In The Importance of Being Earnest one’s residence is a key signifier of one’s social standing and sophistication. Lady Bracknell’s keen interest in Jack’s address exemplifies this alignment between class, fashion, and residence. She finds Jack’s house in town to be “unfashionable,” and his country estate to be neither a “profit or a pleasure,” but sufficient, as “it gives one position.” Just as Lady Bracknell judges Jack’s class upon the value of his real estate, Gwendolen evaluates Cecily’s tastes based upon her upbringing in the country. Gwendolen, a fashionable urbanite, makes several oblique remarks about country girl Cecily’s lack of taste: “I had no idea there was anything approaching good taste in the more remote country districts…Personally I cannot understand how anybody manages to exist in the country—if anybody who is anybody does.” While Gwendolen views Cecily as a country-bumpkin-nobody for her rural roots, Cecily associates city living with vulgarity and aristocratic snobbishness: “I believe most London houses are extremely vulgar…I believe the aristocracy are suffering very much.” Through Gwendolen and Cecily’s attitudes about country and city life, Wilde upsets the characters’ alignment of the city with sophistication and the country with poor taste. Instead, he suggests that town and country, alike are paradoxical places—the city is urbane, but it is also “vulgar;” and while the country lacks taste it also affords one “position” in society. Wilde also suggests that town and country are a means of fantasy and escape. Jack escapes to the city, under false pretenses, to avoid his obligations to Cecily in the country, while Algernon similarly escapes to the country to avoid his social obligations to his aunt and cousin.
Town and Country Quotes in The Importance of Being Earnest
The The Importance of Being Earnest quotes below all refer to the symbol of Town and Country. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Act 1, Part 1
Quotes
Jack: When one is placed in the position of guardian, one has to adopt a very high moral tone…And as a high moral tone can hardly be said to conduce very much to either one’s health or one’s happiness if carried to excess, in order to get up to town I have always pretended to have a younger borther of the anem of Ernest…who gets into the most dreadful scrapes. The, my dear Algy, is the whole truth pure and simple.
Algernon: The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility.
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I have invented an invaluable permanent invalid called Bunbury, in order that I may be able to go down into the country whenever I choose.
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Town and Country Symbol Timeline in The Importance of Being Earnest
The timeline below shows where the symbol Town and Country appears in The Importance of Being Earnest. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1, Part 1
...the arrival of Algernon’s friend, Mr. Ernest Worthing (Jack) who has been away in the country. Seeing the tea service, Jack asks Algernon whom he is expecting. Upon learning that Algernon...
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...reluctantly confesses that his name is actually Jack and that he goes by “Ernest” in town and “Jack” in the country.
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...is a practiced “Bunburyist.” Algernon demands to know why Jack goes by one name in town and the other in the country.
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...fortune and made him guardian to his granddaughter, Miss Cecily Cardew, who lives on a country estate. Jack explains that he leads a double life because his responsibilities to Cecily requires...
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...whose maladies are a ready excuse for Algernon whenever he chooses to go into the country. While Jack finds “Bunbury” to be an “absurd name,” Algernon cautions his friend against doing...
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Act 1, Part 2
...Jack replies that he is bachelor of twenty-nine with a sizable income, a fashionable London townhouse in Belgrave Square, and property in the country, all of which appears to appease Lady...
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...So that she can write to him, Gwendolen asks Jack for his address in the country, which Algernon slyly writes down on his shirt cuff.
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Act 2, Part 2
...he is staying for week, but Jack asserts that “Ernest” has been called back to town and instructs Merriman to order a dog-cart to take “his brother” back to the train...
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...Gwendolen refuses Cecily’s offer of sugar and cake, while making snide remarks about Cecily’s tasteless country upbringing. Cecily responds, dumping healthy doses of both into Gwendolen’s cup and onto her plate,...
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Act 3, Part 1
...arrives. Having bribed Gwendolen’s maid into disclosing her whereabouts, Lady Bracknell has followed Gwendolen from town to prevent her from seeing Jack and is appalled to see the couple together.
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