Satire in The Importance of Being Earnest- Act I
Identify elements of Satire (humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose/criticize) in Act I of The Importance of Being Earnest.
Reminder, irony is-
the use of words that mean the opposite of what you really think especially in order to be funny
a situation that is strange or funny because things happen in a way that seems to be the opposite of what you expected
Things to consider-
Social status (importance to Upper Class Victorians)
Is there mockery of or any jibes at formal education
Ideas of love and/or marriage (and female’s views on love/relationships)
Victorians’ belief in seriousness/hard work/responsibility for oneself
Page
Scene/Dialogue
Explanation of Satire/Satirical Element
1
Algernon- Why is it that at a bachelor's establishment the servants invariably drink the champagne? I ask merely for information.
Lane- I attribute it to the superior quality of the wine, sir. I have often observed that in married households the champagne is rarely of a first-rate brand.
Algernon- Good heavens! Is marriage so demoralising as that?
Lane- I believe it is a very pleasant state, sir. I have had very little experience of it myself up to the present. I have only been married once. That was in consequence of a misunderstanding between myself and a young person.
3
Jack- I am in love with Gwendolen. I have come up to town expressly to propose to her.
Algernon- I thought you had come up for pleasure? . . . I call that business.
Jack- How utterly unromantic you are!
3
Jack- I have no doubt that dear, Algy. The Divorce Court was specifically invented for people whose memories are so curiously constituted.
Algernon- Oh! There is no use speculating on that subject. Divorces are made in Heaven- [JACK puts out his hand to take a sandwich. ALGERNON at once interferes.] Please don't touch the cucumber sandwiches. They are ordered specifically for Aunt Augusta. [Takes one and eats it.]
3
Jack- Well, you have been eating them all the time.
Algernon- That is quite a different matter. She is my aunt. [Takes plate from below.] Have some bread and butter. The bread and butter is for Gwendolen. Gwendolen is devoted to bread and butter.
Jack- [Advancing to table and helping himself.] And very good bread and butter it is too.
9
Lady Bracknell- Well, I must say, Algernon, that I think it is high time that Mr. Bunbury made up his mind whether he was going to live or to die. This shilly-shallying with the question is absurd. Nor do I in any way approve of the modern sympathy with invalids. I consider it morbid. Illness of any kind is hardly a thing to be encouraged in others. Health is the primary duty of life. [...] I should be much obliged if you would ask Mr. Bunbury, from me, to be kind enough not to have a relapse on Saturday, for I rely on you to arrange my music for me. It is my last reception, and one wants something that will encourage conversation, particularly at the end of the season when everyone has practically said whatever they had to say...
10
Jack- But you don’t really mean to say that you couldn’t love me if my name wasn’t Ernest?
Gwendolen- But your name is Ernest.
Jack- Yes, I know it is. But supposing it was something else? Do you mean to say you couldn’t love me then?
Gwendolen- [Glibly.] Ah! that is clearly a metaphysical speculation, and like most metaphysical speculations has very little reference at all to the actual facts of real life, as we know them.
15
Jack- Oh, Gwendolen is as right as a trivet. As far as she is concerned, we are engaged. Her mother is perfectly unbearable. Never met such a Gorgon . . . I don’t really know what a Gorgon is like, but I am quite sure that Lady Bracknell is one. In any case, she is a monster, without being a myth, which is rather unfair . . . I beg your pardon, Algy, I suppose I shouldn’t talk about your own aunt in that way before you.
Algernon- My dear boy, I love hearing my relations abused. It is the only thing that makes me put up with them at all. Relations are simply a tedious pack of people, who haven’t got the remotest knowledge of how to live, nor the smallest instinct about when to die.
15
Jack- Well, I won't argue that matter. You always want to argue about things.
Algernon- That is exactly what things were originally made for.
16
Jack- I am sick to death of cleverness. Everybody is clever nowadays. You can’t go anywhere without meeting clever people. The thing has become an absolute public nuisance. I wish to goodness we had a few fools left.
Algernon- We have.
Jack- I should extremely like to meet them. What do they talk about?
Algernon- The fools? Oh! about the clever people, of course.
Jack- What fools!
