{"product_id":"the-importance-of-being-earnest-isbn-9780812967142","title":"The Importance of Being Earnest","description":"Oscar Wilde created his final and most lasting play, comic masterpieces of all time, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, in 1895. Considered one of the greatest THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST is a farce, playing with love, religion, and truth as it tells the tale of two men. Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, who bend the truth in order to add excitement to their lives. Jack invents an imaginary brother, Ernest, whom he uses as an excuse to escape from his dull country home and gallavant in town. Meanwhile, Algernon follows Jack's scam, but his imaginary friend, Bumbury, provides a convenient method of adventuring in the country. However, their deceptions eventually cross paths, resulting in a series of crises that threaten to spoil their romantic pursuits. Hailed as the first modern comedy in England, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST is Wilde's most famous work. This collection also features two other plays that Wilde penned earlier in his career, LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN and AN IDEAL HUSBAND, that also display his ability to convey warmth and wit through his hilarious characters and their outlandish situations.\u003cb\u003eOscar Wilde\u003c\/b\u003e (1854–1900) was an Irish writer, poet, and playwright. His novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Picture of Dorian Gray\u003c\/i\u003e, brought him lasting recognition, and he became one of the most successful playwrights of the late Victorian era with a series of witty social satires, including his masterpiece, \u003ci\u003eThe Importance of Being Earnest\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTerrence McNally\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of numerous plays, including \u003ci\u003eLove! Valour! Compassion!\u003c\/i\u003e (winner of the Tony Award for best play), \u003ci\u003eThe Ritz\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eFrankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune\u003c\/i\u003e, which was made into a feature film starring Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer, and the books for the musicals \u003ci\u003eThe Rink\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eKiss of the Spider Woman\u003c\/i\u003e (winner of the Tony Award for the best book of a musical). Other successes include \u003ci\u003eLips Together, Teeth Apart\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Lisbon Traviata\u003c\/i\u003e. McNally has received two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller grant, and a citation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He also served as vice president for the Dramatists Guild, the national organization of playwrights, composers, and lyricists. He lives in New York City.\u003cb\u003eFirst Act\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eScene—Morning-room of Lord Windermere’s house in Carlton House Terrace.Doors C. and R. Bureau with books and papers R. Sofa with small tea-table L. Window opening on to terrace L. Table R. (Lady Windermere is at table R., arranging roses in a blue bowl.) (Enter Parker.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eParker. Is your ladyship at home this afternoon?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. Yes—who has called?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eParker. Lord Darlington, my lady.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. (Hesitates for a moment.) Show him up—and I’m at home to any one who calls. Parker. Yes, my lady. (Exit C.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. It’s best for me to see him before to-night. I’m glad he’s come. (Enter Parker C.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eParker. Lord Darlington. (Enter Lord Darlington C. (Exit Parker.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. How do you do, Lady Windermere?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. How do you do, Lord Darlington? No, I can’t shake hands with you. My hands are all wet with these roses. Aren’t they lovely? They came up from Selby this morning.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. They are quite perfect. (Sees a fan lying on the table.) And what a wonderful fan! May I look at it?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. Do. Pretty, isn’t it! It’s got my name on it, and everything. I have only just seen it myself. It’s my husband’s birthday present to me. You know to-day is my birthday?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. No? Is it really?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. Yes, I’m of age to-day. Quite an important day in my life, isn’t it? That is why I am giving this party to-night. Do sit down. (Still arranging flowers.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. (Sitting down.) I wish I had known it was your birthday, Lady Windermere. I would have covered the whole street in front of your house with flowers for you to walk on. They are made for you. (A short pause.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. Lord Darlington, you annoyed me last night  at the Foreign Office. I am afraid you are going to annoy me again.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. I, Lady Windermere? (Enter Parker and Footman C., with tray and tea things.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. Put it there, Parker. That will do. (Wipes her hands with her pocket-handkerchief, goes to tea-table L., and sits down.) Won’t you come over, Lord Darlington? (Exit Parker C.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. (Takes chair and goes across L.C.) I am quite miserable, Lady Windermere. You must tell me what I did. (Sits down at table L.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. Well, you kept paying me elaborate compliments the whole evening.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. (Smiling.) Ah, now-a-days we are all of us so hard up, that the only pleasant things to pay are compliments. They’re the only things we can pay.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. (Shaking her head.) No, I am talking very seriously. You mustn’t laugh, I am quite serious. I don’t like compliments, and I don’t see why a man should think he is pleasing a woman enormously when he says to her a whole heap of things that he doesn’t mean.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. Ah, but I did mean them. (Takes tea which she offers him.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. (Gravely.) I hope not. I should be sorry to have to quarrel with you, Lord Darlington. I like you very much, you know that. But I shouldn’t like you at all if I thought you were what most other men are. Believe me, you are better than most other men, and I sometimes think you pretend to be worse.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. We all have our little vanities, Lady Windermere.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. Why do you make that your special one? (Still seated at table L.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. (Still seated L.C.) Oh, now-a-days so many conceited people go about Society6 pretending to be good, that I think it shows rather a sweet and modest disposition to pretend to be bad. Besides, there is this to be said. If you pretend to be good, the world takes you very seriously. If you pretend to be bad, it doesn’t. Such is the astounding stupidity of optimism.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. Don’t you want the world to take you seriously then, Lord Darlington?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. No, not the world. Who are the people the world takes seriously? All the dull people one can think of, from the Bishops down to the bores. I should like you to take me very seriously, Lady Windermere, you more than any one else in life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. Why—why me?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. (After a slight hesitation.) Because I think we might be great friends. Let us be great friends. You may want a friend some day.