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Morality In Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest

1478 Words6 Pages

Introduction
The play, The Importance of Being Earnest, is a comedy of manners employing equal amount of both satire and a force resulting in a hilarious send-up of the Victorian society (Cash J, 2006). Wilde satirically highlights their absurd class customs (manners, property and occupation), social conventions including the obsession with social standing and personal fulfilment, as well as, marriage for mercantile purposes (Kupske F, 2015).
The Victorian society was an era attached to the ideals of earnestness which pressurised individuals to live double lives. This earnestness forced people to compromise anything and disregard their morals (Cash J, 2006).
The obsession with the upper class and the lifestyle that is led by those people makes matters worse. Love was not a determining factor but rather money and social status drove people into marriages to improve their financial statuses (Kupske F, 2015). Lady Bracknell is a perfect example of this when she interrogates possible suitors for her daughter to ascertain their financial status and family status (Cash J, 2006), she was rather disdained and shocked at the fact that Jack did not know who his parents indeed were, and thus why she immediately spoke against the fact that he would not be marrying her daughter.
Victorian morality is a rigid body of rules about what people should and should not do. These restrictions suggest a strict code of morals that exist in their society; however Wilde is not concerned about the

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