Read the excerpt from Act I of The Importance of Being Earnest . Algernon: Well, we might trot round to the Empire at ten? Jack: Oh, no! I can’t bear looking at things. It is so silly. Algernon: Well, what shall we do? Jack: Nothing! Algernon: It is awfully hard work doing nothing. However, I don’t mind hard work where there is no definite object of any kind. What effect does the paradox in this excerpt have on the reader?
Read the excerpt from Act I of The Importance of Being Earnest . 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. What effect does the pun have on this scene?
Read the excerpt from Act I of The Importance of Being Earnest . Algernon: Nothing will induce me to part with Bunbury, and if you ever get married, which seems to me extremely problematic, you will be very glad to know Bunbury. A man who marries without knowing Bunbury has a very tedious time of it. Jack: That is nonsense. If I marry a charming girl like Gwendolen, and she is the only girl I ever saw in my life that I would marry, I certainly won’t want to know Bunbury. Algernon: Then your wife will. You don’t seem to realise, that in married life three is company and two is none. The epigram in Algernon’s last line is used to
Which line from Act I of The Importance of Being Earnest is an epigram?
Which line from Act I of The Importance of Being Earnest is a paradox?
Which excerpt from Act I of The Importance of Being Earnest is an understatement?
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. The main effect of the pun in the excerpt is that it
Read the excerpt from Act I of The Importance of Being Earnest . Algernon: In the third place, I know perfectly well whom she will place me next to, to-night. She will place me next Mary Farquhar, who always flirts with her own husband across the dinner-table. That is not very pleasant. Indeed, it is not even decent . . . and that sort of thing is enormously on the increase. The amount of women in London who flirt with their own husbands is perfectly scandalous. It looks so bad. It is simply washing one’s clean linen in public. Besides, now that I know you to be a confirmed Bunburyist I naturally want to talk to you about Bunburying. Which part of the excerpt contains a paradox?
What literary device does Oscar Wilde use in the title of his play The Importance of Being Earnest ?
Read the excerpt from Act II of The Importance of Being Earnest . Jack: Oh! I don’t see much fun in being christened along with other babies. It would be childish. Would half-past five do? Chasuble: Admirably! Admirably! [Takes out watch.] And now, dear Mr. Worthing, I will not intrude any longer into a house of sorrow. I would merely beg you not to be too much bowed down by grief. What seem to us bitter trials are often blessings in disguise. Miss Prism: This seems to me a blessing of an extremely obvious kind. Which two definitions of the word blessing does the pun in this excerpt rely on? Choose two correct answers.
Did you find these answers helpful?