Then we are moved to Jack Worthing’s country house and meet his charming young ward Cecily and her governess Miss Prism. One by one, Algernon, Jack, Gwendolen and her mother arrive at the scene. Algernon calls himself Ernest Worthing and as such proposes to Cecily. Later, Gwendolen and Cecily quarrel over the non-existent Ernest Worthing, only to find out later that they both have been deceived.

Later, when Jack’s origins become known to him (they had been a secret to him all his life), he makes the most shocking discovery about himself: all the lies he ever told were in fact literal truth! And his real name is Ernest, after all – but John too.

Three happy engagements follow, looking unforgivably decent among all the cynicism, hypocrisy and lies that have been so pleasant to encounter… Even the young ladies – so beautiful, so passionate and so truthful – have their morals somewhat inside out, which doesn’t make them any less charming and lovable.

The play presents us with yet another side of Oscar Wilde’s multi-dimentional talent: his humour. Quite wicked – and totally perfect: not a word out of place – and at the same time he makes it quite easy to see what kind of message he is trying to convey. Just how many people surely felt indignant after recognising themselves in the characters of the play? We can only guess – and yet I’m sure they couldn’t help laughing at the same time.

Actually, both Jack and Algernon are a milder version of Sir Henry in “The Picture of Dorian Gray” – but they are harmless. I’m sure they’ll be perfect (and probably a bit dull) husbands to Gwendolen and Cecily respectively, once they grow just a little older. Amazing how Oscar Wilde could always highlight the most unpleasant about the very same society to which he himself belonged – and make it look either tragic or funny, depending on how he felt about it.

Re-reading this play was a nice bit of morning fun – it was, perhaps, one of the last mornings I was able to dedicate to this innocent entertainment, now that I’m about to get extremely busy. I have to warn my readers that from now on my new reviews will appear on this blog far less often, but I promise to keep this project going, no matter what. It’s been too much of a pleasure to abandon it just like this.