Reference to the Context with explanation ("Importance of being earnest" and "The winter's tale")

IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

REFERENCE THE CONTEXT WITH EXPLANATION 

1.) Your vanity is ridiculous, yours conduct an outrage, and your presence in my garden utterly absurd. However, you have got to catch the four-five, and I hope you will have a pleasant journey back to town.

REFERENCE:

(i) Drama: The Importance of Being Earnest

(ii) Dramatist: Oscar Wilde

CONTEXT

(i) Occurrence: Act 2

(ii) Content: Jack and Algernon are wealthy gentlemen. Jack lives in the country and Algernon dwells in London. Algernon visits Jack's house and introduces to Jack's young ward Cecily as Ernest, the assumed named of Jack. Shortly after, Jack arrives home announcing Ernest's death. Cecily and Gwendolen have a genteel stand-off over which of that has a prior claim on "Ernest". Jack and Algernon vie to be christened Ernest. Eventually, Jack discovers that his parents were Lady Bracknell's sister and brother-in-law and that he is Algernon's older brother, called Ernest. Algernon/Cecily, Jack/Gwendolen and Chasuble/Prism fall into each other's arms as Jack realises the importance of being earnest.

EXPLANATION:

These lines describe Jack's hypocritical judgment of Algernon. Jack snubs Algernon's vanity as absurd. He wants to say that Algernon's excessive pride in his own appearance invites derision for others. He says so because Algernon always claims to be "over dressed" and "immensely over-educated". He also spurns Algernon's behaviour disdainfully. He calls his behaviour an extremely strong reaction of anger, shock and indignation. Moreover, he is not happy at all to have Algernon in his "garden". He wants to get rid of him as soon as possible. When Algernon says that he is going to stay for a whole week as Jack's guest, Jack replies, "You are certainly not staying with me for a whole week as a guest or anything else. You have got to leave by the four-five train." He ironically says that Algernon will have an enjoyable journey back to his town. In short, these lines express Jack's disdain and contempt for the decorative bachelor, Algernon.

2.) I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever.

I do not approve .......... no effect whatsoever.

REFERENCE:

(i) Drama: The Importance of Being Earnest

(ii) Dramatist:Oscar Wilde

CONTEXT

(i) Occurrence: Act 1

(ii) Content: Jack and Algernon are wealthy gentlemen. Jack lives in the country and Algernon dwells in London. Algernon visits Jack's house and introduces to Jack's young ward Cecily as Ernest, the assumed named of Jack. Shortly after, Jack arrives home announcing Ernest's death. Cecily and Gwendolen have a genteel stand-off over which of that has a prior claim on "Ernest". Jack and Algernon vie to be christened Ernest. Eventually, Jack discovers that his parents were Lady Bracknell's sister and brother-in-law and that he is Algernon's older brother, called Ernest. Algernon/Cecily, Jack/Gwendolen and Chasuble/Prism fall into each other's arms as Jack realises the importance of being earnest.

EXPLANATION:

In these lines Lady Bracknell thinks of ignorance as a virtue of the rich. She speaks these lines as a part of her inquiry into Jack's suitability for marriage with her daughter Gwendolen. She has just told him she believes that a man who wants to marry should know everything or nothing, and Jack, sensing the trap, has said he knows nothing. Lady Bracknell greets the news with complacency and says only, "I am pleased to hear it". She is, in fact, against anything that can cause damage to "natural ignorance". "Anything" here means "modern education"; the biggest rival of ignorance. Her statement "Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit" is a beautiful simile. Many exotic flowers and plants are delicate, if we touch them, the petals or leaves fall off. Ignorance is the same; a touch of knowledge destroys it. "Education produces no effect" is a paradox to explain that, in the upper classes, education is worthless. The typical upper class Victorian was notorious for being "sent down" of the major university of Oxford or Cambridge. Being "sent down" was almost a trademark of the upper-class dandy. In short, Lady Bracknell, in these lines, embodies the mind-bogging stupidity of the British aristocracy.

3.)Nothing will induce me to part with Bunbury, and if you ever get married, which seems to me extremely problematic, you will be very glad to know Bunbury. A man who marries without knowing Bunbury has a very tedious time of it.

Nothing will induce .......... tedious time of it.

REFERENCE:

(i) Drama: The Importance of Being Earnest

(ii) Dramatist-: Oscar Wilde

CONTEXT

(i) Occurrence: Act 1, Part I

(ii) Content: Jack and Algernon are wealthy gentlemen. Jack lives in the country and Algernon dwells in London. Algernon visits Jack's house and introduces to Jack's young ward Cecily as Ernest, the assumed named of Jack. Shortly after, Jack arrives home announcing Ernest's death. Cecily and Gwendolen have a genteel stand-off over which of that has a prior claim on "Ernest". Jack and Algernon vie to be christened Ernest. Eventually, Jack discovers that his parents were Lady Bracknell's sister and brother-in-law and that he is Algernon's older brother, called Ernest. Algernon/Cecily, Jack/Gwendolen and Chasuble/Prism fall into each other's arms as Jack realizes the importance of being earnest.

