way2go! 7. Coursebook, Schulbuch

121 Compare your list of possible questions to what Lady Bracknell actually wanted to know from Jack. Discuss the differences. Underline examples of Lady Bracknell’s witty and pointed remarks and compare them with a partner. Has your partner decided on the same examples? How is humour created in the scene? (E.g. Lady Bracknell approves of Jack smoking.) What does the scene tell you about Victorian society? 3 a Lady Bracknell. In what locality did this Mr. James, or Thomas, Cardew come across this ordinary hand-bag? Jack. In the cloak-room at Victoria Station. It was given to him in mistake for his own. Lady Bracknell. The cloak-room at Victoria Station? Jack. Yes. The Brighton line. Lady Bracknell. The line is immaterial. Mr. Worthing, I confess I feel somewhat bewildered 6 by what you have just told me. To be born, or at any rate bred, in a hand-bag, whether it had handles or not, seems to me to display a contempt 7 for the ordinary decencies of family life. […] Jack. May I ask you then what you would advise me to do? I need hardly say I would do anything in the world to ensure Gwendolen’s happiness. Lady Bracknell. I would strongly advise you, Mr. Worthing, to try and acquire some relations as soon as possible, and to make a definite effort to produce at any rate one parent, of either sex, before the season is quite over. Jack. Well, I don’t see how I could possibly manage to do that. I can produce the hand-bag at any moment. It is in my dressing-room at home. I really think that should satisfy you, Lady Bracknell. Lady Bracknell. Me, sir! What has it to do with me? You can hardly imagine that I and Lord Bracknell would dream of allowing our only daughter – a girl brought up with the utmost care – to marry into a cloak-room, and form an alliance with a parcel? Good morning, Mr. Worthing! [Lady Bracknell sweeps out in majestic indignation.] b c d Choose one of these activities to do in class or at home: 1 Change the setting. Write a dialogue between a strict father and a prospective husband for the daughter today. 2 Write a WhatsApp conversation between Jack and his fiancée Gwendolen after the scene with Lady Bracknell. 3 Do some research on Oscar Wilde and/or the play and discover the significance of its title. 4 6 bewildered: verwirrt, bestürzt 7 contempt: Verachtung Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv