Résumé
Résumé de L’Importance d’être Constant : Une comédie futile pour des gens sérieux
Go deeper: the whole of L’Importance d’être Constant : Une comédie futile pour des gens sérieux
About 1 h 20 min to read.À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
You will love this play if you enjoy quick wit, comic misunderstandings, and clever talk about manners, marriage and money. It suits lovers of theatre and anyone who likes every line to be a small joke.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
Picture a man who invents a wicked younger brother to slip away from his duties in the country. His best friend invents a permanent invalid to escape social calls in town. Both lies work beautifully, until two young women, each engaged to the same imaginary name, meet over a tea table.
The Importance of Being Earnest is a play in three acts by Oscar Wilde, first staged in 1895. He called it a trivial comedy for serious people, and the joke is the point. Under the sparkling talk sit sharp questions about class, marriage and money. You will meet Jack, Algernon, Gwendolen, Cecily and the fearsome Lady Bracknell.
Dans ce résumé
- 1Two gentlemen with invented excusesFree
- 2Bunburying means living a second life
- 3Lady Bracknell questions a suitor
- 4The garden, the governess and a false mourning
- 5Two women, two diaries, one imaginary man
- 6Muffins, a dignified silence and a bargain
- 7Names, truth and the meaning of earnest
- 8Society, wit and the shape of the farce
Point clé 1 sur 8
Two gentlemen with invented excuses
The play opens in Algernon Moncrieff's flat in London. Algernon is a charming idler. His servant Lane arranges tea, and Algernon asks why servants drink the champagne in a bachelor's home. Lane replies that married households rarely have a first-rate brand.
The cucumber sandwiches matter. Algernon orders them for his aunt, Lady Bracknell, and then quietly eats most of them himself. A rule is announced with great seriousness, and the speaker then breaks it with perfect calm. That is the play's method in miniature.
Jack Worthing arrives, known in town as Ernest. He has come to propose to Gwendolen Fairfax, Algernon's cousin. Algernon objects, and not to the love. He argues that romance lives in uncertainty, and that a definite proposal ruins it because it will probably be accepted.
Then Algernon picks up a cigarette case Jack left behind. Inside is an inscription from a Cecily, who calls Jack her dear Uncle. Jack has told Algernon that he knows no Cecily. Each speaker sounds reasonable, and each is plainly absurd.
Wilde starts with tea and sandwiches, and makes manners themselves the subject of the joke.
That’s 1 of 8 key points.
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Go deeper: the whole of L’Importance d’être Constant : Une comédie futile pour des gens sérieux
About 1 h 20 min to read.Paperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way.Email me when it is printed
Who’s who
- Jack Worthing
- A well-off country gentleman who invents a wicked brother named Ernest to escape his duties, and who wants to marry Gwendolen.
- Algernon Moncrieff
- A witty, hungry idler who invents an invalid friend called Bunbury and plans to meet Jack's pretty young ward.
- Gwendolen Fairfax
- Algernon's confident cousin, who has decided she can love only a man named Ernest and intends to marry Jack.
- Cecily Cardew
- Jack's eighteen-year-old ward, who lives in the country, keeps a vivid diary and dreams of marrying a man named Ernest.
- Lady Bracknell
- Gwendolen's mother and Algernon's aunt, who judges every suitor by income, address and family, and who guards her daughter's future.
- Miss Prism
- Cecily's strict governess, who admires Dr. Chasuble, preaches thrift and duty, and once wrote a three-volume novel that was lost.
- Dr. Chasuble
- The learned local clergyman, who is ready to christen anyone and who is fond of Miss Prism.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 21,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 1 h 25 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 14 other languages
Questions about L’Importance d’être Constant : Une comédie futile pour des gens sérieux
What is The Importance of Being Earnest about?
It is a comedy about two men who invent imaginary people to escape their duties. Their lies tangle when they court two young women who each wish to marry a man called Ernest, and a stern aunt gets in the way.
What does Bunburying mean in the play?
Bunburying is Algernon's word for inventing an imaginary person, such as the sick friend Bunbury, so that you can leave dull duties and live a second, secret life. Jack does the same with his invented brother Ernest.
Why is the play called The Importance of Being Earnest?
The title is a pun. Earnest means serious and sincere, and Ernest is the name both women want in a husband. The play keeps both meanings in view while the men pretend to be someone else.
When was The Importance of Being Earnest written and is it a true story?
Oscar Wilde wrote it in the 1890s and it was first staged in 1895. It is invented. The characters and plot are invented, but the action uses named places in London and the Hertfordshire countryside.
Is The Importance of Being Earnest easy to read?
Yes, in the sense that it is short, it is built from quick dialogue, and each scene is a small comic exchange. The jokes are easy to follow aloud, and the plot is clear from the first act.
Cite this edition
Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-importance-of-being-earnest-a-trivial-comedy-for-serious-people.
Wilde, O. (2026). The importance of being earnest: A trivial comedy for serious people. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-importance-of-being-earnest-a-trivial-comedy-for-serious-people (Original work published 1899)
Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-importance-of-being-earnest-a-trivial-comedy-for-serious-people.
@book{wilde2026importance,
author = {Wilde, Oscar},
title = {The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-importance-of-being-earnest-a-trivial-comedy-for-serious-people},
note = {First published 1899}
}
