Critics of the play refer to Wilde's "mastery of epigram and the audacity and polish of his wit". Illustrate this mastery using examples which you have enjoyed from the play. According to Collins English Dictionary wit is "the talent or quality of using unexpected associations between contrasting or disparate words or ideas to make a clever humorous effect", it is more intellectual than straightforward humour which can include slapstick. An epigram is "a witty, often paradoxical remark, concisely expressed". The Importance of being Earnest is a play overflowing with both epigrams and wit. The title itself is a play on the words Ernest and earnest. There are so many examples of Wilde's