Product Description

Oscar Wilde's audacious drama of social scandal centres around the revelation of Mrs Arbuthnot's long-concealed secret. A house party is in full swing at Lady Hunstanton's country home, when it is announced that Gerald Arbuthnot has been appointed secretary to the sophisticated, witty Lord Illingworth. Gerald's mother stands in the way of his appointment, but fears to tell him why, for who will believe Lord Illingworth to be a man of no importance?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38456 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

About the Author
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854. After his marriage to Constance Lloyd in 1884, he tried to establish himself as a writer, but with little initial success. However, his three volumes of short fiction, <I>The Happy Prince</I> (1888), <I>Lord Arthur Savile's Crime</I> (1891) and <I>A House of Pomegranates</I> (1891), together with his only novel, <I>The Picture of Dorian Gray</I> (1891), gradually won him a reputation as a modern writer with an original talent, a reputation confirmed and enhanced by the phenomenal success of his Society Comedies – <I>Lady Windermere's Fan</I>, <I>A Woman of No Importance</I>, <I>An Ideal Husband</I> and <I>The Importance of Being Earnest</I>, all performed on the West End stage between 1892 and 1895. Success, however, was short-lived. In 1891 Wilde had met and fallen in love with Lord Alfred Douglas. In 1895, when his success as a dramatist was at its height, Wilde brought an unsuccessful libel action against Douglas's father, the Marquess of Queensberry. Wilde lost the case and two trials later was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for acts of gross indecency. As a result of this experience he wrote <I>The Ballad of Reading Gaol</I>. He was released from prison in 1897 and went into an immediate self-imposed exile on the Continent. He died in Paris in ignominy in 1900.

Customer Reviews

A Victorian Dream!!
This famous play is bursting with dramatic irony, rhetoric strategies and humorous witticisms. Oscar Wilde produces a great play with subtle sentiment and an underlying theme regarding paternity. A great read for eng lit students and members of the public alike. I personally recommend this play to anyone in need of a good laugh. One must particularly pay attention to the character's mannerisms and use of language. And at a penny a book- bargain!!

a very good play, classic wilde
a favorite of mine, although not quite as good as the importance of being earnest (a deceptively clever play) it is a play of a very different nature, both reviews of it on here i believe misrepresent it. although it is full of wilde's classic wit and there are many genuinely funny parts but it is not a pure comedy and it is also a significant drama. many see it as a fairly clear cut morality tale or at least having clear cut moral and immoral characters but it really isnt so simple. there is the duplicit nature of the characters and their actions, a slightly more complex moral commentary with none of the characters being as simple as they first appear. none of the characters in then play come off as good or bad the central ones all have the audience's perception of them repeatedly undermined.

oscar!!!!!
i am in the middle of studying this interesting play by Oscar Wilde. the book is filled with politics, social status, etc. any english literature student would love to read this play even though it is hard to read being a play (hehe!!) the book is about an illegitimate son who is torn betweeen his mother and father. the book has Wildes famous wit and has comedy, romance and sadness all included, its GREAT!!!!!!