EXPLANATION:

In these lines Algernon tells the importance of Bunbury in a married life. Algernon speaks these lines in reply to Jack's announcement that he plans to assassinate his imaginary brother Ernest and his suggestion that Algernon do the same with Bunbury. Algernon refuses to part with Bunbury at any cost. He thinks that Bunbury is an excuse for a person to get out of his responsibilities. He says to Jack that "in married life there is a company and two is none". If Jack ever gets married, he will be glad to know Bunbury because Bunbury is a very useful tool for a husband or wife for "married bliss". It also suggests that couples are not faithful to each other after matrimony. Thus absence of Bunbury in the lives of married couples makes their lives "a very tedious time". In short, these lines suggest that husbands and wives in Victorian society were hypocrites as they led double lives.

THE WINTER'S TALE BY SHAKESPEARE

Explanation with RTC

1.) There's some ill planet reigns:

I must be patient till the heavens look

With an aspect more favourable.

There's is some ill ......... more favourable.

REFERENCE:

(i) Drama: The Winter's Tale

(ii) Dramatist: William Shakespeare

CONTEXT

(i) Occurrence: Act 2, Scene I

(ii) Content: Leontes, king of Sicilia, suspects that his wife Hermione has an affair with his friend Polixenes, king of Bohemia. Her orders Camillo to poison Polixenes. However, Camillo helps Polixenes to escape back to Bohemia. Hermione is thrown into jail and has a baby while imprisoned. The king orders Antigonus to abandon the child. Hermione dies in the jail. Antigonus takes the baby to Bohemia. The little girl is found by a Shepherd and is named Perdita. Camillo, after serving Polixenes sixteen years, longs to return to Sicilia. Polixenes also goes with him in disguise. At a festival, Florizell declares his love for Perdita in front of his disguised father. The king threatens to disown Florizell and execute Perdita. The lovers go to Leontes. Here Perdita's true parentage is revealed and the royal families are reunited

EXPLANATION:

In these lines Hermoine says that human destiny is determined by stars. She thinks that some malign star is in the ascendant so the tides of her fortune have changed. Her husband, Loentes has wrongly accused her of adultery and pilloried her for infidelity. Due to this evil star, her happiness has been poisoned by the frantic jealousy of her husband. She deems that she has little chance to avoid her predicament as far as this "ill planet" is governing her her destiny. However, what cannot be cured must be endured. So she determines to wait patiently until the heavens are more favourably aligned and gods "look" on her with kinder expressions. Hermoine had to wait a solid 16 years in that misfortune for the manifestation of said "more favourable aspect". In short, Hermoine's resolve to undergo the saint-like patience thrills us with admiration as well as pity. These lines also contradict Shakespeare's famous notion;

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,

But in ourselves, that we are underlings,

(Julius Caesar)

2.) Should a villain say so,

The most replenish'd villain in the world,

He were as much more villain: you, my lord,

Do but mistake.

Should a villain .........do but mistake.

REFERENCE

(i) Drama: The Winter's Tale

(ii) Dramatist: William Shakespeare

CONTEXT:

(i) Occurrence: Act 2, Scene I

(ii) Content: Leontes, king of Sicilia, suspects that his wife Hermione has an affair with his friend Polixenes, king of Bohemia. Her orders Camillo to poison Polixenes. However, Camillo helps Polixenes to escape back to Bohemia. Hermione is thrown into jail and has a baby while imprisoned. The king orders Antigonus to abandon the child. Hermione dies in the jail. Antigonus takes the baby to Bohemia. The little girl is found by a Shepherd and is named Perdita. Camillo, after serving Polixenes sixteen years, longs to return to Sicilia. Polixenes also goes with him in disguise. At a festival, Florizell declares his love for Perdita in front of his disguised father. The king threatens to disown Florizell and execute Perdita. The lovers go to Leontes. Here Perdita's true parentage is revealed and the royal families are reunited

EXPLANATION:

These lines are spoken by Hermione in response to Leontes' false accusation at her. Leontes has just burst into Hermione's room where she was having a quiet time with her son. Here he accuses her, in no uncertain terms, of adultery, with his friend Polixenes. Hermione receives the first intimation of her husband's jealous suspicions with incredulous astonishment. It is not that, like Desdemona, she does not or cannot understand, but she will not. When her husband accuses her more plainly, she replies with a calm dignity. She says that her husband is not a villain or scoundrel. If a villain had accused her of such a thing, even though he were the perfect villain in the world, his villainy would become double that it was before. She thinks that slinging false accusation of adultery at someone is the meanest act that a villain can do. However, as for husband, he is merely mistaken. He is absolutely wrong in his judgment. In short, Hermione thinks that her husband is not a true villain but a mistaken jealous tyrant.

BY SAMIA UMER