ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
Plays Videos 14 videos
This video summarizes the play A Raisin in the Sun. It discusses the Youngers, members of an African-American family trying to better themselves wh...
Love potions are tricky business (not that we've ever tried using one, of course). They can make you fall in love with the wrong person…or, in th...
In the world of Shakespeare, pretty much everyone either dies or gets married. Hamlet and co. got the short end of that stick.
The Importance of Being Earnest Summary 123039 Views
Share It!
Description:
They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we want? Not so much.
Transcript
- 00:00
The importance of being earnest a'la Shmoop
- 00:08
just like to get one thing clear That guy over
- 00:10
there is not the real Ernest His real name is [Imposter waving]
- 00:14
algernon and he's An impostor Oh can you weren't well
- 00:18
ok my name isn't really earnest either My real name
Full Transcript
- 00:21
is jack worthing but i only use that name
- 00:24
when i'm doing responsible grownup things like caring for my
- 00:27
ward cecil e sometimes though a guy just has to
- 00:31
get away from it all and let his hair down [Jack laying on beach]
- 00:33
so to speak that's Why i invented a wild younger
- 00:36
brother and earnest when i'm going nuts I simply
- 00:40
make up a story about ernest latest hijinks and i
- 00:43
have to go away for a while Tio rescue him
- 00:46
Basically ernest is really code for mental health break Sometimes [Jack covered in wrapping]
- 00:51
i even pretend to be earnest In fact that was
- 00:53
undercover is earnest when i first met algernon and more
- 00:57
importantly his cousin gwendolyn at what point during the dating
- 01:01
process is it appropriate to reveal your secret identity Well [Jack appears with Ernest face]
- 01:05
anyway things We're all good with me and glenn I
- 01:08
was even thinking marriage but aldranon found a cigarette case
- 01:11
that cecil e had Given me and jumped to conclusions
- 01:14
Wait you smoke So i had to tell him about
- 01:17
ernest and that's when the trouble started Luckily aldranon also
- 01:21
had an imaginary getaway Excuse So he thought ernest was
- 01:25
kind of cool eh Too bad his buzz kill aunt
- 01:28
lady bracknell didn't feel the same way Apparently nice girls [Lady Bracknell headbutts Jack]
- 01:33
aren't supposed to marry men who were abandoned in a
- 01:35
train station as an infant I was so upset that
- 01:38
i decided to murder my brother ernest I headed home
- 01:43
to break the news to cecil e about dear departed [Jack riding train]
- 01:45
uncle ernest Much to my surprise ernest was already there
- 01:49
in living color looking a lot like aldranon and flirting
- 01:52
with my war You're dead a boxer because you're a knockout
- 01:55
Now there were two ladies in love with fake ernest
- 01:59
And to make matters worse gwendolyn and cecily got together
- 02:02
and became convinced that they were engaged to the same
- 02:05
ernest Lady bracknell was less than thrilled about the idea
- 02:09
of her daughter and nephew marrying total nobody's But fortunately
- 02:12
these nobody's had redeeming qualities Cecil was loaded and i [Money falling from sky]
- 02:16
had a handbag that doesn't sound too impressive but it
- 02:19
did solve the mystery Of my birth Wait your name
- 02:21
is actually ernest I read me so now i have
- 02:25
a new brother anu aunt and a slamming fiance [Oscar wilde sighs at desk]
Related Videos
We may all be fools when it comes to love, but thankfully none of us will accidentally switch places with our twin brother and fall in love with ou...
This video defines utopias and dystopias, and investigates how a utopia might become a dystopia. Can a seemingly perfect world actually be a dystop...
Picking a theme for a party is pretty easy—always go karate party, because they come with nunchuck egg rolls. Themes in writing are a little diff...
Books are meant to be enjoyed. Sure, authors have different motives for their works—some may want to start a revolution while others hope to deli...
Meet Charles Darnay, the nobleman who spends more time on trial and in prison than attending balls and drinking expensive wine. Don't feel too bad...