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. Why do you say that?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. Oh!—we all want friends at times.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. I think we’re very good friends already, Lord Darlington. We can always remain so as long as you don’t——\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. Don’t what?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. Don’t spoil it by saying extravagant silly things to me. You think I am a Puritan, I suppose? Well, I have something of the Puritan in me. I was brought up like that. I am glad of it. My mother died when I was a mere child. I lived always with Lady Julia, my father’s elder sister you know. She was stern to me, but she taught me, what the world is forgetting, the difference that there is between what is right and what is wrong. She allowed of no compromise. I allow of none.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. My dear Lady Windermere!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. (Leaning back on the sofa.) You look on me as being behind the age.—Well, I am! I should be sorry to be on the same level as an age like this.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. You think the age very bad?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. Yes. Now-a-days people seem to look on life as a speculation.8 It is not a speculation. It is a sacrament. Its ideal is Love. Its purification is sacrifice.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. (Smiling.) Oh, anything is better than being sacrificed!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. (Leaning forward.) Don’t say that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. I do say it. I feel it—I know it. (Enter Parker C.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eParker. The men want to know if they are to put the carpets on the terrace for to-night, my lady?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. You don’t think it will rain, Lord Darlington, do you?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. I won’t hear of its raining on your birthday!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. Tell them to do it at once, Parker. (Exit Parker C.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. (Still seated.) Do you think then—of course I am only putting an imaginary instance—do you think that in the case of a young married couple, say about two years married, if the husband suddenly becomes the intimate friend of a woman of—well, more than doubtful character, is always calling upon her, lunching with her, and probably paying her bills—do you think that the wife should not console herself?\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. (Frowning.) Console herself?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. Yes, I think she should—I think she has the right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. Because the husband is vile—should the wife be vile also?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. Vileness is a terrible word, Lady Windermere.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. It is a terrible thing, Lord Darlington.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. Do you know I am afraid that good people do a great deal of harm in this world. Certainly the greatest harm they do is that they make badness of such extraordinary importance. It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious. I take the side of the charming, and you, Lady Windermere, can’t help belonging to them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. Now, Lord Darlington. (Rising and crossing R., front of him.) Don’t stir, I am merely going to finish my flowers. (Goes to table R.C.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. (Rising and moving chair.) And I must say I think you are very hard on modern life, Lady Windermere. Of course there is much against it, I admit. Most women, for instance, now-a-days, are rather mercenary.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. Don’t talk about such people.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. Well then, setting mercenary people aside, who, of course, are dreadful, do you think seriously that women who have committed what the world calls a fault should never  be forgiven?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. (Standing at table.) I think they should never be forgiven.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. And men? Do you think that there should be the same laws for men as there are for women?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. Certainly!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. I think life too complex a thing to be settled by these hard and fast rules.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. If we had “these hard and fast rules,” we should find life much more simple.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. You allow of no exceptions?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. None!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. Ah, what a fascinating Puritan you are, Lady Windermere!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. The adjective was unnecessary, Lord Darlington.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. I couldn’t help it. I can resist everything except temptation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. You have the modern affectation of weakness.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. (Looking at her.) It’s only an affectation, Lady Windermere. (Enter Parker C.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eParker. The Duchess of Berwick and Lady Agatha Carlisle. (Enter the Duchess of Berwick and Lady Agatha Carlisle C. (Exit Parker C.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eDuchess of Berwick. (Coming down C., and shaking hands.) Dear Margaret, I am so pleased to see you. You remember Agatha, don’t you? (Crossing L.C.) How do you do, Lord Darlington? I won’t let you know my daughter, you are far too wicked.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. Don’t say that, Duchess. As a wicked man I am a complete failure. Why, there are lots of people who say I have never really done anything wrong in the whole course of my life. Of course they only say it behind my back.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDuchess of Berwick. Isn’t he dreadful? Agatha, this is Lord Darlington. Mind you don’t believe a word he says. (Lord Darlington crosses R.C.) No, no tea, thank you, dear. (Crosses and sits on sofa.) We have just had tea at Lady Markby’s. Such bad tea, too. It was quite undrinkable. I wasn’t at all surprised. Her own son-in-law supplies it. Agatha is looking forward so much to your ball to-night, dear Margaret.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. (Seated L.C.) Oh, you mustn’t think it is going to be a ball, Duchess. It is only a dance in honour of my birthday. A small and early.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLord Darlington. (Standing L.C.) Very small, very early, and very select, Duchess.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDuchess of Berwick. (On sofa L.) Of course it’s going to be select. But we know that, dear Margaret, about your house. It is really one of the few houses in London where I can take Agatha, and where I feel perfectly secure about dear Berwick. I don’t know what society is coming to. The most dreadful people seem to go everywhere. They certainly come to my parties—the men get quite furious if one doesn’t ask them. Really, some one should make a stand against it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLady Windermere. I will, Duchess. I will have no one in my house about whom there is any scandal.Introduction by Terrence McNally [quote]--George Bernard Shaw","brand":"Modern Library","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44886317301989,"sku":"NP9780812967142","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780812967142.jpg?v=1767739914","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-importance-of-being-earnest-isbn-9780812967142","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}