![]() Through these thoughts Wilde expresses the meaninglessness of religion and the obviously hackneyed, empty words of sermons. They can be adapted to be joyful or distressing, depending on the occasion. The minister explains to Jack that the sermons for all sacraments are interchangeable. Religion is presented as dry, meaningless, and expensive. Miss Prism and Canon Chasuble also provide a comic touch to the subject of religious zeal and its relationship to Victorian morals. Cecily, however, exclaims to Miss Prism, "I suppose that is why he often looks a little bored when we three are together." In subtitling his play A Trivial Comedy for Serious People, perhaps Wilde is showing that setting one's jaw in a strong position for living rigidly with duty is both shortsighted and tediously boring. Servant of the upper class, Prism sees responsibility tinted with obligation as the correct form in Victorian society. Sighing bitterly, Miss Prism observes that people who live for pleasure are usually unmarried. Idleness, duty, and marriage are brought together in the conversations of several characters. But even in the countryside, the characters cannot escape Victorian manners and correctness, as the name Ernest presents humorous complications. The setting changes to the country - a bucolic setting for getting away from the artificial trappings of society and entering the simplicity of nature - and Wilde examines religion as well as courtship and marriage in the context of Victorian attitudes. So, like Jack, Algernon decides he must be re-christened Ernest.Īct II expands on many of the motifs introduced in Act I, but adds new characters and targets for Wilde's satire. She tells Algernon that her dream has always been to marry someone named Ernest because the name inspires such confidence. She has even written imaginary letters to herself from Ernest/Algernon. In fact, she agrees readily because she has made up an entire romantic story of their courtship and engagement. Algernon asks Cecily to marry him, and she agrees. Algernon proclaims his undying affection while Cecily copies his words in her diary. After Jack goes into the house, Algernon announces he is in love with Cecily. He orders the dogcart for Algernon to leave in. Jack is angry that Algernon could play such a trick. ![]() Algernon/Ernest vows to reform and lead a better life. Cecily comes from the house and announces that Jack's brother Ernest is in the dining room. Chasuble to re-christen him that afternoon around 5 p.m. Jack enters in mourning clothes because his brother Ernest is dead in Paris. Algernon compliments her beauty, and they go inside just before Miss Prism and Dr. When Cecily says that Jack is coming to the country Monday afternoon, Algernon/Ernest announces that he will be leaving Monday morning. Algernon comes in, pretending to be Jack's brother, Ernest. Ernest Worthing has just arrived with his luggage and is anxious to speak with Miss Cardew. While they are gone, Merriman, the butler, announces Mr. The local reverend, Canon Chasuble, enters and flirts with Miss Prism. In her younger days, Miss Prism wrote a three-volume novel, and she proclaims that fiction shows how good people end happily and bad people end unhappily. The governess knows what happens to people who have weak characters. ![]() When Cecily expresses an interest in meeting Jack's wicked brother, Ernest, Miss Prism repeats Jack's opinion that his brother has a weak character. Act II is set at Jack Worthing's country estate where Miss Prism is seated in the garden giving her student, Cecily Cardew, a lesson in German grammar. ![]()
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