Pretty much everything about The Importance of Being Earnest is funny and makes it a comedy. One of my favorite parts is the very start of the book when Algernon and Lane are speaking. Their banter is satirical, and sarcastic and very funny. For instance "Did you hear what I was playing, Lane?" "I didn't think it polite to listen, sir." Those are the first two lines of the play and they are hilarious. Their dialogue until Lane exits is just like that too. The whole play is very back and forth with witty comments.
I have a very immature sense of humor. If someone gets hit in the nuts with a ball or something else, ill pee my pants. Yet I also have a very dry sense of humor. For instance, Seinfeld. I love that show. All the snide remarks Jerry and George make crack me up.
Yeah I totally agree with you here Jacob. I think the first lines from the play are some of its best. The witty exchanges between Lane and Algernon are simply ridiculous, and the satirization of the gap between owner and servant are hilarious to me.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy this Oscar Wilde play very much. There's just so many little jokes and side comments that fly under the radar. I love stuff like that. I think thats why my favorite kind of comedy is the one where you have to watch it a few times to get all the jokes. 30 Rock and Veep are two shows that use writing like this. There is a heavy level of improbable plot, but also a lot of quick-witted, fast paced banter that I just find fascinating. When 30 Rock was still on air, I used to have to rewind to catch all the jokes that had been made within a 20 second exchange.
Wilde does this too. This play was written, I think, to be read at a fast pace, especially when there is a lot of banter like when Algernon and Cecily first meet in act two.
I just love humor, all kinds of it.
I agree with you both, Andrew and Jacob. I love comedy, i mean i basically live a life of humor. I really enjoy this book. Sorry to say, but this is the only book that i have been able to finish all the way through so far this year, because there are no dry moments. In Heart of Darkness and Return of the Native there is too much setting development, whereas in The Importance of Being Earnest it's just some really good plot. Algernon is by far my favorite: he's laidback, witty, sarcastic, clever, and funny. Like Jacob said, from the beginning of the book the play was hilarious. Lane is another one of my favorites; him and Algernon's repartee just tickles me to the bone.
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