Assignment

1. Performance Elements: Drama is different in many ways from other literary forms because it has major components that cannot be clearly experienced when it is read, but which instead can only be experienced when one watches a play performed. Discuss the setting of Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest and Shaw's Pygmalion. What purpose do each of these settings serve? If you were a director, how would you set the stage? Do the stage direction allow the director creative leeway? If you were able to watch the YouTube video of Pygmalion and The Importance of Being Earnest, you are welcome to discuss the settings as well. Give specific examples from each play to support your response, and be sure explain those examples.

2. Class and Social Mobility: Both The Importance of Being Earnest and Pygmalion are set in a period of English history where social class is important. What issues about class do Wilde and Shaw raise in the play, and what do you think they are trying to say about those issues? Are their points the same? Give specific examples from each play to support your response, and be sure explain those examples.

3. Out of Time: Both The Importance of Being Earnest and Pygmalion are set in the early twentieth century. Are the issues that each play highlights still valid during the 21st century as well? You could discuss gender issues here as well. Give specific examples from each play to support your response, and be sure explain those examples.

Divide your posts into paragraphs for easier reading, and make sure to reference, paraphrase, or quote specific passages from the text to support and illustrate what you say.