In Victorian London, two fashionable young gentlemen have perfected the art of deception. Jack Worthing has invented a wicked brother named Ernest to escape his country duties. Algernon Moncrieff has invented an invalid friend named Bunbury to escape his social obligations. But when both men fall in love—and both claim to be "Ernest"—their elegant lies begin to unravel in the most hilarious fashion.
Oscar Wilde's masterpiece of mistaken identity, cucumber sandwiches, and handbags found in railway stations is the purest example of his genius. Every line glitters with wit. Every character speaks in epigrams. And beneath the laughter, Wilde gleefully demolishes the very Victorian values he appears to celebrate: marriage, morality, and the earnestness that gives the play its ironic title.
Called "a trivial comedy for serious people", The Importance of Being Earnest is anything but trivial. It is the perfect flower of Victorian comedy—and Wilde's last and brightest triumph before disgrace and imprisonment silenced him forever.
