Editing The Importance of Being Earnest (section)

==Composition==
[[File:Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) 1889, May 23. Picture by W. and D. Downey.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Early middle aged white man in Victorian morning dress, seated with legs crossed, holding gloves and looking pensively towards the camera|Oscar Wilde in 1889]]
''The Importance of Being Earnest'' followed the success of Wilde's earlier [[drawing room play]]s, ''[[Lady Windermere's Fan]]'' (1892), ''[[A Woman of No Importance]]'' (1893)  and ''[[An Ideal Husband]]'' (1895).<ref name=wildeodnb>Edwards, Owen Dudley. [https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-29400 "Wilde, Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills (1854–1900), writer"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press 2004. {{ODNBsub}}</ref> He spent the summer of 1894 with his family at [[Worthing]], on the [[Sussex]] coast, where he began work on the new play.<ref>Ellmann, p. 421</ref>

Wilde scholars generally agree that the most important influence on the play was [[W. S. Gilbert]]'s 1877 [[farce]] [[Engaged (play)|''Engaged'']],<ref>Denisoff, p. 66; Feingold, Michael, [http://www.villagevoice.com/theater/0418,feingold1,53206,11.html "Engaging the Past"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061108131632/http://www.villagevoice.com/theater/0418,feingold1,53206,11.html |date=8 November 2006 }}; Hudson, pp. 101–105; Jackson (2000), p. xxxvi; Koerble, p. 144; Pearson, p. 63; Raby (1995) p. 28; Stedman, p. 151; Thompson, p. 255; and Williams, pp. 15 and 411</ref> from which Wilde borrowed not only several incidents but also, in the words of Russell Jackson in his 1980 introduction to Wilde's play, "the gravity of tone demanded by Gilbert of his actors".<ref>Jackson (2000) p. xxxvi</ref> Wilde's first draft was so long that it filled four [[exercise book]]s, and over the summer he continually revised and refined it, as he had done with his earlier plays.<ref name=jackson163>Jackson (1997), p. 163</ref><ref>Eltis, pp. 60, 101 and 137</ref> Among his many changes he altered the subtitle from "a Serious Comedy for Trivial People" to "a Trivial Comedy for Serious People",<ref>[https://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/galleries/written-word/item/5420 "A Serious Comedy for Trivial People, an early manuscript draft of The Importance of Being Earnest"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240828163825/https://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/galleries/written-word/item/5420 |date=28 August 2024 }}, New York Public Library (1894). Retrieved 28 August 2024</ref> and renamed the characters Lady Brancaster and Algernon Montford as Lady Bracknell and Algernon Moncrieff.<ref>Jackson (1980), pp. xxix and 4</ref>

Wilde wrote the part of John Worthing with the actor-manager [[Charles Wyndham (actor)|Charles Wyndham]] in mind. Wilde shared [[George Bernard Shaw|Bernard Shaw's]] view that Wyndham was the ideal comedy actor and based the character on his stage persona.<ref name="wildeodnb"/> Wyndham accepted the play for production at [[Wyndham's Theatre|his theatre]], but before rehearsals began, he changed his plans in order to help a beleaguered colleague, the actor-manager [[George Alexander (actor)|George Alexander]] of the [[St James's Theatre]]. In early 1895 Alexander's production of [[Henry James]]'s ''[[Guy Domville]]'' failed, and closed after 31 performances, leaving Alexander in urgent need of a new play to follow it.<ref name=james>Horne, Philip. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-341502004 "James, Henry (1843–1916), writer"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230425205454/https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-341502004 |date=25 April 2023 }}, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press. Retrieved 14 April 2021 {{ODNBsub}}</ref><ref name=rhd>Wilde (1962), pp. 418–419</ref> Wyndham waived his contractual rights and allowed Alexander to stage Wilde's play.<ref name=rhd/><ref>Raby (1988), p. 143</ref>

After working with Wilde on stage movements, using a model theatre, Alexander asked the author to shorten the play from four acts to three. Wilde complied and combined elements of the second and third acts.<ref name=e406>Ellmann, p. 406</ref> The largest cut was the removal of the character of Mr&nbsp;Gribsby, a solicitor who comes from London to serve a [[writ]] on the profligate "Ernest" Worthing for unpaid dining bills at the [[Savoy Hotel]].<ref name=jackson163/><ref>Wilde (2000), p. 107</ref> Wilde was not entirely happy with alterations made at Alexander's behest. He said, "Yes, it is quite a good play. I remember I wrote one very like it myself, but it was even more brilliant than this",<ref name=e406/> but the three-act version usually performed is widely considered more effective than Wilde's four-act original.<ref name=Raby121>Raby (1988), p. 121</ref><ref name=mikhail>Mikhail E. H. [https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/mdr.1968.0047 "The Four-Act Version of The Importance of Being Earnest"], ''Modern Drama'', Fall 1968 {{subscription required}}</ref>{{refn|The deleted scene with the solicitor was thought lost until it was found in some of Wilde's papers and was first performed on [[BBC radio]] on 27 October 1954.<ref name=mikhail/>|group=n}}