by Oscar Wilde
JACK. Unmarried! I do not deny that is a serious blow. But after all, who has the right to cast a stone against one who has suffered? Cannot repentance wipe out an act of folly? Why should there be one law for men, and another for women? Mother, I forgive you. (Tries to embrace her again.)
MISS PRISM. (Still more indignant.) Mr. Worthing, there is some error. (Pointing to Lady Bracknell.) There is the lady who can tell you who you really are.
JACK. (After a pause.) Lady Bracknell, I hate to seem inquisitive, but would you kindly inform me who I am?
LADY BRACKNELL. I am afraid that the news I have to give you will not altogether please you. You are the son of my poor sister, Mrs. Moncrieff, and consequently Algernon’s elder brother.
JACK. Algy’s elder brother! Then I have a brother after all. I knew I had a brother! I always said I had a brother! Cecily,—how could you have ever doubted that I had a brother. (Seizes hold of Algernon.) Dr. Chasuble, my unfortunate brother. Miss Prism, my unfortunate brother. Gwendolen, my unfortunate brother. Algy, you young scoundrel, you will have to treat me with more respect in the future. You have never behaved to me like a brother in all your life.
ALGERNON. Well, not till to-day, old boy, I admit. I did my best, however, though I was out of practice. (Shakes hands.)
GWENDOLEN. (To Jack.) My own! But what own are you? What is your Christian name, now that you have become someone else?
JACK. Good heavens!… I had quite forgotten that point. Your decision on the subject of my name is irrevocable, I suppose?
GWENDOLEN. I never change, except in my affections.
CECILY. What a noble nature you have, Gwendolen!
JACK. Then the question had better be cleared up at once. Aunt Augusta, a moment. At the time when Miss Prism left me in the hand-bag, had I been christened already?
LADY BRACKNELL. Every luxury that money could buy, including christening, had been lavished on you by your fond and doting parents.
JACK. Then I was christened! That is settled. Now, what name was I given? Let me know the worst.
LADY BRACKNELL. Being the eldest son you were naturally christened after your father.
JACK. (Irritably.) Yes, but what was my father’s Christian name?
LADY BRACKNELL. (Meditatively.) I cannot at the present moment recall what the General’s Christian name was. But I have no doubt he had one. He was eccentric, I admit. But only in later years. And that was the result of the Indian climate, and marriage, and indigestion, and other things of that kind.
JACK. Algy! Can’t you recollect what our father’s Christian name was?
ALGERNON. My dear boy, we were never even on speaking terms. He died before I was a year old.
JACK. His name would appear in the Army Lists of the period, I suppose, Aunt Augusta?
LADY BRACKNELL. The General was essentially a man of peace, except in his domestic life. But I have no doubt his name would appear in any military directory.
JACK. The Army Lists of the last forty years are here. These delightful records should have been my constant study. (Rushes to book-case and tears the books out.) M. Generals … Mallam, Maxbohm, Magley, what ghastly names they have—Markby, Migsby, Mobbs, Moncreiff! Lieutenant 1840, Captain, Lieutenant-Colonel, Colonel, General 1869, Christian names, Ernest John. (Puts book very quietly down and speaks quite calmly.) I always told you, Gwendolen, my name was Ernest, didn’t I? Well, it is Ernest after all. I mean it naturally is Ernest.
LADY BRACKNELL. Yes, I remember now that the General was called Ernest. I knew I had some particular reason for disliking the name.
GWENDOLEN. Ernest! My own Ernest! I felt from the first that you could have no other name!
JACK. Gwendolen, it is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth. Can you forgive me?
GWENDOLEN. I can. For I feel that you are sure to change.
JACK. My own one!
CHASUBLE. (To Miss Prism.) Lætitia! (Embraces her.)
MISS PRISM. (Enthusiastically.) Frederick! At last!
ALGERNON. Cecily! (Embraces her.) At last!
JACK. Gwendolen! (Embraces her.) At last!
LADY BRACKNELL. My nephew, you seem to be displaying signs of triviality.
