Hidayatul N
09340003
Prose 1
University of Respati Yogyakarta
The Importance of being Earnest
Jack Worthing is the protagonist in the story of The Importance of being Earnest who lives in Hertfordshire where he is guardian to Cecily Cardew, she is granddaughter of the late Thomas Cardew who found and adopted Jack when he was a baby. Jack has responsibilities as the owner of the house and built the peace, with all the numbers of servants that depend on him. For years, he pretended to have responsibility to his brother named Earnest who always pursuit a pleasure and live in trouble. But, in fact Earnest is Jack’s alibi that allows him to go and disappear at a time and does everything as he likes and no one knows his disguise.
Jack is in love with Gwendolen Fairfax, the cousin of his best friend, Algernon Moncrieff. When the play opens, Algernon, who knows Jack as Ernest, has begun to suspect something, having found an inscription inside Jack’s cigarette case addressed to “Uncle Jack” from someone who refers to herself as “little Cecily.” Algernon suspects that Jack may have a double life.
At the beginning of Act I, Jack tells Algernon and announces that he intends to propose to Gwendolen. Algernon confronts him with the cigarette case and forces him to make a confession, demanding to know who “Jack” and “Cecily” are. Jack confesses that his name is not really Ernest and that Cecily is his aunty. Jack also tells Algernon about his fictional brother named Earnest. Jack says he has been thinking of killing off his fake brother, since Cecily has been showing her interest in Earnest.
Gwendolen and her mother, Lady Bracknell, arrive which gives Jack an opportunity to propose to Gwendolen. Jack is delighted to discover that Gwendolen returns his affections, but he is reminded that Gwendolen is interested in the name Ernest, which she says “inspires absolute confidence.” Gwendolen makes clear that she would not consider marrying a man who was not named Ernest. Lady Bracknell interviews Jack to determine his qualification to marry her daughter, and during this interview she asks about his family background. When Jack explains that he has no idea who his parents were and that he was found, by the man who adopted him, in a handbag in the cloakroom at Victoria Station, Lady Bracknell is shock. She forbids the match between Jack and Gwendolen and asked Jack to go out of the house.
The next story, Algernon shows up at Jack’s country estate acts as Jack’s brother Ernest. Meanwhile, Jack has decided that Ernest has died already in Paris and arrives home in deep mourning. He is angry when he finds Algernon there acting as Ernest but he has nothing to say to pretend anymore, because if he does not agreed to Algernon, so his own lies and deceptions will be revealed by Algernon. While Jack changes out of his mourning clothes, Algernon has fallen in love with Cecily, asks her to marry him. He is surprised to know that Cecily already considers that they are engaged, and he is charmed when she says that her interest is with “Uncle Jack’s brother”. Algernon is less interested to learn that part of Cecily’s interest in him comes from the name Ernest, which the same as Gwendolen, she says “inspires absolute confidence.”
09340003
Prose 1
University of Respati Yogyakarta
The Importance of being Earnest
Jack Worthing is the protagonist in the story of The Importance of being Earnest who lives in Hertfordshire where he is guardian to Cecily Cardew, she is granddaughter of the late Thomas Cardew who found and adopted Jack when he was a baby. Jack has responsibilities as the owner of the house and built the peace, with all the numbers of servants that depend on him. For years, he pretended to have responsibility to his brother named Earnest who always pursuit a pleasure and live in trouble. But, in fact Earnest is Jack’s alibi that allows him to go and disappear at a time and does everything as he likes and no one knows his disguise.
Jack is in love with Gwendolen Fairfax, the cousin of his best friend, Algernon Moncrieff. When the play opens, Algernon, who knows Jack as Ernest, has begun to suspect something, having found an inscription inside Jack’s cigarette case addressed to “Uncle Jack” from someone who refers to herself as “little Cecily.” Algernon suspects that Jack may have a double life.
At the beginning of Act I, Jack tells Algernon and announces that he intends to propose to Gwendolen. Algernon confronts him with the cigarette case and forces him to make a confession, demanding to know who “Jack” and “Cecily” are. Jack confesses that his name is not really Ernest and that Cecily is his aunty. Jack also tells Algernon about his fictional brother named Earnest. Jack says he has been thinking of killing off his fake brother, since Cecily has been showing her interest in Earnest.
Gwendolen and her mother, Lady Bracknell, arrive which gives Jack an opportunity to propose to Gwendolen. Jack is delighted to discover that Gwendolen returns his affections, but he is reminded that Gwendolen is interested in the name Ernest, which she says “inspires absolute confidence.” Gwendolen makes clear that she would not consider marrying a man who was not named Ernest. Lady Bracknell interviews Jack to determine his qualification to marry her daughter, and during this interview she asks about his family background. When Jack explains that he has no idea who his parents were and that he was found, by the man who adopted him, in a handbag in the cloakroom at Victoria Station, Lady Bracknell is shock. She forbids the match between Jack and Gwendolen and asked Jack to go out of the house.
The next story, Algernon shows up at Jack’s country estate acts as Jack’s brother Ernest. Meanwhile, Jack has decided that Ernest has died already in Paris and arrives home in deep mourning. He is angry when he finds Algernon there acting as Ernest but he has nothing to say to pretend anymore, because if he does not agreed to Algernon, so his own lies and deceptions will be revealed by Algernon. While Jack changes out of his mourning clothes, Algernon has fallen in love with Cecily, asks her to marry him. He is surprised to know that Cecily already considers that they are engaged, and he is charmed when she says that her interest is with “Uncle Jack’s brother”. Algernon is less interested to learn that part of Cecily’s interest in him comes from the name Ernest, which the same as Gwendolen, she says “inspires absolute confidence.”
