FREE ESSAY ON THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

Overall Summary 
The play begins in the flat of Algernon Moncrieff, an upper-class English bachelor. He is
visited by his friend, Ernest Worthing. Ernest says that he has come to town to propose
to Gwendolen Fairfax, the daughter of Lady Bracknell and first cousin of Algernon.
Algernon tells Ernest that he refuses to give his consent as first cousin for Ernest to
marry Gwendolen until Ernest can explain why the name Cecily is inscribed in Ernest's
cigarette case). Ernest tells Algernon that Cecily is his ward who lives in the country.
Ernest also admits to Algernon that his name is not Ernest, it is Jack, which is what
everyone at his country Manor House calls him. Algernon jokingly accuses Ernest of
Bunburying, the practice of pretending that one has a friend in some other part of the
world which gives one an excuse to leave whatever part of the world he is currently in.
Algernon explains that he himself has an imaginary friend called Bunbury who frequently
gets sick, giving Algernon an excuse to get out of London social obligations.
Gwendolen and Lady Bracknell arrive at Algernon's flat for tea. Algernon tells Lady
Bracknell that, due to the illness of his friend Bunbury, he must leave London, and as a
result will not be able to attend her dinner that night. He distracts her in a different
room for a while so that Ernest can propose to Gwendolen. Ernest tells Gwendolen that he
loves her, and she replies that she loves him too, particularly because he in named
Ernest, a name which seems to inspire absolute confidence. Ernest, believing that his
name is actually Jack, gets worried, and privately resolves to get baptized and change
his name. Gwendolen, meanwhile, accepts his proposal just as Lady Bracknell returns;
Bracknell announces that Gwendolen may not marry Ernest until Lady Bracknell gives her
approval. Algernon and Gwendolen exit while Lady Bracknell interrogates Ernest to
determine how suitable a husband he is. She is pleased with his answers until she asks
him about his parents. When Ernest admits that he was abandoned by his parents and found
in a handbag by a Mr. Thomas Cardew in Victoria Station, Lady Bracknell is horrified. She
refuses to let her daughter marry a man with no knowledge of his own parentage, and
suggests to Ernest that he find some relatives.
Gwendolen returns, having heard of Lady Bracknell's disapproval, and agrees to meet
Ernest at his country estate to figure out what to do. He gives her the address, which is
overheard and copied down by Algernon.
Act II begins in Ernest's country estate, where his ward, Cecily, is learning German and
geography at the hands of Miss Prism, a tutor who once wrote a long novel that
mysteriously disappeared. Miss Prism, in between teaching Cecily, likes to flirt with the
house Rector, Dr. Chasuble. While she is taking a walk with him, Algernon, pretending to
be Ernest's fictional brother (also named Ernest), arrives to meet Cecily. The two show
an immediate romantic interest in one another, and go into the house to get food
together. As they leave, Prism and Chasuble return from their work and meet Ernest as he
arrives back home from the city. He is dressed in mourning in order to keep up the guise
that his brother, who does not actually exist, has died. While speaking with Chasuble and
Prism, Cecily comes out of the house and sees Ernest, and quickly informs him that his
brother has returned. Ernest is shocked and angered when his brother, Algernon, comes out
of the house. As the others exit to allow the two reunited brothers time to resolve their
differences, Ernest tells Algernon that he must leave the house at once. Algernon replies
that he will only if Ernest changes out of his morbid mourning clothes. As Ernest exits
to do so, Cecily returns. Algernon proposes to her, and she agrees, although she tells
him that she particularly loves him because he is named Ernest, a name that seems to
inspire absolute confidence. Cecily, in fact, has been pretending in her journal to be
engaged to Ernest ever since she first found out that her guardian had a brother.
Algernon, grows secretly worried about the fact that he is not named Ernest; he resolves
to get re-christened.
After Algernon exits, Gwendolen arrives to see Ernest, but in the meantime she chats with
Cecily, whom she has never before met. Gwendolen is surprised to hear that Ernest has a
ward but has never told her about it. Cecily is confused when Gwendolen says that she is
engaged to Ernest, and things become heated as they realize that they may be engaged to
the same man. Both try to refute the engagement claims of the other, and when that fails,
they sit in silent hostility until Algernon and Ernest reenter. They confess that they
have lied about their names and that neither of them is named Ernest. The two women are
shocked, and since both are engaged to a man named Ernest, they retreat together into the
house to await the appearance of this brother named Ernest. Meanwhile, Ernest begins to
panic while Algernon sits back and stuffs himself full of muffins.
Act III is set inside the Manor House. Algernon and Ernest enter shortly after the Act
begins. Algernon tells Cecily that he lied to her only so that he could have a chance to
see her, and Ernest confesses to Gwendolen that he lied to her about having a brother so
that he could spend more time in the city with her. The women are satisfied, although
they still cannot accept the men because they are not named Ernest. When the men reply
that they are scheduled to be christened that afternoon, all seems well, until suddenly
Lady Bracknell arrives. She again refuses to give her consent to the Ernest-Gwendolen
engagement. Algernon tells her that he is engaged to Cecily, and when Lady Bracknell
learns that Cecily is extremely wealthy thanks to her father's estate, she gives her
consent. However, as Cecily's legal guardian, Ernest will not give his consent to the
marriage unless Lady Bracknell approves of his engagement to Gwendolen. Lady Bracknell
again refuses and prepares to leave with Gwendolen. Dr. Chasuble enters and learns that a
christening will no longer be necessary, so he resolves to return to Miss Prism. Lady
Bracknell, suddenly realizing that she once employed a Miss Prism to take care of her
sister's baby, asks to see Miss Prism, who readily appears. Lady Bracknell demands to
know what happened to the baby, which we soon find out disappeared 28 years previously
when Miss Prism was supposed to be taking it for a stroll in the perambulator. Prism
confesses that she accidentally put her three-volume novel in the perambulator and the
baby in her handbag, which she mistakenly left in the cloak room at Victoria Station.
Ernest, suddenly realizing that he was that baby, fetches the briefcase in which he was
found, which Miss Prism confirms as being hers. Lady Bracknell tells Ernest that he is
the son of her sister and the elder brother of Algernon. A search through the military
periodicals of the time reveals that their father's first name was Ernest, and since
first sons are always named after the father, they realize that Ernest's name has,
indeed, all along been Ernest. Overjoyed, Ernest realizes that he has been telling the
truth his whole life even though he thought he was lying. In the end, he gets together
with Gwendolen, Algernon gets together with Cecily, and although Lady Bracknell accuses
Ernest of triviality, he retorts that he has only just discovered the vital importance of
being earnest.