This week there's an easy question: What are your favorite quotations from The Importance of Being Earnest, and why? The play may not appeal to everybody (although it's usually quite popular with students in the Literature classes!), but there's no denying its wealth of memorable and quotable lines. Be sure to include the name of the character(s) speaking, and a detailed explanation of why the quotations appeal to you.
Don't worry if there is some duplication of quotations: obviously, your own reaction and reasons are just as important, if not more! Hint: choose your quotations and write your explanations BEFORE you look at what others have written!
Advanced assignment: ALSO find an example of CHIASMUS:
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the world's greatest dictionary, defines chiasmus as, "A grammatical figure by which the order of words in one of two of parallel clauses is inverted in the other." (Chiasmus can also be achieved through the reversal of whole phrases, single letters, or sounds, or there can be implied chasmus when the sentence plays with a well-known saying.) Here's an example:
One of the most fascinating features of chiasmus is this "marking with an X" notion. Take Mae West's signature line, "It's not the men in my life, it's the life in my men." By laying out the two clauses parallel to each other, it's possible to draw two lines connecting the key words:
It's not the men in my life
X
it's the life in my men.
(from the Chiasmus website of Dr. Mardy)
Click here for a well-written review of the play on Broadway a few years ago.
Trivia question of the week:
This may be an apocryphal story, but what is Oscar Wilde supposed to have said to the customs officers when he arrived in New York City to begin a one-year lecture tour of the United States?
Tip: Check out one of the film versions of the play, especially the 1952 classic (with the incomparable Edith Evans as Lady Bracknell), or the more recent 2002 version.
