The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest Summary | Act 1 Summary

The play takes place in London in 1895, and this act is held in Algernon Moncrieff's artistically appointed, luxurious apartment. Someone is playing the piano in a side room. The music stops, and Algernon enters and greets Lane, the butler, who is putting out the settings for an afternoon tea. Algernon asks him if he has prepared the cucumber sandwiches for his aunt, Lady Bracknell, and mentions the inordinate amount of champagne consumed at a dinner held a few nights ago. Lane tells him that servants only drink the champagne in bachelor households. Those of married men have inferior wine. He leaves and then re-enters to announce Mr. Ernest Worthing.

Ernest is also known as Jack and that is how Algernon greets him. Jack tells him that he has come to town to propose to Gwendolen, Algernon's cousin. As luck would have it, she and her mother, Lady Augusta Bracknell, are due at any time for tea. Algernon doesn't understand Jack's need to propose. A proposal takes the anticipation out of any romance. Jack also needs to take care of the issue of Cecily. He is a little startled that Algernon knows about her, and Algernon produces an inscribed cigarette case from Cecily to Jack. Jack had left it behind at a dinner party and thought he had lost it.

Jack stumbles through several iterations of who Cecily is. Algernon wants to know why the inscription is dedicated to Jack and not Ernest, which he thought was his real name. The name Ernest is on all his correspondence, and he is always introduced as Ernest. Jack tells him that his name is Ernest in town and Jack in the country. The cigarette case was given to him in the country, and that's why the inscription is to Jack.

Algernon accuses him of being a Bunburyist and tells Jack he will tell him the meaning of that when he learns who Cecily is. Jack finally admits that Cecily is the young charge appointed to him by the man who had adopted him as a young boy. Cecily considers Jack her uncle, and lives in the country with her governess. Algernon tries to get the location from him without success.

Algernon still wants to know why he is called Ernest in town and Jack in the country. Jack tells him that he has created the persona of 'Ernest,' who is his brother who lives in Albany and is always in trouble. Algernon tells him that this is an example of a Bunbury, a fictitious character used to make excuses to attend or decline invitations. Algernon has created a fictitious character with very poor health by the name of Bunbury. A Bunbury has proven to be an invaluable asset. For example, Algernon is going to tell his aunt Augusta that he cannot attend her dinner party this evening because he must go see the ailing Bunbury. In actuality, he will be dining with Jack.

Lane announces Aunt Augusta and Gwendolen, and pleasantries are exchanged. Algernon tells her that he won't be able to attend dinner with her tonight. He has received an urgent message that his friend Bunbury is very ill, and he must go to him. She comments that Bunbury seems to have very poor health. He diverts her by escorting her to another room to discuss his music selections for her upcoming reception.

Jack and Gwendolen are left alone, and he proposes marriage. She tells him that she has always wanted to love someone whose name is Ernest. It just reeks with confidence and ambition. He asks her if she could love him if his name weren't Ernest. What if he were simply Jack? She says that there's no poetry in that name. It's a moot point, because his name is Ernest, and that's what she loves.

When Aunt Augusta reenters, Gwendolen tells her that she is now engaged to Jack. Her mother sends her to the carriage and grills Jack on his family and financial situation. His answers are acceptable until he admits that he was abandoned in a cloak room when he was a child and he is adopted. She ends the questioning and tells him that he has no future with her daughter. She leaves, and Gwendolen returns to tell him that she will always love him but cannot marry him. She will correspond with him, and he gives her his country address. Algernon writes the address on his shirt cuff and seems quite pleased to have the information he wanted.

Gwendolen leaves, and the two men discuss their dinner plans.