The Importance of Being Earnest

As we've been reading the play The Importance of Being Earnest, I have noticed some themes come up that I remembered from my Victorian Era research. One of them being the difference in social classes, and the other being marriage. In my research I learned that the lower classes were not respected by the upper class. Even though the upper class had far more wealth, they rarely had to work for it, whereas the lower classes often had to do hard physical labor just to feed their families. In the play, Algernon is a perfect example of the snobby upper class when he says, "They seem, as a class, to have absolutely no sense of moral responsibility."(28).

As for the topic of marriage, I learned in my research that it was looked at as an opportunity to gain wealth and social standing, and not romance or love. Women married wealthy men so they could live a luxurious lifestyle, and men gained the woman's possessions; it was like a business deal. In the play, Algernon proposes to Cecily after just meeting her, and it is clear how shallow a relationship it is when Cecily announces, "I like his hair so much. I must enter his proposal in my diary."(77.) Obviously she does not actually care for him, just his wealth and looks.