modern comedy."1 This play is filled with wit and wisdom, which Wilde himself wrote of it, too. "Well I think, an amusing thing with lots of fun and wit might be made."2 It represents Wilde ́s late -Victorian view of the aristocracy, marriage, wit and social life. The play tells the story of Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff. Both men lead a double life. One in the country and one in the city. Then, they both fall in love, and a series of crises threatens to spoil their romantic pursuits. The main plot line of the play is definitely marriage. "Of course Wilde pokes fun at the institution of marriage, which he saw as a practice surrounded by hypocrisy and absurdity."2 He focuses on the higher class and satirises the life of the English aristocracy. His characters are typical Victorian snobs who are arrogant, overly proper, formal and concerned with money. This essay will provide an outline of the comic effects in this play. How Wilde uses humour, satire, farce and irony. The analysis will show, what makes this comedy so funny and so special. The essay will show some combinations of dialogue, dramatic irony, social criticism, characterisation and exaggeration and it will prove that the dialogues with its puns and epigrams are the basis for the humour in Wilde ́s last play.

Mechanisms of the comic effect in Oscar Wilde's "The importance of being earnest": An analysis according to Henry Bergson and Arthur Koestler

Mechanisms of the comic effect in Oscar Wilde's Author: Andreas Glombitza
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3638246590
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 17

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2003 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1 (A), University of Tubingen (New Philology), course: Introduction to Literary Studies: Drama, language: English, abstract: Oscar Wilde′s "The Importance of Being Earnest" was on stage for the first time in 1895. Since then, it seems to have lost nothing of its wit. People still consider it funny, when Algernon and Jack, both alias Ernest, bend the truth to jazz up their lives, ending up with seri-ous problems. But what is it actually that made, that still makes Wilde′s play funny? What is the connection between a certain reply from Algernon or Lady Bracknell and the audience or reader trem-bling with laughter (or at least smiling)? This paper will be concerned with the question whether it is possible to trace all of Wilde′s comical devices, perhaps even all possible forms of humour, back to one basic "recipe of laughter". People tried to do this, although the matter seems to be extremely complicated. Who has not yet experienced the embarrassment, while trying to explain a pun or joke to somebody who did not get it on the first time: the comical element slips through your fingers like water and soon seems to have never existed, although it has caused audible and visible effect, namely laughter, a moment before. We will start from what the philosopher Henry Bergson found out about mechanisms of the comic effect and see if his theory accounts for Wilde′s play being comical. Later I want to outline the theory of bisociation, which Arthur Koestler brought up, and finally analyze the play along the lines of the theoretical apparatus he developed. Throughout the second chapter I will show that both theories will break down if confronted with certain forms of the comic element.

The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde

The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde PDF Author: Harold Bloom
Publisher: Infobase Learning
ISBN: 1438139985
Category : Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 149

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Book Description
Provides a collection of critical essays on Wilde's comedic play "The Importance of Being Earnest" arranged in chronological order of publication.

The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest PDF Author: Oscar Wilde
Publisher: SC Active Business Development Srl
ISBN: 9786069831434
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 78

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Book Description
Oscar Wilde created his final and most lasting play, comic masterpieces of all time, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, in 1895. Considered one of the greatest THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST is a farce, playing with love, religion, and truth as it tells the tale of two men. Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, who bend the truth in order to add excitement to their lives. Jack invents an imaginary brother, Ernest, whom he uses as an excuse to escape from his dull country home and gallavant in town. Meanwhile, Algernon follows Jack's scam, but his imaginary friend, Bumbury, provides a convenient method of adventuring in the country. However, their deceptions eventually cross paths, resulting in a series of crises that threaten to spoil their romantic pursuits. Hailed as the first modern comedy in England, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST is Wilde's most famous work.

The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest PDF Author: Teratak Publishing
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 110

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Book Description
The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a real classic. You should grab it and read it to experience it yourself. Here's a simple plot to The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People by Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personæ to escape burdensome social obligations. Working within the social conventions of late Victorian London, the play's major themes are the triviality with which it treats institutions as serious as marriage, and the resulting satire of Victorian ways. Some contemporary reviews praised the play's humour and the culmination of Wilde's artistic career, while others were cautious about its lack of social messages. Its high farce and witty dialogue have helped make The Importance of Being Earnest Wilde's most enduringly popular play. The successful opening night marked the climax of Wilde's career but also heralded his downfall. The Marquess of Queensberry, whose son Lord Alfred Douglas was Wilde's lover, planned to present the writer with a bouquet of rotten vegetables and disrupt the show. Wilde was tipped off and Queensberry was refused admission. Their feud came to a climax in court, where Wilde's homosexuality was revealed to the Victorian public and he was sentenced to imprisonment. Despite the play's early success, Wilde's notoriety caused the play to be closed after 86 performances. After his release from prison, he published the play from exile in Paris, but he wrote no further comic or dramatic work. The Importance of Being Earnest has been revived many times since its premiere. It has been adapted for the cinema on three occasions. In The Importance of Being Earnest (1952), Dame Edith Evans reprised her celebrated interpretation of Lady Bracknell; The Importance of Being Earnest (1992) by Kurt Baker used an all-black cast; and Oliver Parker's The Importance of Being Earnest (2002) incorporated some of Wilde's original material cut during the preparation of the original stage production. ... ... The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People by Oscar Wilde

