The Importance of Being Earnest is a three-act play (shortened from four acts by Wilde on the advice of his producer) set in Algernon Moncrieff’s London flat (Act 1) and his friend Jack Worthing’s Hertfordshire manor house (Acts 2 and 3). The plot features forbidden romance, double lives, disguise, deception and, after several twists and turns, ends with the marriages of Jack to Gwendolen and Algernon to Cecily — unions that are ultimately approved by Algernon’s fearsome and outspoken aunt, Lady Bracknell. The plot and characters are, however, less significant than the witty dialogue in which sparkling repartee, epigrams, puns and wordplay feature throughout the play.
The end of the nineteenth century is seen as a time of conflicting cultural and societal attitudes. London was the heart of the British Empire, symbolising the wealth and success achieved during the reign of Queen Victoria. Nevertheless, Victorianism was for many people becoming outdated as they looked to the new century and embraced artistic and cultural movements that marked the beginnings of modernism.
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