the importance of being earnest as a social satire

7/27/2019 The Importance of Being Earnest as a Social Satire

1/5

The Importance of Being Earnest as a SocialSatire

By raymond mullen,

A brief look at Wilde's humourous critique of Victorian society.

An essay hosted at LiteratureClassics.com

Lady Bracknell: A hundred and thirty thousand pounds! And in the Funds! Miss Cardew seems to me a mostattractive young lady, now that I look at her. Few girls of the present day have any really solid qualities that last, andimprove with time. We live I regret to say, in an age of surfaces.

1

Lady Bracknells sudden change of mind with regard to Cecilys suitability as wife to Algernon revealsthe essence ofThe Importance of Being Earnest. This marvellous frivolity as Eltis remarks, is the mostcapricious, and most uniquely Wildean2 of all Oscar Fingal OFlahertie Wills Wildes plays. To the

great annoyance of George Bernard Shaw, it was and still remains a perfectly formed farce, engagingly

amusing and constantly funny. Writing in the Saturday review, Shaw declared:

I cannot say that I greatly cared forThe Importance of Being Earnest. It amused me of course; but unless a comedytouches me as well as amuses me, it leaves me with a sense of having wasted my evening.

3

Shaw had been an active member of the Fabian Society a Socialist who though firmly established in

the upper echelons of English society, disliked what he saw as pandering to their whims.

But I believe that Shaw had missed Wildes true meaning ofThe Importance. Yes it is floral anddecorative, and on first appearance perhaps a little shallow, however this was the camouflage for

Wildes most subversive and satirical work.4 Three years prior to the completion of the stage version of

The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde wrote in his Essay The Soul of Man Under Socialism of the

potential for revolutionary art in burlesqueand farcical comedy, the two most popular forms [of

drama]. 5 Thus through The Importance, Wilde uses this medium to amuse with one hand and

undermine with the other.The Importance of Being Earnest is essentially the absolute absurd bound by a thinly layered normality

to Wilde farce equals anarchy and everything is reversed. Nowhere is this more evident than in the

very first scene of the first act involving Algernon and his manservant Lane. In particular, the normalperceptions of marriage and class are reversed; this is a common theme throughout theplay.

Algernon: if the lower orders dont set us a good example what on earth is the use of them?

and

If I ever get married, Ill certainly try to forget the fact.

6

Algernon luxuriates in a society that has created its own rules, morals and principles.Initially Wilde attempted to sell the play to theatre companies, describing it as a harmless farce written

to indulge the public, at a time when he was gaining considerable notoriety. Having first refused the
http://openwindow%28%27/profile.asp?IDNo=3101%27,%27profile%27);http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source1http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source2http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source2http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source3http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source4http://openwindow%28%27/showterm.asp?IDNo=75%27,%27term%27)http://openwindow%28%27/showterm.asp?IDNo=49%27,%27term%27)http://openwindow%28%27/showterm.asp?IDNo=49%27,%27term%27)http://openwindow%28%27/showterm.asp?IDNo=5%27,%27term%27)http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source5http://openwindow%28%27/showterm.asp?IDNo=4%27,%27term%27)http://openwindow%28%27/showterm.asp?IDNo=4%27,%27term%27)http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source6http://openwindow%28%27/profile.asp?IDNo=3101%27,%27profile%27);http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source1http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source2http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source3http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source4http://openwindow%28%27/showterm.asp?IDNo=75%27,%27term%27)http://openwindow%28%27/showterm.asp?IDNo=49%27,%27term%27)http://openwindow%28%27/showterm.asp?IDNo=5%27,%27term%27)http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source5http://openwindow%28%27/showterm.asp?IDNo=4%27,%27term%27)http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source6


2/5

play, George Alexander agreed to stage The Importance of Being Earnest, though Oscar warned thatthe play might be too slight.7Subversive is a word that is bandied about by many modern critics when

discussing The Importance of Being Earnest, yet Wilde was at pains to downplay any subversive subtext

and present it as he hoped it would be perceived by its intended audience:

to Charles Mason he reported that it is quite nonsensical and has no serious interest, but will I hope bring me in alot of red gold.