The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest PDF Author: Ae4qs Publishing
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 110

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Book Description
The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a real classic. You should grab it and read it to experience it yourself. Here's a simple plot to The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People by Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personæ to escape burdensome social obligations. Working within the social conventions of late Victorian London, the play's major themes are the triviality with which it treats institutions as serious as marriage, and the resulting satire of Victorian ways. Some contemporary reviews praised the play's humour and the culmination of Wilde's artistic career, while others were cautious about its lack of social messages. Its high farce and witty dialogue have helped make The Importance of Being Earnest Wilde's most enduringly popular play. The successful opening night marked the climax of Wilde's career but also heralded his downfall. The Marquess of Queensberry, whose son Lord Alfred Douglas was Wilde's lover, planned to present the writer with a bouquet of rotten vegetables and disrupt the show. Wilde was tipped off and Queensberry was refused admission. Their feud came to a climax in court, where Wilde's homosexuality was revealed to the Victorian public and he was sentenced to imprisonment. Despite the play's early success, Wilde's notoriety caused the play to be closed after 86 performances. After his release from prison, he published the play from exile in Paris, but he wrote no further comic or dramatic work. The Importance of Being Earnest has been revived many times since its premiere. It has been adapted for the cinema on three occasions. In The Importance of Being Earnest (1952), Dame Edith Evans reprised her celebrated interpretation of Lady Bracknell; The Importance of Being Earnest (1992) by Kurt Baker used an all-black cast; and Oliver Parker's The Importance of Being Earnest (2002) incorporated some of Wilde's original material cut during the preparation of the original stage production. ... ... The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People by Oscar Wilde

The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest PDF Author: Oscar Wilde
Publisher: E-Kitap Projesi & Cheapest Books
ISBN: 6057876911
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 91

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Book Description
The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personæ to escape burdensome social obligations. Working within the social conventions of late Victorian London, the play's major themes are the triviality with which it treats institutions as serious as marriage, and the resulting satire of Victorian ways. Contemporary reviews all praised the play's humour, though some were cautious about its explicit lack of social messages, while others foresaw the modern consensus that it was the culmination of Wilde's artistic career so far. Its high farce and witty dialogue have helped make The Importance of Being Earnest Wilde's most enduringly popular play. The successful opening night marked the climax of Wilde's career but also heralded his downfall. The Marquess of Queensberry, whose son Lord Alfred Douglas was Wilde's lover, planned to present the writer with a bouquet of rotten vegetables and disrupt the show. Wilde was tipped off and Queensberry was refused admission. Soon afterwards their feud came to a climax in court, where Wilde's homosexual double life was revealed to the Victorian public and he was eventually sentenced to imprisonment. His notoriety caused the play, despite its early success, to be closed after 86 performances. After his release, he published the play from exile in Paris, but he wrote no further comic or dramatic work.

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde PDF Author: Oscar Wilde
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 106

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Book Description
"Here is Oscar Wilde's most brilliant tour de force, a witty and buoyant comedy of manners that has delighted millions in countless productions since its first performance in London's St. James' Theatre on February 14, 1895. The Importance of Being Earnest is celebrated not only for the lighthearted ingenuity of its plot, but for its inspired dialogue, rich with scintillating epigrams still savored by all who enjoy artful conversation.From the play's effervescent beginnings in Algernon Moncrieff's London flat to its hilarious denouement in the drawing room of Jack Worthing's country manor in Hertfordshire, this comic masterpiece keeps audiences breathlessly anticipating a new bon mot or a fresh twist of plot moment to moment."

The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest PDF Author: Oscar Wilde
Publisher: First Avenue Editions ™
ISBN: 1467756547
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 86

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Book Description
Jack Worthing gets antsy living at his country estate. As an excuse, he spins tales of his rowdy brother Earnest living in London. When Jack rushes to the city to confront his "brother," he's free to become Earnest and live a different lifestyle. In London, his best friend, Algernon, begins to suspect Earnest is leading a double life. Earnest confesses that his real name is Jack and admits the ruse has become tricky as two women have become enchanted with the idea of marrying Earnest. On a whim, Algernon also pretends to be Earnest and encounters the two women as they meet at the estate. With two Earnests who aren't really earnest and two women in love with little more than a name, this play is a classic comedy of errors. This is an unabridged version of Oscar Wilde's English play, first published in 1899.

Importance Of Being Earnest & Other Plays

Importance Of Being Earnest & Other Plays PDF Author: Oscar Wilde
Publisher: books catalog
ISBN: 9788171674626
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
An exquisite work of comic revelry subtitled 'A Trivial Comedy for Serious People', Importance of Being Earnest is the last and most popular of Oscar Wilde's plays. There is more to the play than its dazzling, hilarious plot - Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew being courted with gradual success by John Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff. The Victorian mannerisms and pompous life style are brought under scathing attack through sharp, witty, sarcastic strips of conversation and adept characterisation.