The Importance of Being Earnest was a humorous play full of the sort of quick-witted conversation that makes me smile. However, there was also an aspect of the play that made me a bit sad. I think that perhaps I’ve become hypersensitive to low views of women because of my recent church experiences, and as I read Wilde’s play, I was struck by how flat the female characters were. It’s not as if the men themselves were terribly deep, but the young women were portrayed as silly, irrational dreamers who cared little for the fact that they were ill-treated and lied to by the men that they fell in love with simply for their name. They seemed fickle and childish. The older two women were not portrayed much better. Lady Bracknell is portrayed as an unfeeling woman whose highest values are money and the favorable opinion of high society. Miss Prism, the governess, appears to be so flighty as to be able to mix up a baby and a novel (as well as a handbag and a bassinet) and then irresponsibly leave the baby and run away rather than correcting her mistake. As I read, I found myself irritated first by the women themselves, and then by the author who created such flat, irrational characters. In the end though, I figure that if I were to remove my hypersensitivity I would be able to acknowledge that the play was light, witty and entertaining.
Favorite Passages*- p. 192-193 – Lady Bracknell’s tirade against the invalid Bunbury
- p. 198-199 – Jack explains his adoption to Lady Bracknell
- p. 221-226 – Gwendolyn and Cecily meet
- p. 227 (1st half) – Gwendolyn and Cecily become friends.
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*Pages according to my copy in “The Modern Library Classics” collection.
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