8However, as Wilde prepared the script for publication five years later, he emphasised that The

Importance was not quite as harmless as he had originally pretended. Following his prison sentence

Wilde was unsure of the reception his published works may receive:

While the public like to hear of my painI am not sure that they will welcome me again in airy mood and spirit,mocking at morals, and defiance of social rules.

9

The Importance of Being Earnestaims a stinging blow at Victorian society, in particular at the upper and

middle classes. For the purpose of the play Lady Bracknell equals society though again, Wildes

interpretation of society. She is an immense snob with an insatiable appetite for money and wealth. Onhearing of Jacks proposal to her daughter Gwendolen, she immediately begins to interrogate Jack about

his means What is your income?. Many Victorian handbooks on etiquette existed detailing how to

deal with various social niceties, and it can safely be assumed that questioning other guests about their

financial means was not considered polite drawing room manners. Lady Bracknell does not stop there:

You can hardly imagine that I and Lord Bracknell would dream of allowing our only daughter a girl brought up withthe utmost of care to marry into a cloak-room, and form an alliance with a parcel. Good morning Mr. Worthing!

10

No doubt this would have titillated Wildes audience, there was an overt snobbery exhibited by theupper classes and targeted at the social climbing merchant class. This is reflected in much of the

literature of the Period, for example Austens Emma or indeed Balzacs Pre Goriot, where the old

landed gentry are socially superior to these nouveaux riches. Indeed Sos Eltis points out:

Lady Bracknells interviewing of Jack [is] the centrepiece of WildesSatirewhile without addressing Jack directly, she

reduces her daughters suitor to a social impossibility.

11

The working classes are also a source of distress for Lady Bracknell. At a time in Britain when there

were growing calls for free education for the masses, Lady Bracknell finds relief in the poor state of theeducational system.

Lady Bracknell: The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate,education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes and probablylead to violence in Grosvenor Square.

12

As the play progresses there is a juxtaposition of the contemporary male/female role. Men are there to belooked at, as pleasant decorative artefacts. Algy and Jack are the given examples of man with enough

time on their hands to do everything they could possibly wish to do, which is:

Jack: NothingAlgy: It is awfully hard work doing nothing. However. I dont mind hard work where there is no definite object of anykind.

13

Lady Bracknell concedes that smoking is an entirely acceptable occupation for a gentleman as there are

far too many idle men.14 Similarly, the idea that a man must be knowledgeable is not a belief that LadyBracknell would prescribe to, as she does not approve of anything that tampers with natural
http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source7http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source7http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source8http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source9http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source10http://openwindow%28%27/showterm.asp?IDNo=142%27,%27term%27)http://openwindow%28%27/showterm.asp?IDNo=142%27,%27term%27)http://openwindow%28%27/showterm.asp?IDNo=166%27,%27term%27)http://openwindow%28%27/showterm.asp?IDNo=166%27,%27term%27)http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source11http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source12http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source13http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source14http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source7http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source8http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source9http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source10http://openwindow%28%27/showterm.asp?IDNo=142%27,%27term%27)http://openwindow%28%27/showterm.asp?IDNo=166%27,%27term%27)http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source11http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source12http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source13http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source14


3/5

ignorance.15This was principally the Victorian view of women, but Wilde and a socially awareintelligentsia were not so certain of this. Things had to change and were undoubtedly changing.

Wilde was a great champion of the new woman; indeed Speranza Lady Wilde, Oscars mother

provided his greatest inspiration. He used some of these characteristics in constructing Gwendolen andCecily. They are both university educated, upwardly mobile individuals, very intelligent and just as

witty as their male cohorts. Nevertheless, Wilde adds a little fickleness and other stereotypical female

mannerisms for comedic effect.

Gwendolen is the epitome of the sophisticated, modern woman about town, where as Cecily is at first displayed as the natural, unspoilt country girl. Much of thehumourarises as Wilde pits the two

characters against one another. Cecily is not as innocent as we are first led to believe. There is a vivid

contrast between her supposed maiden simplicity and her actual intelligence, self-possession, andknowing acuteness. 16 The womens initial bonding and subsequent misunderstanding illustrates that

Cecily is certainly not the Victorian stereotypical country girl, and gives as good as she gets:

Oh, flowers are as common here, Miss Fairfax, as people are in London.

