Despite being thoroughly out of date (it dates from 1895), this play has the striking virtue of being hilariously funny throughout, in a way that transcends time. A modern writer transported back into British society of the 1890s and desiring to make fun of it could hardly have done better.

The story is perfectly composed, I see absolutely nothing wrong with it. But it’s pure social parody: the characters and the plot have no other purpose, and so it’s too light and insubstantial to make it into my top favourites. I certainly enjoy it, but I don’t reread it often.

I was already familiar with it before downloading this edition from Project Gutenberg: I think I’d previously read it (without owning a copy) and seen it performed. ( )

So much Wilde. So much quotable banter. Sure, it's lighter than Dorian Gray, so it's not taught as often, and so is too often overlooked, but come on. I like it even better now than the other times that I read it, when I was the age of the young characters. ( )

What a wonderful book to begin my reading journey of 2021! Of course, I regret a little that I hadn't read this in earlier years, but better late than never, eh?

I was already aware of this story, thanks to the wonderful 2002 movie of the same name. The two Ernests were brought to life brilliantly by Colin Firth and Rupert Everett and I had always wondered if the movie had spiced up the original script. Now that I've read the book, I have new respect for the movie as it has stayed true to the Oscar Wilde's play almost verbatim!

The Importance of being Ernest is a madcap comedy of two men who are Ernest, and yet not! For reasons suited to them, Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, best friends and verbal sparring partners, go by the name of "Ernest". The result is a comedy of errors that seems to last from the first page to the last. The entire play is choc-a-bloc with classic British wit that will leave you snorting in laughter while drinking a cuppa tea with your pinky elegantly raised.

I love how the title of the play puns on the word "earnest" by using the homonymous "Ernest" as the name of the characters. The leading men and absolutely earnest in their declarations throughout the book, even if they are fibbing. The result is an ironical lack of earnestness in the two Ernests who are not actually Ernest.

It's been ages since I read a play. That last one must have been in one of the lessons in school-time English textbooks. So this book also generated a very nostalgic feel. I really enjoyed my first book of 2021.

Thanks Srivalli for this suggestion. ( )

To convey humour in writing is notoriously difficult to achieve without sounding flat and unemotional, and I don't find myself laughing for most writers who try desperately to be funny. Wilde, Twain and Wodehouse are some exceptions, however, whose characters jump out of the page with seemingly little effort. But if there is one play you should read (or better, watch), more than any other, it should be this one. Earnest is a chef-d'oeuvre of artful dialogue and titillating witticisms whose only dry moments are those minutely premeditated scenes served for pure deadpan sweetness. With this play and An Ideal Husband alone, they serve to elevate Wilde in my estimations as the world's greatest playwright (sorry for all you dramatic Shakespeare-lovers). ( )

Short and sweet, Oscar Wilde's popular play The Importance of Being Earnest packs a lot into its three brief acts. On the surface it seems frivolous, a mere satire of Victorian social mores, and even on this level it is entertaining. Its farcical nature – a man invents a brother named 'Ernest' to disguise his second life, and hilarity ensues when 'Ernest' comes to visit his country home – has the sort of fun, easy chaos of a sitcom episode in which similar shenanigans might occur. Though less quotable than Wilde's other works, Earnest still has dialogue that sparkles, as the author enlivens the prattle of these stuffy people with lines that they would not have the wit to conjure themselves.

But beyond this crowd-pleasing level, The Importance of Being Earnest endures. Its characters' determination to take trivial matters seriously and serious matters trivially reminds one disconcertingly of how many real people indeed behave, and while the insufferably snobby airs of the likes of Lady Bracknell are still unappealing to me, it's satisfying to see them skewered. And Wilde's play is nothing so trite as a parody – rather, it's as though Wilde wrote a straightforward play but recognised and delighted in the absurdity of such things, and just couldn't help but sprinkle his own genius on it. What would be contrived in a run-of-the-mill farce – for example, the two women both determined to be attracted only to men named 'Ernest' – takes on additional layers against the backdrop of such authorial genius, and we find ourselves comparing the ways and importance of being earnest/Ernest.

There's also a charmingly human integrity behind the play. It was Wilde's last smash hit before his spectacular downfall; the play being pulled due to his infamous conviction for homosexuality. It's rather touching to see him shine so bright and carelessly here, and rather tragic to know his ascension would soon see him fly too close to the sun (or rather, to Queensberry's son). I remember reading somewhere that 'earnest' was code among Wilde's gay scene for 'homosexual', and while this is disputed by literary detectives, it is rather fantastic to think of that and know that 'The Importance of Being Earnest' was up there in lights in London's West End, with Wilde smiling secretly, even as the unwitting crowds who poured through the doors would not have accepted the importance he placed on being, well, 'earnest'. Even if this speculation is not true – though I hope it is – the play still finds good eating in showing its characters living a double life and riding over the conniptions this causes among the duller people around him. Both feather and maul, The Importance of Being Earnest hides a lot of steel beneath its silk. In keeping with its themes, there's a serious weight beneath its triviality. ( )