Read the excerpt from Act I of The Importance of Being Earnest.[Algernon.] [Jack puts out his hand to take a sandwich. Algernon at once interferes.] Please don’t touch the cucumber sandwiches. They are ordered specially for Aunt Augusta. [Takes one and eats it.]Jack. Well, you have been eating them all the time.Algernon. That is quite a different matter. She is my aunt. [Takes plate from below.] Have some bread and butter. The bread and butter is for Gwendolen. Gwendolen is devoted to bread and butter.
Read the excerpt from Act I of The Importance of Being Earnest.Algernon. [Languidly.] I don’t know that I am much interested in your family life, Lane.Lane. No, sir; it is not a very interesting subject. I never think of it myself.Algernon. Very natural, I am sure. That will do, Lane, thank you.Lane. Thank you, sir. [Lane goes out.]
Which of these are features of a comedy of manners? Select four answers.
The tone of Oscar Wilde’s critique in The Importance of Being Earnest is
Read the excerpt from Act I of The Importance of Being Earnest.Jack. My dear Algy, you talk exactly as if you were a dentist. It is very vulgar to talk like a dentist when one isn’t a dentist. It produces a false impression.
Read the excerpt from Act I of The Importance of Being Earnest.Algernon. [Languidly.] I don’t know that I am much interested in your family life, Lane.Lane. No, sir; it is not a very interesting subject. I never think of it myself.Algernon. Very natural, I am sure. That will do, Lane, thank you.Lane. Thank you, sir. [Lane goes out.]Algernon. Lane’s views on marriage seem somewhat lax. Really, if the lower orders don’t set us a good example, what on earth is the use of them? They seem, as a class, to have absolutely no sense of moral responsibility.
Which line from The Importance of Being Earnest shows the difference between city and country living?
Read the excerpt from Act I of The Importance of Being Earnest.Lady Bracknell. Pardon me, you are not engaged to any one. When you do become engaged to some one, I, or your father, should his health permit him, will inform you of the fact. An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant, as the case may be. It is hardly a matter that she could be allowed to arrange for herself . . .
Which line from The Importance of Being Earnest is an example of a commentary on marriage?
Read the excerpt from Act I of The Importance of Being Earnest.Jack. I am in love with Gwendolen. I have come up to town expressly to propose to her.Algernon. I thought you had come up for pleasure? . . . I call that business.Jack. How utterly unromantic you are!
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