The Importance of Being Earnest
Oscar Wilde, 1895
A trivial comedy for serious people, in three acts.
Oscar Wilde's 1895 comedy of two young men who each invent a second life for their convenience, two young women determined to marry a man named Ernest, and Lady Bracknell. Three acts of some of the quickest dialogue in English.
3 acts · 20,470 words · about 8.5 hours at 40 wpm
Start with Act 1How it begins
Morning-room in Algernon’s flat in Half-Moon Street. The room is luxuriously and artistically furnished. The sound of a piano is heard in the adjoining room.
[Lane is arranging afternoon tea on the table, and after the music has ceased, Algernon enters.]
Algernon. I’m sorry for that, for your sake. I don’t play accurately—any one can play accurately—but I play with wonderful expression. As far as the piano is concerned, sentiment is my forte. I keep science for Life.
Acts
- 1 Algernon’s Flat in Half-Moon Street ~3 h
- 2 The Garden at the Manor House ~3.5 h
- 3 The Drawing-Room at the Manor House ~2 h
Text: Project Gutenberg #844. In the public domain.