17

She, like the other female characters, takes firm control of her man from the outset. Algys patronizingsuperiority is easily sterilised by Cecilys unsheathed wit. The idea of marriage is a major theme in The

Importance of Being Earnest. Wilde once wrote:

In our day it is best for a man to be married, and men must give up the tyranny in married life which was once so dearto them.

18However, by the time Wilde came to write The Soul of Man Under Socialism, and later The Importance,

his views on marriage had become radically subversive, precisely because he observed how deeply the

institution was embroiled in property and commerce.19Lady Bracknell the standard bearer ofinstitutionalised Victorian morals, confesses to the fact that even she had no personal wealth before her

marriage to Lord Bracknell. Despite this fact, she will not allow her daughter to marry into a cloak-

room nor will she permit the marriage of her nephew, Algernon, to Cecily that is until she learns ofCecilys acceptable background. Jack uses Cecilys wealth and lineage as a bargaining tool:

The moment you consent to my marriage with Gwendolen, I will most gladly allow your nephew to form an alliancewith my ward.

20

Lady Bracknell regards marriage firstly as a financial and social transaction, and secondly as a battle for

domination. It is not until the final dnouement when Miss Prism arrives, and Jacks lineage attainsfamilial respectability, can the comedy move to its formal resolution: marriage.21

Miss Prism and Dr. Chasuble may be regarded as the moralizing members of the population who

condemn vice.22 Their pious behaviour is ridiculed by their vicarious pleasure in hearing about varioustales of gossip and society scandal. Prism condemns the working classes for lack of thrift in producing

too many children, while Chasuble conducts his life according to strict codes of canonical practice. 23

From a modern perspective, their lustful behaviour and quiet walks together, display the true extent ofVictorian hypocrisy.

In some regards the balance of the sexes is equal. Algy, Jack, Gwendolen and Cecily draw comparative

sympathy from the audience. Yet Wilde takes every opportunity to satirise contemporary fads, whetherhe is in favour of them or not. For example, just as male domination is mocked so too is the idea of

female independence Oscar was nothing if not fair handed. The notion that Cecily will be under the

ward-ship of Jack until she is thirty-five years of age is clearly ridiculous, though essential to the plot.

Cecilys sexual eagerness separates her from the conventionally innocent heroine. Not only does sheoffer the encouragement needed by Algy to pursue her and convince him of his love for her, but declines

the prospect of remaining the eternally faithful maiden. Waiting, even to be married, is quite out of the

question.24
http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source15http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source15http://openwindow%28%27/showterm.asp?IDNo=96%27,%27term%27)http://openwindow%28%27/showterm.asp?IDNo=96%27,%27term%27)http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source16http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source17http://openwindow%28%27/showterm.asp?IDNo=190%27,%27term%27)http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source18http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source19http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source19http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source20http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source21http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source22http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source23http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source24http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source15http://openwindow%28%27/showterm.asp?IDNo=96%27,%27term%27)http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source16http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source17http://openwindow%28%27/showterm.asp?IDNo=190%27,%27term%27)http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source18http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source19http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source20http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source21http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source22http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source23http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source24


4/5


5/5

8Beckson, K. (ed.), Oscar Wilde The Critical Heritage, London: Routledge & Keagan Paul, 1970, p276.9 Ellman, OW, p399.

Bibliography:

Beckson, K. (ed.), Oscar Wilde The Critical Heritage, London: Routledge & Keagan Paul, 1970.

Coakley, D., The Importance of Being Irish, Dublin: Town House, 1994.

Ellman, R. (ed.), Critical Writings of Oscar Wilde, London: WH Allen & Co., 1970.

________, Oscar Wilde, London: Penguin Books, 1988.

Eltis, S., Revising Wilde Society and Subversion in the Plays of Oscar Wilde, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996.

Hart-Davis, R. (ed.), Selected Letters of Oscar Wilde, Oxford: OUP, 1979.

McCormack, J., Wilde The Irishman, London: Yale University Press, 1998.

Sandulescu, C. G. (ed.), Rediscovering Oscar Wilde, Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe, 1994.

Varty, A., A Preface to Oscar Wilde, London: Longman, 1998.

Wilde, O. F. OF. W., The Importance of Being Earnest, London: Penguin, 2000.
http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source28http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source29http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source28http://www.literatureclassics.com/essays/1021/#source29

the importance of being earnest as a social satire

Documents