Not My Best Side Flashcards
(15 cards)
Not my ____ side, I’m afraid
Not my best side, I’m afraid
• Humor: The dragon opens with an unexpectedly self-conscious remark, critiquing his own portrayal in the painting. This bathos (anti-climactic contrast between expectation and reality) is a key comedic device. • Comparison to TIOBE: Like Wilde’s satire of Victorian triviality, this mocks human (or in this case, dragon) vanity. Compare to Algernon’s concern with eating muffins during a serious argument (“When I am in trouble, eating is the only thing that consoles me.”).
“Why should my ____ be so ______ as to be ________?”
“Why should my victim be so unattractive as to be inedible?”
Humor: The dragon’s concern with aesthetics rather than villainy undermines its supposed monstrous nature.
• Comparison to TIOBE: This reflects Wildean comedy’s focus on superficial values, much like Gwendolen and Cecily’s obsession with the name “Ernest.”
• “It’s ____ for a girl to be sure if / She wants to be ______.”
• “It’s hard for a girl to be sure if / She wants to be rescued.”
Humor: This subverts the conventional idea that damsels automatically desire rescue. The uncertainty is a modern feminist critique wrapped in humor.
• Comparison to TIOBE: Cecily’s sudden switch in attitude about Jack’s name (“I pity any poor married woman whose husband is not called Ernest”) similarly satirizes female indecisiveness and societal expectations.
“He made me feel he was all ready to / ____ me. And any girl _____ that.”
“He made me feel he was all ready to / Eat me. And any girl enjoys that.”
Humor: This line comically exaggerates the idea of attraction as a predatory, primal force. The dragon’s appeal becomes oddly sexualized.
• Comparison to TIOBE: Wilde mocks the superficiality of Victorian romance, e.g., Gwendolen’s declaration: “My ideal has always been to love someone of the name of Ernest.”
“What was he like _________ the _________?”
“What was he like underneath the hardware?”
Humor: The maiden doubts the knight’s attractiveness under his armor, reducing him to a mere object of curiosity rather than heroism.
• Comparison to TIOBE: Just as Wilde ridicules the aristocracy’s obsession with appearances, the poem mocks traditional romantic ideals. Compare this to Lady Bracknell’s obsession with Jack’s lineage (“To be born, or at any rate bred, in a handbag… seems to me to display a contempt for the ordinary decencies of family life.”).
• “I have _______ in Dragon / Management and ______ Reclamation.”
• “I have diplomas in Dragon / Management and Virgin Reclamation.”
Humor: The knight’s heroic duties are reduced to bureaucratic qualifications, mirroring modern job-market absurdities.
• Comparison to TIOBE: Wilde similarly mocks Victorian professionalism, e.g., when Lady Bracknell interrogates Jack’s suitability for marriage as if he were a job applicant.
“Don’t you want to carry out the ______ / That _____________ and ____ have designed for you?”
“Don’t you want to carry out the roles / That sociology and myth have designed for you?”
Humor: The knight presents heroism as a rigid, predetermined social structure, highlighting the ridiculousness of gender roles.
• Comparison to TIOBE: This parallels how Wilde satirizes societal expectations, e.g., Lady Bracknell’s rigid view on marriage: “An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant, as the case may be.”
“Poor chap, he had this obsession with ______,
So he left off two of my ______.”
triangles; feet
“I was sorry for the bad ______.”
“I was sorry for the bad ______.”
(Answer: publicity)
“Why, I said to myself, should my ______
Be so ostentatiously ______?”
conqueror; beardless
“And ride a horse with a deformed ______ and square ______?”
neck; hoof
“Why should my ______ be so unattractive as to be ______?”
victim; inedible
“And ride a horse with a deformed ______ and square ______?”
neck; hoof)
“So when this boy turned up, wearing ______
On a really dangerous ______, to be honest
I didn’t much fancy him.”
machinery; horse
