What aspects of Victorian life or attitude is Wilde satirizing or poking fun at in Oscar Wilde`s The Importance of Being Earnest?

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

The Victorian era was considered as the height of industrial revolution but also an age of contradictions by many historians . For Oscar Wilde the word earnest stands for two different ideas . On one side it stands for the false truth and on the other it stands for false morality both of which were prevalent in Victorian England . He wrote the drama due to the Victorian society pomposity and vain behavior which was so common in his days . His character Jack is such creation which provides double personality

for the same person depicting what Victorian society considered decent or indecent . It is under this paradox that the play moves on where various characters embrace wickedness in the hope of attaining virtue Marriage was an important issue in Victorian age , as it was the only choice in life of Victorian women . This issue has been portrayed in Importance of Being Earnest by making it a rather a question for debate where the subject is disputed among the Algernon and his butler in the opening dialogue . Based on such assumptions Lady Bracknell touches the issue when she states that an engagement should come on young girl as a surprise , pleasant or unpleasant as they can be which reflect the conventional preoccupations of Victorian respectability with social position , income and social status

The Importance of Being Earnest is actually a pun intended on Victorian notions of respectability and duty . Such duality can be seen in the character of Gwedolen who wish to marry a man Earnest , who according to her has all the qualities she is looking for a reality was far from true

A typical Victorian attitude was an outward appearance of dignity and restraint which gave rise to dual behavior . It was this Victorian attitude which Wilde portrayed in Importance of Being Earnest . Thus we can say that the Importance of Being earnest is a pun intended at the norms and traditions of Victorian age

Reference

Isobel Murray , Oscar Wilde . Oxford University Press , 2000

Karl Beckson , Oscar Wilde : The Critical Heritage . Routledge , 1997

George Woodcock , The Paradox of Oscar Wilde . Macmillan , 1950

Anne Bruder "Constructing Artist and Critic between J . M . Whistler and Oscar Wilde " English Literature in Transition 1880-1920 (2004...