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The play begins with Ernest Worthing visiting his friend Algernon Moncrieff for a cup of tea. During his visit, Ernest gets asked many open-ended questions about his life. Algernon finds a cigarette case that Ernest had left at his place at an earlier visit, which causes Ernest to confess his real identity as being Jack Worthing. The story continues and the audience is welcomed to the true life of Jack – repetitive and boring. It's the reason why he goes by Jack in the country and Ernest in town. He lies to Cecily, saying that Ernest is his younger brother who is an urban socialite. Algernon is amused by this new discovery and shares his ‘always sick’ friend Bunbury – whom he uses to get out of unwanted situations. This concept of double identity is described as ‘bunburrying’. While in town Jack confesses his love for Gwendolen and proposes to her. She is smitten by the name Ernest which is why she agrees to marry him – not knowing that his name truly is Jack.
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Lady Bracknell, enters the room to see Gwendolen and Jack embracing which causes a scene. After they share the news of Jack’s proposal, Lady Bracknell is furious and sends Gwendolen away. She then begins to question Jack about his life and background to prove his worthiness. Furious about Lady Bracknell’s decision, Jack decides to kill his fake brother Ernest. Jack goes back to the country to deliver the horrible news to Cecily and others there, only to see Algernon already there posing as Ernest.
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Algernon has confessed his undying love for Cecily and proposed to her. Cecily happily accepts the proposal, which only further complicates the situation as Cecily is also smitten by the name Ernest. At this point, Gwendolen and Cecily are engaged to two different men, who are posing with the same name of Ernest. The play continues and depicts Lady Bracknell as being the dominant, decision maker of all the characters. As time passes the true identities are revealed, Jack finds out who his real parents are – his name is actually Ernest, and that he is Algernon’s older brother. All is well as the play comes to an end with Ernest stating that he has learned the “importance of being earnest.”