Who was Oscar Wilde ?

Oscar Wilde was born in 1854 in Dublin, Ireland. After studying at Oxford UniversityWilde became a poet. His first collection, Poems, was published in 1881 and a successful tour of America followed.

In 1884 Wilde married Constance Lloyd and they had two sons, Cyril and Vyvyan, but in 1891 he began an affair with Lord Alfred ‘Bosie’ Douglas. His greatest fame, and greatest work, followed soon afterwards. Lady Windermere’s Fan, his first play, opened in February 1892 His succeeding plays include A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest(1895). His first and only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, was published in 1890 and scandalized Victorian society with its homoerotic content.

Wilde and Lord Alfred were inseparable until the playwright was jailed for two years for homosexuality – at that time still illegal. After his release Wilde fled to France but never truly regained the creativity he had enjoyed before his imprisonment. Wilde died of meningitis in 1900.

by Rita C.

The movie

This is trailer of the movie inspired on the play. Its Hilarious... 

by Rita C.

My assessment

I honestly have to say that I enjoyed the project but not so much the group. I really liked reading the book and prepare some resources about it. However, I must say, as a discussing director our group did not work well. I had to say constantly what they had to do… That is something that I do not like to do.

As an individual in the group I worked very well, that is just what I have to say.

 by Rita C.

Conclusions and recommendations

I recommend this book to the other people like theater and like comedy. It is a story for all the family, young and old.

The story may have been written in a distant past, but the characters and their personalities are very similar to nowadays mentalities.

It is very interesting to read, but it is probably more fantastic to see it in the theater. 

 by Ana Marta 

Connecting with the world...

After I read the book of Oscar Wilde, “The importance of being Earnest”, I realized that our behaviors and daily duties were very different from the time the book was written. There are many important points that highlight the contrast between our present societies from theirs. This book was written in 1895, so as we can see with the reading of the book, the characters show us a different demeanor comparing with nowadays.

We can have 5 kinds of connections: historical, social, personal, economic and cultural.   I were able to connect these themes by taking good examples. First of all, if we imagine someone of our society, dressed like we dress, talking like we talk, acting the way we act, it wouldn’t make any sense. Their manners are nothing like ours. Nowadays we are not stringent and rigid as the characters in the book. We obviously have respect and conduct in our actions. However we don’t need to have so much forbidden things to do.

Second of all, an interesting point in the story of this dramatization is the fact of the characters fall in love so easily, we get the impression of naivety because of the rush, and that’s why we sometimes don’t know well enough our partner (not even his/her real name…). In our society and culture that doesn’t happen, we have to know really well someone to marry her/him.

The story shows us that these people don’t have any kind of economic problems; even so they don’t seem to have any job. Their daily duties are drink tea, eat cucumbers sandwiches, talk, have big dinners with the family and travel. In our days, our families, the people we know, everybody have to earn their life by studying, getting a job, making something with their own life.

To conclude, I distinguish these connections and analyzed them comparing their actions and ours, their point of view of the world and ours, which are very different. I also managed to learn from it, see how the time goes and the customs change. I imagined how it would be for a person like us, dressed and taught like us, to live in their society for one day. In my opinion it would be amusing to watch!!

by Beatriz F.

Style & Technique

                       by Gonçalo Carneiro

Who are we? Why?

For this  my group (Ana Marta, Bea F, Franscico, Gonçalo C. and I) is going to read a book and make a presentation about it .
On this section, we going to write some notes and impression of 'The Importance Of Being Earnest'.
If you wont to read this play you can click here

by Rita C.

Dramatisations - Cigarette case

JACK

Do you mean to say you have had my cigarette case all this 

time? I wish to goodness you had let me know. I have been 

writing frantic letters to Scotland Yard about it. I was very 

nearly offering a large reward.

ALGERNON

Well, I wish you would offer one. I happen to be more than 

usually hard up.

JACK

There is no good offering a large reward now that the thing 

is found.

Enter LANE with the cigarette case on a salver. 

ALGERNON takes it at once. LANE goes out.

ALGERNON

I think that is rather mean of you, Ernest, I must say.

(Opens case and examines it)

However, it makes no matter, for, now that I look at the 

inscription inside, I find that the thing isn't yours after 

all.

JACK

Of course it's mine.

(Moving to him)

You have seen me with it a hundred times, and you have no 

right whatsoever to read what is written inside. It is a very 

ungentlemanly thing to read a private cigarette case.

ALGERNON

Oh! it is absurd to have a hard and fast rule about what one 

should read and what one shouldn't. More than half of modern 

culture depends on what one shouldn't read.

JACK

I am quite aware of the fact, and I don't propose to discuss 

modern culture. It isn't the sort of thing one should talk of 

in private. I simply want my cigarette case back.

ALGERNON

Yes; but this isn't your cigarette case. This cigarette case 

is a present from some one of the name of Cecily, and you 

said you didn't know any one of that name.

JACK

Well, if you want to know, Cecily happens to be my aunt.

