![]() ![]() It is a long way from Wilde's ignominious and self-pitying death in Paris in 1900. Ireland is taking the occasion even more seriously: issuing Wilde stamps and devoting three weeks of programmes, including productions of all the plays, to one of Dublin's great literary sons. Next Thursday is the centenary of his death, and it is being marked by a themed set of programmes this evening on the BBC's Knowledge channel, by exhibitions at the British Library, the Barbican and the Geffrye Museum in east London, and by a welter of books on Oscariana - his trials, tabletalk, wit, sexuality, even his wallpaper. It is also interesting considering this scene in the context of Wilde being incarcerated for gross indecency quickly after “The Importance of Being Earnest” opened.This is Oscar Wilde's moment. I wonder what others think about this scene and how Wilde himself would view people reprinting the three-act-version, with the four acts primarily forgotten. Although Jack can pay off the bill (a critique of aristocracy and how they can use money to get out of such situations), he was still under the threat of incarceration. ![]() As many have been saying in their blog posts, Wilde satirizes the aristocracy, but in the same subtle way as he did in “An Ideal Husband.” Since this was the original play and Wilde intended for his audience of English high society members to experience this scene, it is a bold move because it shows how excess extravagance has legal implications, like being incarcerated. ![]() He ends up paying the bill when Algernon refuses to do so, praised for his “generosity quite foolish,” according to Miss Prism (352). Jack claims he has “never saw such reckless extravagance in all my life,” ironic precisely because he is the cause of the extravagance and the bill when under his persona of Earnest (350). He would be incarcerated for twenty days if he could not pay his bill. Earnest Worthing, who is Algernon but actually Jack, for racking up an extravagant bill while dining. In the four-act version of the play, Gribsby, a solicitor with many quips and amusing lines, issues a writ to Mr. I became curious about the differences between both versions of the plays and their comparison. Vyvyan also notes how the three-act version is typically reprinted, published, and referred to. Phillip Drake, who is responsible for this edition of Wilde’s works, remarked, it seems a pity that George Alexander should have a permanent influence on the play” (13). He submitted this form to George Alexander, who, with the object of making room for a ‘curtain raiser,’ as was usual in those days, asked Wilde to cut it to three acts… As Mr. In the introduction, he writes, “Wilde originally wrote the play in four acts, as he had written his other three major plays. It was only halfway through the play in Act II that I saw the divergence between both versions, which made me turn back to the introduction written by Vyvyan Holland. It is performed by Bethany Lutheran College (). While reading “The Importance of Being Earnest,” I watched a play version of the text to follow along on YouTube. ![]()
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