Read the speech from the play The Importance of Being Earnest. Gwendolen. Yes, I am quite well aware of the fact. And I often wish that in public, at any rate, you had been more demonstrative. For me you have always had an irresistible fascination. Even before I met you I was far from indifferent to you. [Jack looks at her in amazement.] We live, as I hope you know, Mr. Worthing, in an age of ideals. The fact is constantly mentioned in the more expensive monthly magazines, and has reached the provincial pulpits, I am told; and my ideal has always been to love some one of the name of Ernest. Gwendolen implies that she believes that living by one’s ideals means . Which response accurately completes the sentence?

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Read the speech from the play The Importance of Being Earnest.

Gwendolen. Yes, I am quite well aware of the fact. And I often wish that in public, at any rate, you had been more demonstrative. For me you have always had an irresistible fascination. Even before I met you I was far from indifferent to you. [Jack looks at her in amazement.] We live, as I hope you know, Mr. Worthing, in an age of ideals. The fact is constantly mentioned in the more expensive monthly magazines, and has reached the provincial pulpits, I am told; and my ideal has always been to love some one of the name of Ernest.

Gwendolen implies that she believes that living by one’s ideals means . Which response accurately completes the sentence?

(a) meeting one’s set goals for the future, even if they are arbitrary

(b) removing oneself from situations in which others act immorally

(c) living an independent life in which one can make one’s own choices

(d) sacrificing all other sources of happiness until love is found

Gwendolen implies that she believes that living by one’s ideals means (a) meeting one’s set goals for the future, even if they are arbitrary .

Explanation:

Written by Oscar Wilde, the play "The Importance of Being Earnest" is a satire of trivial society. In this passage, the character Gwendolen is talking about ideas, and how they live in a society that values them. She, for instance, has always had a very arbitrary ideal - to be in love with someone called Ernest. As random as it is, she lives by it. That is why she has been infatuated with Jack (who pretends to be Ernest) even before they even met. To Gwendolen, that means she is living her ideals, meeting the goals she has set for the future - if they are arbitrary or not, it does not matter.

the underlined phrase is an example of : understatment