The Importance of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde

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The Importance of Being EarnestBy Oscar Wilde

• A discussion of important vocabulary

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• Epigrams A short, witty poem expressing a single
  thought or observation a concise, clever, often
  paradoxical statement.
• Paradox a statement or proposition that seems
  self-contradictory or absurd but in reality
  expresses a possible truth.
• Ex. I always lie.
• Repetition the act of doing or performing again
  the repeated use of the same word or word pattern
  as a rhetorical device.

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• Irony an outcome of events contrary to what was,
  or might have been, expected.
• Plot Also called storyline. the plan, scheme, or
  main story of a literary or dramatic work.
• Characterization Representation of a character
  or characters on the stage or in writing,
  especially by imitating or describing actions,
  gestures, or speeches.

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• Farce A light dramatic work in which highly
  improbable plot situations, exaggerated
  characters, and often slapstick elements are used
  for humorous effect.
• Satire a literary composition, in verse or
  prose, in which human folly and vice are held up
  to scorn, derision, or ridicule.
• Comedy of Manners A comedy satirizing the
  attitudes and behavior of a particular social
  group, often of fashionable society.

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Well-made play

• A very tight plot and a climax that takes place
  very close to the end of the story, with most of
  the story taking place before the action of the
  play much of the information regarding such
  previous action would be revealed through thinly
  veiled exposition. Following that would be a
  series of causally-related plot complications.
• A recurrent device is the use of letters or
  papers falling into unintended hands, in order to
  bring about plot twists and climaxes.
• The majority of well-made plays are comedies,
  often farce.