It's All in the Name!
Updated: Sep 22, 2020
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
In this blog, to conclude my Oscar Wilde play series, I will review the well renowned classic play, "The Importance of Being Earnest". I think this book would be a great read for people who love comedies - I found myself laughing out loud and giggling non-stop though the characters experiences while they try and find their true loves.
The play begins with a man named Jack, also known as Mr. Earnest Worthing, quickly falling in love with a woman named Gwendolen. He goes over to his best friend named Algernon's house at the same time as the woman of his dreams with the purpose to propose to her. Soon after he proposes, Gwendolen's mother, Algernon's Aunt, finds out about the couple's engagement and starts judging Jack to see if he is good enough be with her daughter. Though the mother refuses their request to marry, Jack and Gwendolen promise that they will love each other no matter what.
Not long after, Algernon, himself, falls in love when he meets Cecily in his courtyard and starts an intense romance with her. After they've talked for a bit, Algernon realizes that Cecily thinks he's Jack, a.k.a. Earnest, and that she couldn't fully love him if his name was Algernon. So, acting under the name Earnest, Algernon proposes to Cecily who accepts!
When Gwendolen and Cecily meet afterwards, Gwendolen talks about how she's in love with a man named Mr. Earnest Worthing and Cecily insists that the same man is engaged to her instead. The two women start a big debate about which one of them has really won Earnest over. Then, when the real Jack (Earnest) and Algernon come in to the room, the ladies immediately ask who loves who...
I would give "The Importance of Being Earnest" 5 out of 5 stars because I liked how it truly is a "trivial comedy for serious people". I loved how funny all the characters were and I felt like I really understood how they felt during their roller coaster of emotions. I especially liked what I would call the "muffin fiasco" with Algernon and Jack discussing the serious importance of being (named) Earnest. Being Earnest turned out to be so important for the two gentlemen that Cecily actually said "...it had always been a girlish dream of mine to love someone who's name was Earnest ... I pity any poor married woman who's husband is not called Earnest."
How much the book talked about being named Earnest made me think about different names besides my own. Please write if you are satisfied with the name given to you or if you feel like you should have been named something else.
If you aren't satisfied with your name, please write what name you would have liked to be given in the comments.
