Oscar Wilde’s Society Plays

Front Matter....Pages i-vii
Introduction: The Importance of Laughing in Earnest....Pages 1-12
Front Matter....Pages 13-13
Wit in Earnest: Wilde’s Irish Word-Play....Pages 15-35
The Tragicomedies of Oscar Wilde: A Wilde Response to Melodrama....Pages 37-49
Oscar Wilde’s Unfinished Society Plays: Mr. and Mrs. Daventry, a Wife’s Tragedy, and Love is Law....Pages 51-74
Wilde’s Comedic Takes on the New Woman: A Comparison with Ibsen and Shaw....Pages 75-94
Three Comedies and a Funeral: The Endgame of The Importance of Being Earnest....Pages 95-110
Front Matter....Pages 111-111
Deconstructive Strategies in Wilde’s Social Comedies: From Melodrama to Deconstruction....Pages 113-131
Ernest in Name, But How Earnest in Manner?: Acting in Wilde’s Comedy....Pages 133-150
“Would You Kindly Inform Me Who I Am?”: Wilde’s Comedies of Manners as Tragedies....Pages 151-167
“You Will Call Me Sister, Will You Not?”: Friendship, Solidarity, and Conflict between Women in Wilde’S Society Plays....Pages 169-187
Modern Ontologics and the Impotence of Being Earnest....Pages 189-204
Back Matter....Pages 205-212