The next portion of The Importance of Being Earnest that I read ventures to Jack's country house, where Cecily and Miss Prism are speaking. Miss Prism is trying to get Cecily to take a German lesson, but Cecily resists. The opening of this act (Act II) exposes the nature of Cecily and Miss Prism through dialogue. In this conversation, Cecily is shown to be a young girl with a free spirit, while Miss Prism seems to be inclined to back up Jack's sentiments--to have Cecily "improve in all areas". Jack is Cecily's uncle, and is presumably the primary caretaker of Cecily.
A Mr. Ernest Worthing drops in, Jack's alter ego created for "Bunburying". However, we discover that this is Algernon, coming to both mock Jack for his lies and profess his interest in Cecily. Cecily has heard innumerable things about Ernest, mostly that he is a troublemaker who "lives only for pleasure". Despite hearing this (and having never met him), she is drawn to him and expresses excitement at his arrival.
Jack returns to the country house, dressed in clothes of mourning. Attempting to kill off Ernest entirely, he tells those in the house that Ernest is dead, but "Ernest" enters the room soon after to Jack's disgust.
I left it with "Ernest" forcing his stay at Jack's to last a week and expressing his love for Cecily. Despite the bizarreness of an uncle and niece being together (Cecily is still under the impression that "Ernest" is Jack's brother), Cecily reciprocates these feelings, accepting his proposal soon after. However, to bolster the hilarity and irony of the situation, Cecily says that she has always wanted to marry an Ernest and cannot see herself with a person with another name. The "Bunburying" that got Jack into a situation has now gotten Algernon into a similar bind.
I really liked your two posts!
ReplyDeleteThe Ernest Hemingway short story sounds awesome. I think you were able to really catch the essence of Hemingway very well and I also enjoyed your commentary on the differences between his early work and later work. Sometimes I think it’s hard to figure out what Hemingway’s true purpose is, as he presents all information in such a clear-cut and concise way, but it seems as though you found the core of the piece pretty easily. The plot sounds really interesting, as I think everyone in their life has the kind of fascination-from-afar Liz experiences, and then the terror when it becomes too real. I’m definitely going to check out “Up In Michigan” in my spare time.
It’s interesting to read your blogpost on The Importance of Being Earnest, as I just finished reading the play as well. It’s ridiculously funny, which caught me off-guard given the time period it was written in. It’s interesting that you are reading the play alongside reading “Up In Michigan”, as I think they bother offer commentary on male-female relationships-- while Liz is in love with Jim although she’s never seen them, Cecily is in love with “Earnest” although she’s never met him. The only thing I would point out is that it was not uncommon for cousins to get married during the period in which Wilde wrote this play. The situation between Cecily and Algy is definitely bizarre, but not for any purposefully incestuous reasons.