JACK. On the contrary, Aunt Augusta, I’ve now realized for the first time in my life the vital Importance of Being Earnest.
TABLEAU
CURTAIN
NOTES
LADY WINDERMERE’S FAN
FIRST ACT
LL. 1-2. Carlton House Terrace: a prestigious London address, like most addresses mentioned in Wilde’s society comedies. This one lies in the St. James’s district of London, an area associated with politics and elite men’s clubs.
L. 22. Selby: the Windermeres’ country home.
L.2. “I’m of age to-day”: Lady Windermere is turning twenty-one.
L. 29. Puritan: Lady Windermere’s usage, in keeping with ours today, styles her as moralistic and as averse to worldly pleasures. The term originally indicated a fundamentalist Protestant offshoot from the established Church of England.
L. 11. trick: a reference to the card game of bridge, then in fashion.
L. 26. Mayfair: a highly fashionable London district; ponies in the Park: Wealthy individuals from elite society rode their horses in London’s Hyde Park.
L. 33. Homburg… Aix: continental resort towns.
L. 25. a character: a general letter of introduction and recommendation.
L. 26. Exeunt: plural of exit.
L. 5. £600: a very substantial amount of money. In 1892, when Lady WINDERMERE’s Fan premiered, £600 was roughly equivalent to £37,000 today (or approximately $60,000). That figure is according to an Internet-based calculator hosted by Economic History services:
SECOND ACT
L. 9. your card: a card listing planned dances, according to which an eligible young woman could list the man who would partner her at each dance.
L. 13. younger sons: not the most desirable dance partners, because only first sons stood to inherit family wealth.
L. 35. thinks like a Tory and talks like a Radical: Tories are broadly conservative, associated with traditionalism, nobility, and landed wealth, while Radicals are associated with reform, democratization, and change.
LL. 19-20. an edition de luxe of a wicked French novel: While British Victorian novelists were constrained in the subject matter that they could represent, French novelists such as Flaubert and Zola routinely ventured into much racier terrain, such as adultery and prostitution.
L. 18. Grosvenor Square: an elegant address, so much so that the Duchess’s characterization of its denizens as “vulgar” actually underscores her extreme haughtiness.
THIRD ACT
LL. 3-4. syphons: small-gauge hoses used to decant fine wines without carrying sediment from the original bottle; Tantalus frame: a stand on which wine or brandy decanters can be seen plainly but cannot be withdrawn until a locked bar that connects to the stoppers is released, thus “tantalizing” onlookers; cigar and cigarette box: like the foregoing items, a standard accessory in a bachelor gentleman’s apartment.
L. 13. Wiesbaden: an elegant spa and casino town in Germany.
LL. 20-22: threw their caps over the mills … raise the wind: Dumby mixes two colloquial expressions. “Throwing one’s cap over a mill” indicates hardworking ambition and sometimes a touch of recklessness, while “raising the wind” means procuring money.
L. 28. Nonconformist: here, refers to a moralistic refusal of established social norms. More specifically, Nonconformists were Protestants who refused to observe certain ritual practices within the Church of England and thereby became ineligible for various privileges an
d governmental careers.
FOURTH ACT
L. 33. Club Train: a deluxe train to the Continent via ferry over the English Channel.
AN IDEAL HUSBAND
FIRST ACT
L. 1. Grosvenor Square: a prestigious address in Mayfair, London.
LL. 7-8: Triumph of Love, from a design by Boucher: François Boucher (1703-70), a French artist who completed his classically inspired Triumph of Love (also known as Triumph of Venus) in the 1730s. L. 12. Louis Seize sofa: a sofa hearkening back to the reign of Louis XVI, king of France in the period that brought about the French Revolution in 1789. Like the other features of the Sir Robert’s house, the decor suggests continental refinement rather than proud English insularity. L. 13. Watteau: Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), French rococo painter noted for scenes depicting elegantly costumed ladies and gentlemen at play outdoors.
