[.ca] Penguin Classics Importance Of Being Earnest Film Tie In (ISBN 0140436065)

very funny:
i know this book is supposed to be a satire of the british gentry, but that was a hundred years ago and those people are dead. so what's left is a very witty play about some very funny (dead) people. some wag called "the imp of being earnest" a "verbal opera". this description is apt. read the book and find out why...

The importance of reading these plays!:
While Oscar Wilde is not Shakespeare unarguably the best playwright, he is incredibly good and all three plays show it. Salome is a short 'biblical' play, Lady Windermere's Fan is a bit longer and with the exception of the naivete suffered by the Lady of the title incredibly well written as well. However, The Importance of Being Earnest is by far the best play in this collection. Two men whom are trying to get away with pulling a fast one on their girlfriends and two women who think they know whats going on. Throw in a misplaced bag with a baby inside, an overbearing British matriarch, and a Governess with a past and you have a laugh out loud comedy. Who knew the British could be so funny...when written about anyway.

Love is a funny thing:
Jack Worthing is engaged to lady named Gwendolyn and they are soon to get married. Jack had to find away to escape from Miss Prism because she disapproved of him so he created a brother named Earnest. While Jack was in London he feel in love with another women named Cecily Carden. Over time his fiancée's mother started to see that there was more to Jack than what he was letting on to. The only reason that Cecily wants the marry Jack is because she thinks that his name is really Earnest. Jack/ Earnest has a fiancée but is in love with another women at the same time. This is a very short book but at the same time it is very easy to get in to because of the conflicts that occur. This book is very funny especially the conversations between Jack and Algernon. The story is a political and social satire and a look at the upper British society. I thought that the story was great because of the humor but at the same time the story was kind of sneaky which drew me into the story even more. I would suggest the book to anyone.

It Is Impotant To Be Earnest:
I had no knowledge of Oscar Wilde and had only seen ten minutes of the movie, The Importance of Being Earnest, as I flipped through the cable channels on my television. However, due to a class that I am enrolled in, not only do I now know who he is but I am blessed to have been introduced to his work. The Importance of Being Earnest, makes a very humorous yet profound commentary on money, marriage, status and image as it pertains to the aristocracy of that time. It seems that Oscar Wilde utilized this medium of artistic expression to cleverly expose the twisted way that those with wealth perceived themselves and the lengths they would go to the preserve that perception. It has been referred to as a "comedy of manners" because so much of what defined or distinguished the aristocracy from the common man was not necessarily the wealth that they actually had but what men and women did to appear like they had it. Ernest, who is the main character in the play, has done all of what is necessary to appear as though he comes from wealth. He wears the clothing, keeps the company and talks the talk of the aristocrat. However what he soon finds out is that all of those whom he is trying to impress and fit in with, have more unresolved issues in their closet than he does. I believe Wilde addresses this social paradox with impeccable wit and an amazing sense of human psychology. He not only challenged those who belonged to the aristocracy to examine what they placed value in, but continues to challenge each reader today, that these superficial values might not stand as valuable at all.

Hip-hip-hooray:
Perhaps it is my unique sense of humor, but I found this book incredibly funny. I wasn't rolling on the floor or anything, but it is funny in an Oscar Wilde way. My personal favorite is The Importance of Being Earnest, although all the others are very good also. Get this book. There are great quotes and good characters.