How Props are Used in Crucible and Importance of Being Earnest
To what purpose do the playwrights use props and what is significant about it?
‘The Importance of Being Earnest’:
1. Cigarette case: The cigarette case introduced in Act 1 acts as a source for introducing the conflict. It leads the audience to discover John and Algernon’s double lives and introduces the notion of ‘Bunburying’ as named by Algernon.
2. Food: Food is used as a prop quite frequently throughout the play. In Act 1, we see Algernon preparing cucumber sandwiches for the arrival of Lady Bracknell and bread and butter for Gwendolen. Wilde uses the choice of foods and the characters’ devotion towards them as indicators of their high-class position and their prioritization of outward appearances and social conventions. Algernon informs John that, “Gwendolen is devoted to bread and butter,” which is later revealed in Act 3 is due to bread and butter being ‘fashionable.’ Furthermore, she rejects cake and sugar as offered by Cecily on grounds that they are “not fashionable any more” and that “Cake is rarely seen at the best houses nowadays.” This allows the playwright to characterize Gwendolen as a character who is more anxious with outward appearances and to be fashionable and witty rather than intellectual or serious. Food also serves as a source of conflict as it fuels the spat between Cecily and Gwendolen in Act 2, where Cecily’s imprudences in response to Gwendolen’s haughtiness and insults makes Gwendolen say that cecily might be ‘going too far.”
Additionally, food provides as a source for light comedy, such as in Algernon’s case, where he steadily devours all the cucumber sandwiches in Act 1, which were meant to be for lady Bracknell. The gusto with which Algernon eats the muffins and John attacks the bread and butter denote towards their lavish lifestyles as their fondness of the expensive foods are clear indications of frequent indulgences.
3. Piano: The presence of the piano in Algernon’s flat serves to reflect Algernon’s
‘The Importance of Being Earnest’:
1. Cigarette case: The cigarette case introduced in Act 1 acts as a source for introducing the conflict. It leads the audience to discover John and Algernon’s double lives and introduces the notion of ‘Bunburying’ as named by Algernon.
2. Food: Food is used as a prop quite frequently throughout the play. In Act 1, we see Algernon preparing cucumber sandwiches for the arrival of Lady Bracknell and bread and butter for Gwendolen. Wilde uses the choice of foods and the characters’ devotion towards them as indicators of their high-class position and their prioritization of outward appearances and social conventions. Algernon informs John that, “Gwendolen is devoted to bread and butter,” which is later revealed in Act 3 is due to bread and butter being ‘fashionable.’ Furthermore, she rejects cake and sugar as offered by Cecily on grounds that they are “not fashionable any more” and that “Cake is rarely seen at the best houses nowadays.” This allows the playwright to characterize Gwendolen as a character who is more anxious with outward appearances and to be fashionable and witty rather than intellectual or serious. Food also serves as a source of conflict as it fuels the spat between Cecily and Gwendolen in Act 2, where Cecily’s imprudences in response to Gwendolen’s haughtiness and insults makes Gwendolen say that cecily might be ‘going too far.”
Additionally, food provides as a source for light comedy, such as in Algernon’s case, where he steadily devours all the cucumber sandwiches in Act 1, which were meant to be for lady Bracknell. The gusto with which Algernon eats the muffins and John attacks the bread and butter denote towards their lavish lifestyles as their fondness of the expensive foods are clear indications of frequent indulgences.
3. Piano: The presence of the piano in Algernon’s flat serves to reflect Algernon’s