Earnezzzzzzzz... Sorry fell asleep

I finally finished the "Importance of Being Earnest". I'm not sure exactly what sweet magic this little volume posses but it has the amazing property of nearly instantly rendering me unconscious. No kidding, I fell asleep three different times, just this morning, trying to finish it. Not those brief cat naps you have while driving. But the fully comatose, couch imprint on cheek, stupefyingly dead to the world, sleep of pre freezing to death in the arctic . But I persevered. I even enjoyed the play. So there is really no accounting for the drool stains all over almost every page. What a mystery. 

Also, Dr. Sexon mentioned how tidy the plot was.  I noticed, however, that there was never a resolution to Algy's name change subplot. Cecile was ready to dump him because his name wasn't Ernest, Algy pledges to be re-christened to remedy the problem, then...  -POOF- subplot disappears. It turns out that Jack really is an Ernest but what about Algy? What happened to wrap that up? Did I miss it? 

But this was the only flaw I found, and truly had a great time reading this little gem.(Yes, I even frequently dreamed about it.) I Enjoyed it so much that I went out and rented both versions that Movie Lovers carries. The one we saw in class is very faithful to the plot in Mr. Wilde' s original play. But the characters are a bit over the top melodramatic. Although, The delivery of the I was found in a handbag scene was the better of the two. The newer movie included a whole subplot about Algy being arrested for unpaid debts of Earnest's from a hotel in London and how Jack tries to use prison time as blackmail to get Algy to leave his ward alone. Also it broke up the scenes and had the action take place all over London and countryside of 188_. It didn't really make any sense, and seemed to be a good example of a movie trying to chew up its budget. However, the acting was far less painful to watch all around, except that Dame Judy Dench was pretty disappointing, and was the only character out acted by those in the older movie. Which is odd because she normally walks on water as far as I'm concerned.

So, mystified by the addition of the arresting of Algy subplot I began an Oedipus style investigation... online. It turns out that Mr. Wilde originally wrote the play in four acts, the third of which included that and some other Bunburying in the country between the four principles. It was cut from the original production by the director for time's sake in order to include a musical interlude in the performance: with Mr. Wilde's consent. So the newer movie is evidently based on the older four act version of the play. The Older movie, conversely , is based on the three act play that first made its run in London. So, I hope you found that as confusing as I did. Fantastic. Anyways good night all.