Summer Reading Study Guide for the Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Honors British

Summer Reading Study Guide for The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Honors British Literature 230 Instructor: Mr. Perzinski

Please complete the following exercises in conjunction with your summer reading of The Importance of Being Earnest. All work is to be typed; all work is to follow MLA guidelines regarding citations from the play: please consult The Bedford Handbook for assistance in this matter; and all work is to be stapled before being submitted to me upon your return to school.

Directions for Part I: Define the following words, and create original sentences using the defined words that demonstrate an understanding of the words’ definitions: salver, forte, Wagnerian, expurgation, demonstrative, glibly, metaphysical, inquisitorial, trivet, apoplexy, vacillating, quixotic, neologistic, precept, carter, amity, portmanteau, profligacy, salutary, effrontery, license, usury, rheumatic, equanimity, abject, pinions, aristocratic, philanthropic, supercilious, affectation, credulity, ostentatiously, tutelage, savour, uncanonical, quails, perambulator, omnibus, tableau

Directions for Part II: Define the term Aphorism. Select five aphorisms from The Importance of Being Earnest and describe – in brief, constructed responses of a paragraph or so – what the aphorism means and why the aphorism appeals to you as a reader of the play.

Directions for Part III: Define the following terms: Irony, Verbal Irony, Dramatic Irony, Situational Irony. Provide three examples of verbal irony, three of dramatic irony, and three of situational irony from the play. Provide an explanation (of a paragraph or so in length) of the function of each instance of irony.

Directions for Part IV: Essay: In five-paragraph essay form, please construct a response to the following thoughts of scholar Kenneth Krauss regarding the play The Importance of Being Earnest:

“Without the ballast of a traditional, meaningful plot, Earnest soars to comedic heights. Its surface is

so polished that we easily may be blinded or taken in by its notion, so often articulated throughout the

script, that surface alone matters. Yet beneath the superficial brilliance, Wilde manages to create a

subtle interplay of ironies that add up to more than the wit so prominently on display. After all, Wilde

was a serious Aestheticist, and while that may strike readers as a contradiction, it is exactly that

hilarious paradox with which Earnest is so seriously concerned.”