Episode 46: "The Importance of Being Earnest" Act 3
On today\u2019s episode of The Literary Life podcast, our fearless hosts discuss Oscar Wilde\u2019s unraveling of the tangle of plot points in Act 3 of The Importance of Being Earnest. Cindy Rollins talks about her reaction to Act 3 and how it gets resolved. Thomas Banks observes how Wilde sets up the conflict with the possibility to become a tragedy like Oedipus Rex instead of a comedy. Angelina Stanford talks about the theme of the identity quest, tokens of identity and foundlings in literature. The conversation, as in previous episodes, centers around the way Wilde pokes fun at Victorian ideals and cliches.
Commonplace Quotes:Wear your learning like your watch, in a private pocket; and do not pull it out and strike it merely to show that you have one.
Lord Chesterfield
We must travel this path as lovers, amateurs, of the Word and of words because all things reveal themselves more truly to the eyes of love.
Stratford Caldecott
Easter WingsTime\u2019s glory is to calm contending kings,
To unmask falsehood, and bring truth to light, To stamp the seal of time in aged things, To wake the morn and sentinel the night, To wrong the wronger till he render right; To ruinate proud buildings with thy hours, And smear with dust their glittering golden towers.
William Shakespeare
by George Herbert
Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store,
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0Though foolishly he lost the same,
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0Decaying more and more,
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0Till he became
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0Most poore:
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0With thee
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0O let me rise
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0As larks, harmoniously,
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0And sing this day thy victories:
Then shall the fall further the flight in me.
My tender age in sorrow did beginne
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0And still with sicknesses and shame.
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0Thou didst so punish sinne,
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0That I became
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0Most thinne.
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0With thee
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0Let me combine,
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0And feel thy victorie:
\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0For, if I imp my wing on thine,
Affliction shall advance the flight in me.
Beauty in the Word by Stratford Caldecott
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
The White Company by Arthur Conan Doyle
Brigadier Gerard by Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Nigel by Arthur Conan Doyle
Howards End by E. M. Forster
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde
An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde
The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis
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