An ideal husband: A 1895 stage play by Oscar Wilde

Product Information

Consider the title of the play. What is the meaning of the title? Why is the title ironic? To whom does the title apply? The Importance of Being Earnest". Schott Music. 2011. Archived from the original on 21 March 2013 . Retrieved 16 September 2013. The Importance of Being Earnest 's popularity has meant it has been translated into many languages, though the homophonous pun in the title (" Ernest", a masculine proper name, and " earnest", the virtue of steadfastness and seriousness) poses a special problem for translators. The easiest case of a suitable translation of the pun, perpetuating its sense and meaning, may have been its translation into German. Since English and German are closely related languages, German provides an equivalent adjective ("ernst") and also a matching masculine proper name ("Ernst"). The meaning and tenor of the wordplay are exactly the same. Yet there are many different possible titles in German, mostly concerning sentence structure. The two most common ones are "Bunbury oder ernst / Ernst sein ist alles" and "Bunbury oder wie wichtig es ist, ernst / Ernst zu sein". [75] In a study of Italian translations, Adrian Pablé found thirteen different versions using eight titles. Since wordplay is often unique to the language in question, translators are faced with a choice of either staying faithful to the original – in this case, the English adjective and virtue earnest – or creating a similar pun in their own language. [101] Wilde, drawn in 1896 by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Cecily: This is no time for wearing the shallow mask of manners. When I see a spade I call it a spade.

Fiddler on the Roof / Ethel Merman / Richard Rodgers / The Theatre Guild-American Theatre Society (1972)Gwendolyn: I am glad to say that I have never seen a spade. It is obvious that our social spheres have been widely different. Wilde did not meet Walter Pater until his third year, but had been enthralled by his Studies in the History of the Renaissance, published during Wilde's final year in Trinity. [42] Pater argued that man's sensibility to beauty should be refined above all else, and that each moment should be felt to its fullest extent. Years later, in De Profundis, Wilde described Pater's Studies... as "that book that has had such a strange influence over my life". [43] He learned tracts of the book by heart, and carried it with him on travels in later years. Pater gave Wilde his sense of almost flippant devotion to art, though he gained a purpose for it through the lectures and writings of critic John Ruskin. [44] Ruskin despaired at the self-validating aestheticism of Pater, arguing that the importance of art lies in its potential for the betterment of society. Ruskin admired beauty, but believed it must be allied with, and applied to, moral good. When Wilde eagerly attended Ruskin's lecture series The Aesthetic and Mathematic Schools of Art in Florence, he learned about aesthetics as the non-mathematical elements of painting. Despite being given to neither early rising nor manual labour, Wilde volunteered for Ruskin's project to convert a swampy country lane into a smart road neatly edged with flowers. [44] Atkinson, Brooks (9 March 1947). "John Gielgud's Version of Oscar Wilde's Play". The New York Times . Retrieved 29 January 2023.

Celebrated in London’s high society, Lillie Langtry was introduced to Wilde at Frank Miles' studio in 1877. The most glamorous woman in England, Langtry assumed great importance to Wilde during his early years in London, and they remained close friends for many years; he tutored her in Latin and later encouraged her to pursue acting. [57] She wrote in her autobiography that he "possessed a remarkably fascinating and compelling personality", and "the cleverness of his remarks received adBefore Robert speaks with Mrs. Cheveley, she speaks with Lord Goring. He tells her that Robert won’t fund the canal venture in Argentina anymore. She confronts Robert and gives him one last chance to change his mind. When Robert refuses to do business with her, she makes a speech before the entire dinner party, and Gertrude finds out about the Suez Canal shares. The Importance of Being Earnest is Wilde's most popular work and is continually revived. [33] Max Beerbohm called the play Wilde's "finest, most undeniably his own", saying that in his other comedies – Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance and An Ideal Husband – the plot, following the manner of Victorien Sardou, is unrelated to the theme of the work, while in Earnest the story is "dissolved" into the form of the play. [34] [d] Revivals [ edit ] Oscar Wilde was born at 21 Westland Row, Dublin (now home of the Oscar Wilde Centre, Trinity College), the second of three children born to an Anglo-Irish couple: Jane, née Elgee, and Sir William Wilde. Oscar was two years younger than his brother, William (Willie) Wilde. Albert Edward, the future King Edward VII, was the eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Although he was heir to the throne, his mother did not entrust him with royal duties or make any attempts to prepare him for his future role as king. Instead, the Prince of Wales (known as Bertie to his family and friends) became the most prominent member of a group of highly elite socialites, the Marlborough House Set, named for the house Albert Edward occupied with his wife and family. Even after he married Princess Alexandra of Denmark (an arranged marriage), Bertie was notorious for his extravagant lifestyle and his string of mistresses, ranging from actresses to the wives of other noblemen, one of whom was at his bedside when he died. He fathered a number of illegitimate children, some of them passed off as the children of their mothers’ husbands. a b Edwards, Owen Dudley (2004). "Wilde, Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills (1854–1900), writer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (onlineed.). Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/ref:odnb/29400 . Retrieved 29 January 2023. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

What role do diaries, notes, letters, manuscripts play in the plot? How does written communication compare with spoken communication? In the meantime, Gertrude sends Lord Goring a letter. She tells him how she feels about everything. Mrs. Cheveley visits Lord Goring because she blames him for ruining the venture. She discovers the letter, and she assumes that it’s a love note. To make matters worse, Robert arrives and sees Mrs. Cheveley in the drawing room. He thinks that she’s sleeping with Lord Goring and he’s horrified. Jane Pilchner and Imelda Whelehan (eds), Fifty Key Concepts in Gender Studies, Sage, Londres, 2004, (...) Lighter and Softer: Probably the lightest of all Wilde's plays, moreso than even his earlier comedies.

Attracted by its dress, secrecy, and ritual, Wilde petitioned the Apollo Masonic Lodge at Oxford, and was soon raised to the "Sublime Degree of Master Mason". [33] During a resurgent interest in Freemasonry in his third year, he commented he "would be awfully sorry to give it up if I secede from the Protestant Heresy". [34] Wilde's active involvement in Freemasonry lasted only for the time he spent at Oxford; he allowed his membership of the Apollo University Lodge to lapse after failing to pay subscriptions. [35] Costa, Maddy (29 January 2008). "Handbags at dawn". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 29 January 2008.

Cast & Creative". The Importance of Being Earnest – A new musical. 2011. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013 . Retrieved 2 August 2013.Oscar Wilde; John Gielgud; Roland Culver; Edith Evans; Pamela Brown; Celia Johnson (1953), The Importance of Being Earnest (audiobook on LP), Angel Records, OCLC 3306737 He spent the last three years of his life living in exile in France, where he composed his last work The Ballad of Reading Gaol, about an execution that took place while he was imprisoned there. Hart-Davis, Rupert; Lyttelton, G W (1978). Rupert Hart-Davis (ed.). Lyttelton–Hart-Davis Letters, Volume 1. London: John Murray. ISBN 978-0-7195-3478-2. Wilde, Oscar (2010), The Importance of Being Earnest, Owen Dudley Edwards, Ian Cotterell, Richard Pasco, Prunella Scales, Jeremy Clyde, Bath, England: BBC Audiobooks, ISBN 978-1-4084-2693-7, OCLC 647550472 Wilde's parents were Anglo-Irish intellectuals in Dublin. In his youth Wilde learned to speak fluent French and German. At university, he read Greats; he demonstrated himself to be an exceptional classicist, first at Trinity College Dublin, then at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with the emerging philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles.