A short introduction to a few of Oscar Wilde's plays and comic techniques

1. Wilde
Humour

2. Oscar Wilde’s Comic Genius
 The Importance of Being Earnest
 A Woman of No Importance
 An Ideal Husband
 Comic Techniques
 Paradox
 Illogic
 Puns
 Epigrams
 Parody
 Satire

3. The Importance of Being Earnest
Play first premiered
in 1895
One of the most
popular plays in
English
Known for its wit
and comic sparkle
Trailer

4. A Woman of No Importance
and An Ideal Husband

5. Comic Techniques
Wilde was known
throughout England
as a witty
conversationalist.
But what is
WIT, exactly?
Comes from use of
paradox, illogic, pu
ns and Wilde’s
famous epigrams

6. Paradox
 A paradox is a
statement that
seems
contradictory, but
actually presents a
truth

7. Paradox in Earnest
 Act 1: Lady Bracknell says Lady Harbury’s
hair turned “quite gold from grief” when
her husband dies.
 You can also find this quote used in The
Picture of Dorian Gray!

8. Illogic
Inverted logic turns
words or phrases
upside down.
In Act 1, Algernon
says that “Divorces
are made in
Heaven”
What is the original
phrase Wilde has
inverted here?

9. Puns
Puns are plays on
words, created by
using a word or
phrase that has two
different meanings.
Other puns are
made by using two
words with the
same sound.

10. More puns
 How do crazy people go
through the forest? They
take the psycho path.
 Show me a piano falling
down a mineshaft and I'll
show you A-flat minor.
 Time flies like an arrow. Fruit
flies like a banana.
 The Buddhist refused pain-
killers during the root canal
because he wanted to
transcend dental
medication.

11. I couldn’t resist…

12. Wilde Epigrams
 Epigrams are brief, cleverly expressed statements in prose or
verse.
 Famous Wilde epigrams include:
“All women become like their mothers.
That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his.”
“I never travel without my diary. One should always have
something sensational to read in the train.”
“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so
much.”
“To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.”
“There is only one thing in the world worse than being
talked about, and that is not being talked about.”

13. Difference between Satire
and Parody
Satire
 The purpose of satire
is not primarily
humor in itself so
much as an attack
on something of
which the author
strongly disapproves,
using the weapon of
wit.
Parody
 A work created to
mock, comment
on, or poke fun at an
original work, its
subject, author, style,
or some other
target, by means of
humorous, satiric or
ironic imitation

14. Parody
 Parody is a
humourous, mocking
imitation of another
literary work.
 The Importance of
Being Earnest
parodies popular 19th
century melodramas,
with their crazy plot
twists and
improbable
coincidences.

15. Satire
Satire ridicules the faults of individuals or
groups for the purpose of inspiring change.
Wilde satirizes the serious literature of his time
which also relied on improbable plot twists.
He also suggested that marriage is not all it’s
cracked up to be!