CHRONOLOGY
COMMENTARY
Context
Themes
Dramatic Devices
Structure
Language
Performance History
Behind-the-Scenes: Practitioner Interview
Critical Reception and Academic Debate
Suggestions for Further Study
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST
NOTES

Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin in 1856. His work includes The Picture of Dorian Gray, Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest. He died in 1900.
Lucie Sutherland is Assistant Professor of Drama at the University of Nottingham, UK, and specialises in theatre and performance history and culture, specifically during the 19th and 20th centuries.

After all, who has the right to cast a stone against one who has suffered? Cannot repentance wipe out an act of folly? Why should there be one law for me and another for women?
Wilde's 'trivial play for serious people', a sparkling comedy of manners, is the epitome of wit and style. This brilliantly constructed satire with its celebrated characters and much-quoted dialogue turns accepted ideas inside out and is generally regarded as Wilde's masterpiece.
This Methuen Drama Student Edition of the play includes commentary and notes by Lucie Sutherland, Assistant Professor in Drama at the University of Nottingham, UK, which investigate the play through a contemporary lens, bringing in the contributions from queer scholarship and discussions of recent productions of the play.