The Importance of Being Earnest

1. Why does Lane think it isn’t polite to listen to Algernon’s piano-playing?

2. What does Algernon tell Jack he has always suspected him of being?

3. What leads Algernon to think Jack is leading a double life?

4. What does Jack say it is a very ungentlemanly thing to read?

5. At first, Jack tells Algernon that Cecily is his what?

6. What does Algernon mean when he says that Lady Bracknell rings the doorbell in a “Wagnerian manner”?

7. Why does Lane claim that there were “no cucumbers at the market”?

8. What does Gwendolen say they live in?

9. What does Gwendolen say the name Ernest produces?

10. What is Lady Bracknell’s reaction when Jack admits to her that he smokes?

11. Where did old Mr. Thomas Cardew find Jack as a baby?

12. What is Lady Bracknell’s objection to Jack as a prospective suitor to Gwendolen?

13. What does Algernon begin playing offstage at the conclusion of Jack’s interview with Lady Bracknell?

14. What is Gwendolen’s response to the story of Jack’s origins?

15. Who does Algernon think ought to set an example for the upper classes?

16. What does Jack call Lady Bracknell behind her back?

17. Why hasn’t Jack told Gwendolen that he has an excessively pretty young ward?

18. What is the name of Algernon’s imaginary friend?

19. Where is Jack’s house in the country?

20. Why is Cecily nervous about meeting Jack’s brother Ernest?

21. Where has Cecily recorded her engagement to Jack’s brother Ernest?

22. Why has Cecily broken off her engagement to Algernon?

23. Why does Gwendolen never travel without her diary?

24. Why does Gwendolen tell Cecily that cake and sugar are no longer fashionable?

25. Why does Cecily put sugar in Gwendolen’s tea?