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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Algernon, what do the lower classes lack a sense of?

2. What does Jack plan to do in the near future?

3. How often does does Algernon suggest one should check on one's relations?

4. What participle does Jack inadvertently substitute for "married" when he attempts to say "We must get married at once"?

5. Where in Victoria Station was the handbag with Jack in it discovered?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Algernon and Jack's conversation concerning Cecily and Gwendolen.

2. What is Lady Bracknell's response to the story of Jack's adoption?

3. How does Jack Worthing's cigarette case betray his identity to Algernon?

4. Who is Bunbury?

5. What is Jack Worthing's business in London?

6. How did Cecily become Jack's ward?

7. How is it that Jack does not know who his parents are?

8. Why does Jack intend to "kill" Ernest?

9. What does Gwendolen love so much about the name Ernest?

10. Describe Algernon Moncrieff.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Miss Prism is one of the more complex characters in The Importance of Being Earnest. Write an essay covering the following topics surrounding her character:

Part 1) When we first meet Miss Prism in Act II, what do we think is her passion in life? Does she have one? What are her attitudes - stated or implied - or art and marriage?

Part 2) At what point do we realize that Miss Prism has feelings for Chasuble? What hope does she have of taking him as a husband?

Part 3) How do the revelations about Miss Prism's past affect our understanding of her character? Is she, in the end, a more or less sympathetic character?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay with the thesis that Jack Worthing's decision to hire Miss Prism before the play begins is the reason why the play ends happily. Use the three marriage's as a framing device for your argument.

Essay Topic 3

Jack Worthing begins the play admitting to a series of untruths, among them his name and his relationship with Cecily. Do you think that Jack's habit of deceiving those close to him is forgivable since no one is harmed? Do you think that Gwendolen is genuinely hurt by the revelation Jack has lied to her? What about his assertion that Ernest has died?

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