The Importance of Being Earnest

Multiple Choice

1. A (Act 1)

2. C (Act 1)

3. A (Act 2)

4. B (Act 1)

5. D (Act 3)

6. C (Various acts)

7. C (Act 3)

8. A (Various acts)

9. B (Act 3)

10. B (Act 3)

11. D (Various acts)

12. A (Various acts)

13. A (Act 2)

14. C (Act 2)

15. D (Act 1)

Long Answer

1. Due to its cheapness and subject matter, the “three-volume novel” was the most accessible literary format for the Victorian middle class, though the clichéd plot devices typically exploited by such novels prevented them from being taken seriously by critics. Wilde uses three-volume novels, such as the one written and misplaced by Miss Prism, to satirize the shallowness of the British middle classes. (Acts 2 and 3)

2. While both Jack and Algernon have invented an imaginary character, Algernon’s Bunbury is entirely fictional, while Jack’s Ernest is really the persona Jack assumes when he is in the country. Algernon uses Bunbury to escape unwanted social and familial obligations, while Jack uses Ernest as an alias to behave more liberally and recklessly than he does in the country.