Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Ernest were both hilarious reads. I felt that if I underlined or highlighted every funny part, I would have two entirely yellow plays. They were thoroughly enjoyable to read. One of my favorite parts of either play was in Act I of The Importance of Being Ernest in which Jack and Algernon are conversing (pages 312-313).
Jack: I am sick to death of cleverness. Everybody is clever nowadays. You can't go anywhere without meeting clever people. The thing has become an absolute public nuisance. I wish to goodness we had a few fools left.
Algernon: We have.
Jack: I should extremely like to meet them. What do they talk about?
Algernon: The fools? Oh! about the clever people, of course.
Jack: What fools!
This conversation is absolutely hilarious. Jack tries to criticize Algy for being clever and Algy turns the argument into calling Jack a fool, to which Jack unwittingly agrees! However, when read with Gantar, the scene changes a bit, or rather, Jack's final sentiment changes. Perhaps he is not oblivious to what Algernon is saying about him, but rather deciding that he is right and going from "other" at which we laugh to being in on the joke. When discussing gentle laughter, Gantar says, "Menander changes the focus of Greek comedy so that the laughter it generates is no longer oriented towards an easily recognizable scapegoat but originates in a careful introspection of the spectators themselves who have to admit, before they can laugh, that they too are afflicted by the same weaknesses as the characters" (40). While at first this seems a rather satirical and "malevolent" form of laughter, it turns out to be an example of the gentler sort. Jack realizes his foolishness and embraces it with the exclamation "What fools!" The audience, too, finds that though they may not have had this exact conversation, that they are guilty of his same offense. Everyone has at some time criticized another only to be proven wrong. I certainly have. This scene is so funny not only because of the irony in the situation but because the audience can relate to Jack's situation. So, in laughing at him, we laugh at ourselves.
In An Ideal Husband, my favorite parts included the stage directions and any scene with Mabel and Lord Goring. Here is one such scene (page 219) in which Lord Goring is just taking his leave as Mabel enters the room.
Mabel: Just when I have come in! What dreadful manners you have! I am sure you were very badly brought up.
Goring: I was.
Mabel: I wish I had brought you up!
Goring: I am so sorry you didn't.
Mabel: It is too late now, I suppose?
Goring [smiling]: I am not so sure.
I couldn't help it, every single scene with these two I imagined acted extremely sexually. Read with innocence, this scene is mostly just annoying. Read with some innuendo and the right tone, it's both funny and provocative. Basically, it's just better. It's the same with almost all of their dialogue together. It could be read as vain and annoying or very sexual and funny. Especially, as in this scene, when others are present and double entendre is the game. In the 1999 version of the movie, Minnie Driver and Rupert Everett play the parts with some sexual tension, but not as much as I imagine. In some scenes, she plays the innocent role then walks away with an aside that shows she is not as innocent as she seems, which is also funny, as the joke is on him. As Gantar says on page 38 of her essay, "the highly customized laughter that aims at an individualized Other offers the spectator a degree of immunity." Since the movie encourages us to laugh at Lord Goring, and more specifically, it encourages women to laugh at men, women do not feel threatened by this joke. It is a rare case in which a man is the butt of the joke and women are encouraged to laugh while men (though they may laugh at Goring) feel uncomfortable and susceptible to being laughed at themselves. It's also funny that in the movie, the characters go to see a performance of The Importance of Being Ernest.
Finally, I had to laugh at the muffin scene in The Importance of Being Ernest. After their true identities have been found out by the women they plan to marry, Jack and Algy are stewing over what to do. Algy starts to eat muffins. (page 341)
Jack: How you can sit there, calmly eating muffins when we are in this horrible trouble, I can't make out. You seem to me to be perfectly heartless.
Algy: Well, I can't eat muffins in an agitated manner. The butter would probably get on my cuffs. One should always eat muffins quite calmly. It is the only way to eat them.
Gantar discusses nonsense on page 60 of "The Pleasure of Fools." It reads, "Nonsense abolishes all hierarchies of discourse and tolerates no hegemony. It disempowers everyone. It is no longer marred by semantic noise." Algy's talk about eating muffins in an agitated state is purely nonsense. It is true, however the though of an angry muffin-eater is so silly that his statement can hardly be called insightful, but it could constitute as nonsense. His nonsense disempowers Jack, who is completely preoccupied with other thoughts and troubles. Yet Algy's nonsense distracts him, taking him away from his train of thought and preoccupation.
I'd just like to say that I've completely enjoyed these plays. I'm sorry I didn't get anything in on Wednesday. I was "honeymooning" in Kansas City and believe it or not the hotel didn't have wifi (I didn't believe it either). Anyway, I'm back on track and I don't plan on missing anything else. I'm super stoked about Hitchhiker's Guide!!
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