The importance of being Ernest; Oscar Wilde

CONTENTS
Summary of the book's characters:
• ERNEST (JACK) WORTHING..............................................................2
• ALGERNON MONCRIEF........................................................................3
• CECILY CARDEW...................................................................................4
• LADY BRACKNELL.................................................................................5
• GWENDOLEN FAIRTAX.......................................................................6
Personal appreciation of the story....................................................7
ERNEST (JACK) WORTHING
More known as Jack Worthing.
He was abandoned when he was a baby and he was given shelter by Mr.
Cardew, who looked after him till he died.
After that, Jack became the guardian of Mr. Cardew's daughter, Cecily.
They live in the same house in the country, but Jack lives too in the town as
Ernest Worthing, a false brother with very bad reputation that Jack has
invented in order to have the possibility to do everything he wants without
any kind of problems. Jack is in love with Gwendolen Fairfax but she knows
him as Ernest Worthing.
So I'd say that Jack has invented two people in the same person and
every time he uses one character or the other he changes his personality.
On the one hand, when he takes the name of Jack, he's very sensitive
because he's supposed to look after a young girl (Cecily). On the other hand,
when he changes the role as Ernest, he's the person he'd like to be.
His speaking is very clear and clean. He's voice doesn't change but when he
is with Gwendolen (surely because they both talk in a love attitude)
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ALGERNON MONCRIEF
He is a person who likes to argue for everything, is extremely educated and
a few strict, he lives in the town but when he wants to go out to enjoy himself he
has a technique called Bunburyist, it consists of make this family believe that he
has a friend called Mr. Bunbury who has very bad health and due to that
Algernon has to visit him many times. In one of his leavings Algernon falls in love
with Cecily when he was doing like he was Ernest Worthing (because he knew Jack
had invented a person who doesn't exist and tries to help Jack in some way making
that lie more real).
Algernon and Jack are good friends so the fact of the two of them falling in love
with the same girl (Cecily) make things more complicated. That situation will prove
how selfish are Ernest and Algernon (I cannot say who's most)
He's also attached to Gwendole due to he is her cousin.
I love this character. I like a lot his voice (it makes me laugh). It really
goes with the kind of person he is. He's a very ironic person and that makes
his intonation get the characteristics of an ironical voice. In my opinion he
speaks quite fast.
CECILY CARDEW
She is the ward of Jack Worthing, she lives in a country house with her
governess Ms. Prism (a woman well educated and very cultured, that lives
dedicated to educate Cecily).
Cecily is a nice, young lady, very impatient, romantic and a few crazy.
As the same as Gwendolen she wants to get married to somebody called
Ernest. She also writes some letters to Ernest thinking in that way she will
reach a long and strong relationship with him. Things turn bad for her when
she knows the person of Ernest doesn't exist and that everything she loved
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was just a lie. However, she continues loving him as she has been doing it
before.
Concerning her speaking style I have to say that she has made me go crazy
with the way she speaks. She does it too fast and irregular that makes
understanding her very difficult.
I'd say that her intonation often turns into a sweet intonation (the same
voice youth use but that is comprehensive because after all she is just 18)
LADY BRACKNELL
She is the mother of Gwendolen and the aunt of Algernon.
She is a very hard woman, and worried in excess for what the society
thinks of her and her family. She wants, above all, to find an ideal husband
(good family and position) to Gwendolen and that is probably because she
wants to maintain her way of life or to make it better.
She is very critical to all her candidates and she is the same way with
Ernest. She doesn't look to be very interested in him to be the future
husband of her daughter Gwendolen knowing he has no fortune and no
reputation.
Personally I don't like this character either in the way she speaks (which
irritates me) either for the kind of person she is; she just thinks in herself
and the way she is going to life depending on the person that marries with
her daughter. And that is a thing I can't bear.
On the other hand, I'd say she speaks slow but at the same time loud. Her
intonation is so irregular and that's the main cause her voice can be
irritating.
GWENDOLEN FAIRTAX
She is the only daughter of Lady Bracknell, she is nice, clever and a few
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romantic, but she lives with the obsession of getting married to somebody
called Ernest. When she finally finds a man called Ernest (who really isn't
Ernest but Jack) and falls in love with him. She doesn't mind to have many
other men waiting for her to get married; she's totally sure Ernest is the
one for her (I can barely understand how a person is able fall in love with
somebody just because of his name). When she notices Ernest is not Ernest
but Jack she still loves him. So I'd say Gwendolen is a very capricious girl.
The only problem she's going to have is that her mother is not agree with
her in being Ernest the man of her life and despite being an honest girl
and taking too seriously all Lady Bracknell tells her, she turns a bit
disobedient in the way she goes to the town so she can see Ernest.
Concerning the speaking style, she speaks very fast even though she has a
regular intonation and it is not so difficult to understand her.
Her intonation also changes when she is with Ernest; it becomes higher.
PERSONAL APPRECIATION OF THE STORY
I like this story, in general, I've found it very funny, full of scrapes and
misunderstandings.
To start, and to my understanding, I think the false identities that the characters
of Algernon and Jack have (Mr. Bunbury and Ernest) reflect a desire of not to
have any sort of responsibility, they want to do anything without afraid of
reprisals.
In my opinion, the female characters (Gwendolen and Cecily) are very frivolous,
they are obsessed to marry to somebody called Ernest, which is a nonsense.
To summarise, I like very much this story full of scrapes, secrets and love in
equal dosage, it is amusing and pleasant to read, although I believe the end of this
one can be predicted (at least for me), it is known that something is going to
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happen, something to help Lady Bracknell gives her consent to the wedding.
I find it interesting, amusing, comical, with a coherent theme, without shocks and
with a satisfactory result to myself.
Besides, the fact of having the opportunity to hear the voices of the characters
has make them be closer to me, I mean, I have made a deeper imagine of
themselves.
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