The Importance of Being Earnest: 'The Importance of Being Earnest'

Name: The Importance of Being Earnest: 'The Importance of Being Earnest'
Rating: 4.138461538461539 (65 reviews)
Author: Oscar Wilde
ISBN: 9780140621723

by Oscar Wilde

4.1

(65 ratings)

66 pages109 editions1994Penguin BooksISBN 9780140621723

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About this book

Oscar Wilde's brilliant play makes fun of the English upper classes with light-hearted satire and dazzling humour. It is 1890's England and two young gentlemen are being somewhat limited with the truth. To inject some excitement into their lives, Mr Worthing invents a brother, Earnest, as an excuse to leave his dull country life behind him to pursue the object of his desire, the ravishing Gwendolyn. While across town Algernon Montecrieff decides to take the name Earnest, when visiting Worthing's young ward Cecily. The real fun and confusion begins when the two end up together and their deceptions are in danger of being revealed.

Publication Details

Publisher: Penguin Books
Published: 1994
Pages: 66
ISBN: 9780140621723
Language: en
Editions: 109

About Oscar Wilde

An Irish writer, poet, and prominent aesthete. Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish playwright, poet, and author of numerous short stories, and one novel. Known for his biting wit, and a plentitude of aphorisms, he became one of the most successful playwrights of the late Victorian era in London, and one of the greatest celebrities of his day. Several of his plays continue to be widely performed, especially The Importance of Being Earnest. As the result of a widely covered series of trials, Wilde suffered a dramatic downfall and was imprisoned for two years hard labour after being convicted of "gross indecency" with other men. After Wilde was released from prison he set sail for Dieppe by the night ferry. He never returned to Ireland or Britain, and died in poverty.