This statement by Algernon Moncrieff is part of the opening banter of the play. Algy has been playing piano, and he asks Lane, his butler, if he has been listening, which Lane denies. Algy then says that he doesn't play accurately, which is something anyone can do. Instead, he plays with "wonderful expression" and "sentiment." He then states that he keeps science for Life. By the context, we can see that Algy is using the term "science" as a synonym for accuracy and precision. There is some sense to the nonsense Algy is spewing here, because piano is "playing," whereas "Life" is serious, and so precision and accuracy should, rightly, be expended not on play, but on life. However, as with many of Algy's statements, the veracity of this declaration immediately flies out the window within just a couple of lines. Algy uses his statement about keeping science for life as a segue to asking Lane about the cucumber sandwiches he was supposed to prepare for Lady Bracknell, Algy's aunt. Cucumber sandwiches are intricate, precisely made delicacies designed specifically to impress the ostentatious Lady Bracknell, who is all about appearances rather than substance. So in one sense it is true that Algy is applying great precision to the part of "life" that involves making a good impression upon his aunt. But in another sense, to imply that "life" consists of winning approval from snobbish relatives by properly preparing cucumber sandwiches is nonsense. Certainly this is a game Algy and Lady Bracknell are playing, not a serious attempt at "Life" with a capital "L." This banter appropriately sets up the tone and theme of Wilde's play, which is, as he himself stated, to "treat all the trivial things of life seriously, and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality."
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