Close Read - The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest Act 1 Close Reading Name
Read the following excerpt from Act I and then answer the questions that follow.
Lady Bracknell: (Sitting down.) You can take a seat, Mr. Worthing. Looks in her pocket for note-book and pencil.
Jack: Thank you, Lady Bracknell, I prefer standing.
Lady Bracknell: (Pencil and note-book in hand.) Do you smoke?
Jack: Well, yes, I must admit I smoke.
Lady Bracknell: I am glad to hear it. A man should always have an occupation of some kind. How old are you?
Jack: Twenty-nine.
Lady Bracknell: A very good age to be married at. I have always been of opinion that a man who desires to get married
should know either everything or nothing. Which do you know?
Jack: (After some hesitation) I know nothing, Lady Bracknell.
Lady Bracknell: I am pleased to hear it. I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. What is your
income?
Jack: Between seven and eight thousand a year.
Lady Bracknell: (Makes a note in her book.) Now to minor matters. Are your parents living?
Jack: I have lost both my parents.
Lady Bracknell: To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.
Who was your father?
Jack: I am afraid I really don't know. The fact is, Lady Bracknell, I said I had lost my parents. It would be nearer the
truth to say that my parents seem to have lost me . . . I don't actually know who I am by birth. I was . . . well, I was
found.
Lady Bracknell: Found!
Jack: The late Mr. Thomas Cardew, an old gentleman of a very charitable and kindly disposition, found me, and gave me
the name of Worthing, because he happened to have a first-class ticket for Worthing in his pocket at the time.
Lady Bracknell: Where did this charitable gentleman find you?
Jack: (Gravely.) In a hand-bag.
Lady Bracknell: A hand-bag?
Jack.: (Very seriously.) Yes, Lady Bracknell. I was in a hand-bag - a somewhat large, black leather hand-bag, with
handles to it - an ordinary hand-bag in fact.
Lady Bracknell: In what locality did this Thomas Cardew come across this ordinary hand-bag?
Jack: In the cloak-room at Victoria Station. It was given to him in mistake for his own.
Lady Bracknell: The cloak-room at Victoria Station?
Jack: Yes. The Brighton line.
Lady Bracknell: The line is immaterial. Mr. Worthing, to be born, or at any rate bred, in a hand-bag, whether it had
handles or not, seems to me to display a contempt for the ordinary decencies of family life that reminds one of the
worst excesses of the French Revolution. It can hardly be regarded as an assured basis for a recognised position in
good society.
Jack: May I ask you then what you would advise me to do?
Lady Bracknell: I would strongly advise you, Mr. Worthing, to try and acquire some relations as soon as possible.
Jack: Well, I don't see how I could possibly manage to do that. I can produce the hand-bag at any moment. It is in my
dressing-room at home. I really think that should satisfy you, Lady Bracknell.
Lady Bracknell: Me, sir! What has it to do with me? You can hardly imagine that I and Lord Bracknell would dream of
allowing our only daughter - a girl brought up with the utmost care - to marry into a cloak-room, and form an alliance
with a parcel? Good morning, Mr. Worthing.
LADY BRACKNELL sweeps out in majestic indignation.
In what ways is Lady Bracknell a caricature (exaggeration of the actions, parts, or features of someone or
something usually for comic/satirical effect or to make them seem foolish) in this scene (taking into
consideration what else you know about the characters and action in the play)? Use examples as support.
Based Lady Bracknells implied and stated criteria for her daughters future husband, what does this
scene suggest about marriage and the prerequisites for being a husband? Use examples as support.
Which of the following techniques does Wilde use to increase the wit of his characters remarks in this
scene: irony (sarcasm, when things dont turn out how the audience expects, or when the audience
knows things the characters do not), word play (puns and word/sound manipulation), understatement,
overreaction or exaggeration, repetition? Why? Make sure you can point out specific examples of these
techniques as support.

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The Importance of Being Earnest Act 1 Close Reading Name

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