Question

PLEASE HELP!

The Importance of Being Earnest Comedy Techniques

Answer 1

After reading The Importance of Being Earnest, choose three of the ten examples given below. Then, identify the comic technique of each of the examples and explain the humor used.

1.) My dear Algy, you talk exactly as if you were a dentist. It is very vulgar to talk like a dentist when one isn't a dentist. It produces a false impression.

2.) [Picking up empty plate in horror.] Good heavens! Lane! Why are there no cucumber sandwiches? I ordered them specially.

3.) Bunburyist? What on earth do you mean by a Bunburyist?

4.) I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square.

5.) I really don't see anything romantic in proposing. It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal. Why, one may be accepted. One usually is, I believe. Then the excitement is all over. The very essence of romance is uncertainty. If ever I get married, I'll certainly try to forget the fact.

6.) Ernest, we may never be married. From the expression on mamma's face I fear we never shall. Few parents nowadays pay any regard to what their children say to them. The old-fashioned respect for the young is fast dying out. Whatever influence I ever had over mamma, I lost at the age of three. But although she may prevent us from becoming man and wife, and I may marry some one else, and marry often, nothing that she can possibly do can alter my eternal devotion to you.

7.) You are under some strange mistake. I am not little. In fact, I believe I am more than usually tall for my age. [Algernon is rather taken aback.] But I am your cousin Cecily. You, I see from your card, are Uncle Jack's brother, my cousin Ernest, my wicked cousin Ernest.

8.) My sermon on the meaning of the manna in the wilderness can be adapted to almost any occasion, joyful, or, as in the present case, distressing. [All sigh.] I have preached it at harvest celebrations, christenings, confirmations, on days of humiliation and festal days. The last time I delivered it was in the Cathedral, as a charity sermon on behalf of the Society for the Prevention of Discontent among the Upper Orders. The Bishop, who was present, was much struck by some of the analogies I drew.

9.) Oh no. [Puts her hand over it.] You see, it is simply a very young girl's record of her own thoughts and impressions, and consequently meant for publication. When it appears in volume form I hope you will order a copy. But pray, Ernest, don't stop. I delight in taking down from dictation. I have reached 'absolute perfection'. You can go on. I am quite ready for more.

10.) And what makes his conduct all the more heartless is, that he was perfectly well aware from the first that I have no brother, that I never had a brother, and that I don't intend to have a brother, not even of any kind. I distinctly told him so myself yesterday afternoon.

Answer 2

did you even bother to read it?

Answer 3

2 says horror but he is mad not afraid lol

Answer 4

@dan815 @Data_LG2 @bibby @bohotness @Compassionate @chycora @triciaal @Tazmaniadevil @inowalst @sammixboo

Answer 5

I need to know what type of comedy 3 of the quotes exhibit.

Answer 6

http://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrTccRlSCVVV5UAo4YnnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTEzbmdoYXFmBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMgRjb2xvA2dxMQR2dGlkA1lIUzAwNF8x/RV=2/RE=1428535526/RO=10/RU=http%3a%2f%2fwww.sparknotes.com%2flit%2fearnest%2fthemes.html/RK=0/RS=oikng6Vhxbrjd8zkXmyXq0P4cxU-

Answer 7

Satire: a comedic work that ridicules vice, folly, or stupidity in individuals or institutions.

Juvenalian satire: satire that is harsh, biting, and cruel, and is full of indignation and contempt.

Horatian satire: satire that is gentle and amused in tone.

Parody: a work that ridicules another work by exaggerating and imitating aspects of its structure, style, and content.

Mistaken Identity: when one character is mistaken for another, either accidentally or through purposeful deception such as occurs in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Coincidence: when circumstances or events happen that seem unlikely, as when long-separated twins are reunited because they both go to the same dentist.

Surprise and Incongruity: a time-honored comic device is to set up the audience to expect one thing and then surprise them with the unexpected, such as when a character does the unexpected.

Hyperbole or Exaggeration: occur when a character's actions or behavior is exaggerated beyond normal expectation.

Humorous words, puns, names, or malapropisms: some words are funny-sounding, such as Bottom, the weaver in A Midsummer Night's Dream. A pun is a play on words that wittily exploits a double meaning. In The Importance of Being Earnest, Rev. Chasuble's name is also the name of a type of vestment worn by clergy.

Dramatic Irony: when the audience knows something that one or more of the characters do not know.

Visual or Slapstick: uses humorous costumes, cross-dressing, antic behavior such as chase scenes, people slipping on banana peels, or getting hit with a pie in the face.

Embarrassing moments or collapse of dignity: when an authority figure's pretentiousness or absurdity is undermined or revealed to others; a butler who makes his master look foolish, for example.

Stereotypes: the miser, braggart, imposter, coward, parasite, old fool with young wife, foolish fop, jealous husband, saucy maid, are examples

Social satire: highlights the foolishness, errors, and failings of social institutions, customs, or behavior. The Importance of Being Earnest has many examples of social satire that target the customs of courtship, arranged marriages, and education.

Answer 8

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/earnest/themes.html