LL. 16-17. star of the Garter: a noble military badge; Whig: an actual political party until the mid-nineteenth century, known as a progressive force of opposition to the conservative Tories. To use the term Whig in Wilde’s time is to conjure a figure that is progressive but also securely part of the Establishment; Lawrence: Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830), an English painter noted for political portraits at a time when the Whig party was in its heyday.
LL. 28-29. Tanagra statuette: a small terra-cotta human figure, characteristically associated with fifth to third century B.C. examples found near the Greek city of Tanagra. Typically, the figures are thinly draped female dancers.
L. 32. the Row: the so-called “Rotten Row” in Hyde Park, where the fashionable rode their horses.
L. 9. milliner: a person, generally a woman, who makes fashionable articles of apparel, especially hats.
L. 24. hair à la marquise: a woman’s hairstyle associated with pre-revolutionary France, hence in keeping with much of the decorative detail in this Act. L. 29. heliotrope: A shade of purple characteristic of the flower by this name.
L. 13. House of Commons: the lower house of Parliament in Great Britain. L. 14. Vandyck: Sir Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1641), Flemish painter.
L. 35. blue spectacles: in the Victorian period, the term blue had come to include senses such as sad and depressed, and it seems that Mrs. Cheveley draws on these senses in opposing the pessimist’s view to the optimist’s broad grin.
L. 3. Our season: the annual period of London-based society gatherings that gained momentum in December, accelerated after Easter, and wound down in August when wealthy families headed to the countryside for hunting season.
L. 17. Corots: Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875), French landscape painter.
LL. 29-30. Penelope: the Greek wife who faithfully waited decades as her husband Odysseus wended his way home from the Trojan War. In styling Penelope as a “disadvantage” to the worldly man, Mrs. Cheveley is directing yet another volley at marriage.
L. 34. dandy: a man primarily concerned with manners, elegance, and fashionable attire; a fop; romantic: emphasizing authenticity and genuine feeling, thus too artless and direct to suit the dandified Lord Goring.
L. 22. House: The House of Commons typically convened in the afternoon and often ran until after midnight with speeches.
L. 31. dowdies: shabbily or drably attired women.
L. 13. Suez Canal: Linking the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, the Suez Canal was opened in 1869. In 1875, the British acted on economic and political concerns by purchasing a controlling interest in the Canal.
L. 27. a second Panama: a reference to the canal project that had recently stalled following revelations of corruption.
L. 22. Puritanism: smug moralism. See note for p. 11, L. 29.
L. 1. Ladies’ Gallery: a viewing area for women observing the proceedings of the House of Commons.
LL. 6-7. Claridge’s: an elegant hoteL.
L. 11. en règle: according to the “rule” or norm (French). Mrs. Cheveley understands that ladies abroad can leave their card to a man, but ladies in England would seem forward in doing so. L. 29. Royal Academy: the most prestigious school of art and exhibition gallery in London.
L. 10. mauve Hungarian music: mauve is a hue of purple associated with 1890s aestheticism and, by many accounts, with a male homosexual subculture at the time. A very frequent color reference in Wilde’s writings, this instance plays with the strangeness of attributing color to music. In that respect, Lord Goring recalls the idea of sense-blending, or synesthesia, that English and French writers in the aestheticist mode had played with for decades.
SECOND ACT
L. 36. twenty-two at the time: Assuming that the play is set in the mid-1890s, the “present” of its audience, Sir Robert’s deal with Baron Arnheim would appear to have been made in the mid-1870s, contemporary with the British purchase into the Suez Canal (see note for p. 95, L. 13). Wilde’s stage direction in the First Act tells us that Chiltern is now “a man of forty” (p. 85, 1. l).
L. 13. Park Lane: elegant address in Mayfair.
L. 21. £110,000: equivalent to about £5 million today, or $8 million in U.S. currency. Regarding such money conversions, however, see note for p. 20, L. 5.
L. 5. cipher: encoded.
L. 9. décolleté: indicating a woman’s dress cut low over the bosom. Here the figurative sense is one of Continental raciness. LL. 23-24. Woman’s Liberal Association: Wilde seems to have in mind an organization founded in the 1880s to offer women a forum for political activity. When Wilde was working up this play, from 1893 to 1895, the organization was very active, though increasingly divided over questions of female suffrage and, soon, the Boer War. By the end of the 1890s, the Women’s Liberal Federation and the Women’s National Liberal Association named respectively more and less radical wings of the original entity.
