Evaluate Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” as a social satire.

Answer

Evaluate Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” as a social satire. [NU: 2016, 17, 21] ★★★      

Oscar Wilde’s (1854–1900)  play “The Importance of Being Earnest” (1895) is a sharp comedy. It satirizes the upper-class society of Victorian England. Wilde exposes their hypocrisy, shallow love, and obsession with wealth. Through wit and paradox, he shows how appearances mattered more than truth or morality.  

Superficiality of the Upper Class: Wilde shows the upper class as shallow and foolish. He focuses on the lives of the upper-class people and uses humour to criticize the society of his time. Gwendolen says in Act I, 

“The only really safe name is Ernest.”

She cares more for the name than the man. Cecily also imagines being engaged to Ernest before meeting Algernon. Both young women value names and appearances over truth. Wilde mocks this obsession with surface values. Love becomes a matter of names, not character.

Marriage as a Social Contract: Marriage is shown as a business deal, not romance. Lady Bracknell’s views are the clearest. In Act I, she tells Jack, 

“A man who desires to get married should know either everything or nothing. Which do you know?” 

She checks Jack’s wealth and family before giving approval. Later, when she hears Cecily has money, she suddenly supports her marriage to Algernon. In Act III, she exclaims,

 “A hundred and thirty thousand pounds! And in the Funds! Miss Cardew seems to me a most attractive young lady, now that I look at her.”

 This shows how money, not love, decides marriage.

Hypocrisy and Double Life: The play mocks hypocrisy through Jack and Algernon. Both lead double lives to escape duty. Jack pretends to have a wicked brother, Ernest. In Act I, he says,

 “I have always pretended to have a younger brother of the name of Ernest.” 

Algernon invents a sick friend called Bunbury. These tricks show dishonesty under social rules. Wilde exposes