GWENDOLEN
My own Ernest!
JACK
But you don't really mean to say that you couldn't love me if my name
wasn't Ernest?
9. The social season, extending from May through July, when people of fashion came into London from their country estates for entertainments and parties.
.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, ACT 1 / 1707
GWENDOLEN But your name is Ernest.
JACK
Yes, I know it is. But supposing it was something else? Do you mean to
say you couldn't love me then? GWENDOLEN [Glibly.] Ah! that is clearly a metaphysical speculation, and like most metaphysical speculations has very little reference at all to the actual
facts of real life, as we know them.
JACK
Personally, darling, to speak quite candidly, I don't much care about
the name of Ernest .. . I don't think the name suits me at all. GWENDOLEN It suits you perfectly. It is a divine name. It has a music of its own. It produces vibrations.
JACK
Well, really, Gwendolen, I must say that I think there are lots of other
much nicer names. I think Jack, for instance, a charming name. GWENDOLEN Jack? . . . No, there is very little music in the name Jack, if any at all, indeed. It does not thrill. It produces absolutely no vibrations. .. . I
have known several Jacks, and they all, without exception, were more than
usually plain. Besides, Jack is a notorious domesticity for John! And I pity
any woman who is married to a man called John. She would probably never
be allowed to know the entrancing pleasure of a single moment's solitude.
The only really safe name is Ernest.
JACK
Gwendolen, I must get christened at once?I mean we must get married
at once. There is no time to be lost.
GWENDOLEN
Married, Mr. Worthing? JACK [Astounded. ] Well . . . surely. You know that I love you, and you led me to believe, Miss Fairfax, that you were not absolutely indifferent to me.
GWENDOLEN
I adore you. But you haven't proposed to me yet. Nothing has
been said at all about marriage. The subject has not even been touched on. JACK Well . . . may I propose to you now? GWENDOLEN
I think it would be an admirable opportunity. And to spare you
any possible disappointment, Mr. Worthing, I think it only fair to tell you
quite frankly beforehand that I am fully determined to accept you. JACK Gwendolen! GWENDOLEN
Yes, Mr. Worthing, what have you got to say to me?
JACK
YOU know what I have got to say to you. GWENDOLEN
Yes, but you don't say it. JACK Gwendolen, will you marry me? [Goes on his knees.] GWENDOLEN
Of course I will, darling. How long you have been about it! I
am afraid you have had very little experience in how to propose.
JACK
My own one, I have never loved anyone in the world but you.
GWENDOLEN
Yes, but men often propose for practice. I know my brother
Gerald does. All my girlfriends tell me so. What wonderfully blue eyes you
