Blog #7

The characters in an Oscar Wilde play often sound alike--they sound like their author. Are the witticisms of Wilde's characters a distraction to the plot or do they actually help to build the individual characters?

Part 1)
I enjoyed this drama. It was short, quick to read, and funny. I understood more of the jokes in this drama than in The Taming of the Shrew. I think it would be even funnier performed with the different intonations of the voices and the actions of the characters. There was not a long plot, but the characters definitely tangled themselves into a mess in a short amount of time. I was interested in finding out how everything was going to work out. But, I was surprised at the ending that no one cared that Jack (or Ernest) turned out to be Gwendolyn's cousin.

Part 2)
The witticisms of Wilde's characters do have a similar style, however, each character has their own twist to the jokes they make. The different characters are still developed to have varying personalities. It's the clashing of the different flavors of witticisms that makes the characters' interactions so humorous. For example, most of the witticisms made by Algernon characterize him as an outspoken smart aleck. The jokes that Jack makes characterize him as a little more serious. In the scene with the cigarette case, the men take on very different roles. Algernon is setting Jack up the whole time. He knows the truth, but he is just picking Jack apart until he admits it. The two different personalities mesh with each other to create a back and forth, funny conversation. Similarly, the characters of the women in the play are developed very differently. The witty remarks that Lady Bracknell makes would not have the same effect coming from Cecily and vice versa. Although the type of humor is similar throughout the play, each character uses the humor a little differently.