The most perfect of
Oscar Wilde's plays.
Algernon and
Jack both go by the name of
Ernest to do a spot of
Bunburying, that is using a fictitious person as an excuse for pleasure, and woo
Gwendolen and
Cecily. They are opposed by the formidable
Lady Bracknell, who utters the immortal line (on Jack's place of residence at birth) "A
handbag!". Full of so many glorious felicities that it may be regarded as compulsory reading.
The above is my E1 description-ette of it. Now that the full text is noded below, I don't know what I can add, since you're far better off reading Wilde's exquisite text. Perhaps I could just fish out a few of the very best epigrams.
Act I
ALGERNON: Really, if the lower orders don't set us a good example, what on earth is the use of them?
ALGERNON: The truth is rarely pure and never simple.
LADY BRACKNELL: To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.
LADY BRACKNELL: A hand-bag?
Act II
MISS PRISM: The good ended happily, and the bad ended unhappily. That is what Fiction means.
CECILY: You see, it [her diary] is simply a very young girl's record of her own thoughts and impressions, and consequently meant for publication.
GWENDOLIN: Well, to speak with perfect candour, Cecily, I wish that you were fully forty-two, and more than usually plain for your age.
GWENDOLIN: I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.
Act III
LADY BRACKNELL: I dislike arguments of any kind. They are always vulgar, and often convincing.