The Importance of Being Earnest and Four Other Plays

'The truth is rarely pure and never simple.'

'I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.'

'All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does, and that is his.'

A timeless, witty, satirical play that mocks the conventional Victorian traditions and social customs.

His critique of the upper class is palpable, highlighting the hypocrisy of marriage expectations and the superficialness of upper society, who are unauthentic to appease societal expectations and appear more alluring. The title itself mocks the Victorian upper classes as the character trait of ‘earnestness’ was very much desirable in nineteenth-century society.

I just love Oscar Wilde’s work and his audacious critique of society, which still holds significance today.

What a wonderful play!

it was cool reading so many classics, loved lady windermere’s fan + the importance of being earnest

“It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious”

Salomé 3.5 stars Lady Windermere's Fan 4 stars The Importance of Being Earnest 4.5 stars

So incredibly humorous, made me FEEL so many things in such little time. Wonderful characterization, so utterly heartwarming.

I have to place this disclaimer at the outset of my review. I am not a huge fan of reading plays. (Now that I think about it and add plays to the list, I really primarily enjoy works of non-fiction--usually history--and full length novels. Nothing wrong with that, right?) To the review of the book itself: I enjoyed the first play (also the title play) "The Importance of Being Earnest" the most. This is likely due to the fact that I have likely read it before and am familiar (from other references) with the plot and characters. Wilde, with all of the plays, uses a manageable number of characters with distinct names to prevent confusion for the reader/viewer. Both the dialogue and the plot are neat and concise without being predictable from the first scene. That being said, the final play in this collection. Salomé, I found to be disturbing and out of character from the rest of Wilde's plays included in this collection. I definitely recommend this book to all those interested in classic British literature as well as those interested in plays and/or the classics.

Lady Windermere's Fan: 4.75/5 Salomé: 4/5 A Woman of No Importance: 4.25/5 An Ideal Husband: 5/5 A Florentine Tragedy: 4/5 The Importance of Being Earnest: 4.5/5