Caleb James Grochalski

DRA 400: Playing Comedy

Prof. Leslie Noble

The Importance of Being Earnest : Scene Analysis

1. Given Circumstances: What do we know?

 Jack is called Earnest when associating with people of a higher class
 “Earnest in town and Jack in the country"
 We are at Algernon’s Flat
 Algernon is Cecily’s first cousin (and Lady Bracknell’s nephew)
 Cecily is Lady Bracknell’s Daughter
 Jack was just questioned by Lady B about my upbringing
 Jack is always lying, but very good at it
 Jack has blood of low class – Gewn of Aristocracy

2. Questions/Curiosities/Research: What don’t we know that we need to find out? For

example: missing information, unfamiliar words, unfamiliar references, etc.
 Provincial pulpits: speaking hall with podium. Where people preach/speak publicly
 Demonstrative: an obvious act of affection – physical action
 Metaphysical: highly abstract/overly theoretical

3. Character description: Who’s who and what do they want – (succinct summary)
 Jack has come to Algernon’s house to see Gwendolyn to propose to her
 And to reveal his true identity, but only to Gwendolyn.
 Algernon discovers Jacks cigarette case, and calls Jack out on his lies – only to admit that
He (Algernon) does the same thing, in terms of an alter-ego
 Jack is a very smart man, and tracks his lies very thoroughly
 He takes careful account of who knows what at any given time, so that he can navigate
the clear, but he does want to stop lying
 Jack wants to marry Gwendolyn and get Algernon and Lady B’s blessing
 Jack wants to start helping himself out of the hole instead of digging deeper

4. What’s at stake in this scene for each character?

 Jack could have his cover blown by Algernon, if he walks back in
 Jack must quickly propose and attempt to sort out this name issue himself
 Lady B already has put Jack on the hot seat, and he has passed the test
 Gwendolyn wants to marry and love Earnest
 Gwendolyn wants Earnest to propose exactly the way she planned
 Gwendolyn knows that mother disapproves, but she is so honestly overcome with love,
that she can easily ignore mother’s snappy commentary
 Gwendolyn believes that Earnest is a fair, truthful gentleman and he would be a great
husband

5. What are the actor challenges?

 The actor must overcome the issue of language and dialect
 Heavy period influence
 Clothing (three piece, stiff suit)
 Walking the line between high and low class
 When it is appropriate to take pauses during a line
 Dividing up the thought, so it doesn’t seem like an American “doing English”

6. What’s just happened prior to this scene?

 Algernon and Lady Bracknell just left and called along for Gwendolyn to join them
 Lady B just interviewed Earnest/Jack sbout his upbringing, because this is the first time
the two have been acquainted
 Algernon knows that Earnest is actually Jack
 Jack got his cigarette case back

7. Why is this scene in the play?

 This scene was written to provide exposition for Jack/Earnest and Gwendolyn
 This is the first time Jack and Gwendolyn are alone in the play
 They don’t know much about each other, still
 So there can be a proposal between two people
 To show how the rules of their love

8. What’s funny about this scene – what’s the comic potential?

 Both characters are overcome with emotion
 Time constriction, so they must be concise, but still very proper
 Lady B could re-enter at any time
 Jack wants to come clean, but he has to heat up the waters, so it’s not crazy news
 The waters aren’t getting heated the way Jack expected
 Gwendolyn is so stubborn, and Jack’s plans are all getting destroyed in front of him
 Love makes young people giddy and make mistakes, especially with a proposal
 Jack is trying so hard
 They are still getting acquainted with each other