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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. What does Cecily do with the scissors?

2. What does Miss Prism instruct Cecily to read while she is gone?

3. What German writer is Cecily studying at the top of Act II?

4. Why does Algernon suggest Jack not get christened?

5. Why will Cecily not allow Algernon to read her diary?

Short Essay Questions

1. What favor does Jack request of Chasuble?

2. What has Algernon arranged for later in the afternoon that jack has as well?

3. Why is Cecily always distracted from her lessons?

4. When Algernon arrives under the guise Ernest, what does Cecily tell him about Jack's plans?

5. What argument does Jack make to Algernon about eating in times of despair, and why at the end of Act II?

6. After the two women storm off, what is Algernon's attitude?

7. What does Cecily do to anger Gwendolen as they take tea?

8. Describe Chasuble.

9. What reason does Miss Prism give for not wanting Ernest to be saved from his vices?

10. What news does Jack bring with him when he returns home from London.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Choose one of the following to write about:

1.) What do you think is Oscar Wilde's opinion of the English upper class? Do you consider his portraits of landed English gentry is loving or caustic? Cite examples from the text.

2.) Compare, in three paragraphs, three servant characters and three aristocrats in the play. Which are the more clever and worldly? How much do the upper class characters rely on the servants?

3.) Do you think there is greater personal freedom in being part of the servant class in the Victorian era or being in the Upper class. Cite examples from the text and historical background to justify your stance.

Essay Topic 2

The Importance of Being Earnest wittily subverts certain respected establishments in English Victorian society. Write three body paragraphs about how Oscar Wilde uses his play to lampoon the following institutions:

Part 1) The Family and the Household

Part 2) Creditors and solicitors

Part 3) The Church

Essay Topic 3

Choose one of the following options to write about:

1.) What type of freedom does Ernest allow Jack? Can he do certain things because of Ernest that he could not without him? What unexpected challenges arise because of the freedom Ernest allows?

2.) Write about debt as a driving force in the play? Which characters - both real and fictional - have accumulated debt and how doe they justify it. Cite specific examples in the text.

3.) To what extent are Lane, Miss Prism, and Chasuble all constrained by unseen forces to act in a certain way? Do any of them overcome these forces?

(see the answer keys)

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