#1 in Drama & theatre
The Importance of Being Earnest
- 102
- Pages
- about 2 h
- Reading time
- Film 2002 +5
- On screen
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Our view
Wilde’s farce about two young men who both pass themselves off as Ernest is short, quick and built almost entirely out of wit. The characters are meant to be vain and exasperating, and readers who need someone to root for may find them tiresome rather than funny. At just over a hundred pages it suits anyone after a light, clever evening, and it rewards rereading.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Importance of Being Earnest, a Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde, the last of his four drawing-room plays, following Lady Windermere's Fan (1892), A Woman of No Importance (1893) and An Ideal Husband (1895). First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy depicting the tangled affairs of two young men about town who lead double lives to evade unwanted social obligations, both assuming the name Ernest while wooing the two young women of their affections.
On screen
This book has been adapted for the screen 6 times — from 1976 to 2018.
- FilmThe Importance of Being EarnestIMDb
- FilmThe Importance of Being EarnestIMDb
- FilmThe Importance of Being EarnestIMDb
- TV filmJak je dulezité míti FilipaIMDb
- TV filmThe Importance of Being EarnestIMDb
- FilmThe Importance of Being EarnestIMDb
Adaptation data: Wikidata · On screen →
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.3 across 891 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 86% of the weight and the score stays at 8.2 — the Drama & theatre average of 7.6 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.3 | 65 | 7% |
| Google Books | 8.0 | 136 | 15% |
| Hardcover | 8.3 | 690 | 77% |
Frequently asked
How long is The Importance of Being Earnest?
It has 102 pages — shorter than 98% of the ranked books in Drama & theatre.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Drama & theatre — with scores between 7.6 and 8.0, closest to this book.