L. 36-P. 118, LL. 1-2. Factory Acts, Female Inspectors, the Eight Hours’ Bill, the Parliamentary Franchise: various contemporary reforms promoted by liberal thinkers and politicians.
L. 24. Bachelors’ Ball: a fixture event in the social season.
L. 23. German philosophy: Although generally associated by the English with abstruse idealism, the reference here to German philosophy as pessimistic suggests more specifically the views of Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860).
L. 17. The Morning Post: a daily newspaper.
L. 27. bimetallist: comically, Mabel Chiltern has grasped at a then-current political debate over whether and how to define a monetary standard using both gold and silver. This is the historical period during which a single-metal gold standard was emerging to facilitate international economy.
L. 18. tableaux: Also called tableaux vivants or “living pictures” (French), these entertainments featured people dressing up and holding a group pose in emulation of a painting or a historical scene; Triumph of something: The opening stage direction indicated a French tapestry in the Chiltern home depicting the Triumph of Love by Boucher. See note for p. 81, LL. 7–8.
L. 7. Bath: spa town in England.
LL. 13-14. Higher Education of Women: Since around 1850, women in increasing numbers had been able to attend British colleges and universities, although at traditional institutions women were limited in their ability to earn regular degrees well into the twentieth century.
L. 10. Upper House: the hereditary House of Lords in Parliament.
L. 21. Blue Books: governmental publications.
L. 25. yellow covers: Racy continental novels were sold in yellow paper wraps.
THIRD ACT
L. 1. Adams room: a room in elegant neoclassical style, after Robert Adams (1728-92), a Scottish architect who was also noted for his interiors. A surviving example of his interior work is Kenwood House in Hampstead Heath.
L. 6. Sphinx: Both Greek and Egyptian mythologies tell of this creature with the head of a woman and the body of a winged lion. The Greek version dramatized by Sophocles in Oedipus Rex tells of a sphinx that destroys all those who fail to answer its riddle. Wilde often referred to sphinxes in his writings and in his private life. L. 14. buttonho
le: a flower or small spray of flowers worn by men in a lapel buttonhole.
L. 16. Lamia-like: Lamia is a fatal sorceress known for sucking the blood of children. The romantic poet John Keats wrote a famous poem by this name in 1819.
p. 142, L. 34. hock: a German white wine.
L. 31. gout: an illness involving painfully swollen joints, associated especially with wealthy individuals because it was understood to be brought about by high levels of meat consumption.
L. 35. Book of Numbers: In referring to this book of the Old Testament, which is devoted to lineages, Lord Goring has in mind at least the two marriages of Mrs. Cheveley and perhaps insinuates that she has “known” more than two men along the way.
LL. 9-10. Voilà tout: “That is all” (French).
FOURTH ACT
L. 29. Canning: George Canning (1770-1827), notable politician and, in 1827, prime minister.
LL. 12-13. Downing Street: residence of the prime minister in Westminster, London.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST
FIRST ACT
L. 1. Half-Moon Street: in Mayfair, London, an elegant residential neighborhood.
L. 15. salver: A small tray used in wealthy households to present refreshments, letters, cards, and so forth.
L. 32. Shropshire: a west-midland county of England.
L. 24. Scotland Yard: headquarters of the Metropolitan Police in London, especially its detective branch.
L. 15. Tunbridge Wells: here presumably meant to indicate a respectable but unexciting community. It is east of London, in Kent.
L. 3. The Albany: a bachelor residence near the Royal Academy, a short walk up Piccadilly from Algernon’s dwelling on Half-Moon Street. L. 17. Bunburyist: although Bunbury was an actual, if uncommon, surname in Wilde’s period, the term operates here as a provocative and playful coinage. Given that bum is low English slang for buttocks, an uncanny valence of male homosexual erotics permeates Algernon’s ostensibly innocent term for his double life.