Analysis of Act 1 Scene 1

Through reading the first Act of scene 1 a topic can be established through the conversation between Algernon and Jack; in this case the topic is on "Bunburying". This is further seen through the lexis: 'What you really are is a Bunburyist". Algernon seems to be interrogating Jack about his private life, this is emphasised through stress that Algernon uses through certain words: "I suspected that" the stress in this sentence is on the word 'suspected'. This clearly shows that Algernon is suspicious about Jack's behaviour and on what Jack's hidden agenda is.
Algernon is clearly the dominant speaker and he is of a higher status relative to the conversation. He is the one putting questions forward to Jack in an interrogating manner. Whereas Jack is conversing through short direct sentences, Algernon on the other hand uses longer, in depth vocabulary in a way to corner Jack into a confession on his true identity. Although Algernon is the dominant speaker there is clear turn taking in the conversation which suggests that in relative status they are both of the same status and are mutual friends.
There also seems to be a rhyme throughout the conversation. The way in which Algernon is putting questions and statements forward to Jack and the manner in which he is speaking, in this case of an informal, light hearted way suggests that the rhyme is quite fast. The use of coinage in this context, also allows the conversation to take a less serious turn. The word Bunburying is polysemic, in the case of the conversation it means to have a double life, hiding ones true identity. However the word Bunburying has a deeper meaning, in reality it means to hide your homosexuality which can be directly meaningful to Oscar Wilde himself.