ALGERNON

Your aunt!

JACK

Yes. Charming old lady she is, too. Lives at Tunbridge Wells. 

Just give it back to me, Algy.

ALGERNON

(retreating to back of sofa)

But why does she call herself little Cecily if she is your 

aunt and lives at Tunbridge Wells?

(Reading)

'From little Cecily with her fondest love.'

JACK

(moving to sofa and kneeling upon it)

My dear fellow, what on earth is there in that? Some aunts 

are tall, some aunts are not tall. That is a matter that 

surely an aunt may be allowed to decide for herself. You seem 

to think that every aunt should be exactly like your aunt! 

That is absurd! For Heaven's sake give me back my cigarette 

case.

(Follows ALGERNON round the room)

ALGERNON

Yes. But why does your aunt call you her uncle? 'From little 

Cecily, with her fondest love to her dear Uncle Jack.' There 

is no objection, I admit, to an aunt being a small aunt, but 

why an aunt, no matter what her size may be, should call her 

own nephew her uncle, I can't quite make out. Besides, your 

name isn't Jack at all; it is Ernest.

JACK

It isn't Ernest; it's Jack.

ALGERNON

You have always told me it was Ernest. I have introduced you 

to every one as Ernest. You answer to the name of Ernest. You 

look as if your name was Ernest. You are the most earnestlooking person I ever saw in my life. It is perfectly absurd 

your saying that your name isn't Ernest. It's on your cards. 

Here is one of them.

(Taking it from case)

'Mr. Ernest Worthing, B. 4, The Albany.' I'll keep this as a 

proof that your name is Ernest if ever you attempt to deny it 

to me, or to Gwendolen, or to any one else.

(Puts the card in his pocket)

JACK

Well, my name is Ernest in town and Jack in the country, and 

the cigarette case was given to me in the country.

Designed By Ana Marta       PLAYED BY: Beatriz F. (Jack) and Francisco (Algernon)

by Rita C.

Illustrations and discussion

I made this illustration to connect it to the first act, when Jack and Algernon were drinking tea in Algernon’s flat.

I tried to do an old and beautiful atmosphere, where the furniture is classic and suitable to the time the story takes place. It is as I imagined Algernon’s flat. I this illustration we can observe the two friends talking about their habits.

While doing this illustration, I learned more about English Society at the time. I really liked to do this.

  by Ana Marta

Last session

I have already finished reading this excellent play, and I adored it!


I found out that all the secret identities were revealed and all the couples get marriedJ. Jack turns out not to be the son of some random rich merchant (which would anger his potential mother-in-law, Lady Bracknell), but a legitimate aristocrat… just when the festivities are about to start, Jack says the key line: "I’ve now realized for the first time in my life the vital importance of being earnest".

 by Rita C.

Beautiful Passages and discussion

In my opinion, one of the most interesting passages in the plot is the beginning of the first act when Algernon finds out that Jack has a double life in the city and in the country. This discovery in made when Algernon sees a cigarette case with a strange inscription, and he doesn’t give up until Jack tells him everything.

        With this passage, we can see that people are not always what they seen. To the society they present themselves in a way, but in reality they are very different.

 by Ana Marta

Second Session

Today I read a few more pages and I had discovered so many things…

By know I know why Jack has a double life and I discovered another secret (but now Algernon’s secret) and other exciting things.

Firstly, Jack was found in a handbag so he doesn´t have any kind of family just the man who found him, Mr.Thomas Cardew. Jack always dreamed of having a brother called Ernest, so he created a plan: he says that he has a brother with the name Ernest who lives in the country , so when he wants to change airs he says that his brother is calling him to go visiting him in the country and vice-versa.

Then I found out that Algy also has a second life, just like Jack. He is called Bunburry.

To conclude I discovered the loves of each one:

Gwendolen & Ernest                    Cecily & Algernon

 by Rita C.

Reading commentaries

At first I didn´t understand the story very well because the dialogue between Jack and Algernon was a little confuse.

The story is in another century and people acted and spoke in a different way than today.

Then I started to understand the love stories between the two young couples and I was curious to know if they would be together in the end.

Some words are difficult, but with the help of the dictionary, I can understand better.

 by Ana Marta

First Session

I started now reading the play ‘THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST’.


In the beginning, it was a bit of a mess… I had to read at least three times to understand the first scene. I did not know that it would be a little hard to understand, the expressions and the dialogue. Nevertheless, now I am enjoying it.


Today I read until the part of the cigarette case. I will explain... Until now, I think that this is one of the importance scenes of this play.
Algernon discovered that Ernest has a double life. He discovered it because he found Ernest’s cigarette case and inside it there was a note: ‘ From little Cecily, with her fondest love to her dear Uncle Jack’. Algernon asked why Cecily called him Jack if his name is Ernest Worthing. At the end we understand that he is Jack in the country and Ernest in town


What is going to happen? Why does he have a double life? Who is Cecily? I want to to find out!


The scene-Cigarette Case

 by Rita C.