Lady Bracknell The Importance Of Being Earnest

The aristocratic matriarch in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Bracknell, harshly enforces the necessity of a profitable marriage, minimizes the role of women, and forces others to adhere to tradition. Her perfect embodiment of these strict Victorian Era England standards precisely illustrates the effects of the standards of the time on her character. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, as seen in the Norton’s Anthology of English Literature, encapsulated strict, traditional Victorian standards within a single character known as Lady Bracknell or Aunt Augusta. Lady Bracknell, the matriarch of her family, acted as a tyrannical queen, ruling over all those she encountered. The name of the era she exists in, “Victorian,”

Lady Bracknell, before she became a lady or a Bracknell, acted no differently. She married an extremely wealthy aristocrat, Lord Bracknell, to escape poverty. Through her marriage, she gained tremendous amounts of wealth and clout. Wanting the same for her daughter, Gwendolyn, she takes it upon herself to take all aspects of her marriage out of her hands and manipulates any potential prospects to be more befitting of her daughter. In a meeting with a man who wishes to propose to her daughter, initially approves of him as his wealth “is satisfactory” (The Norton’s Anthology of English Literature 2231). Yet immediately upon hearing of his obscure origins and lack of influential parentage, declares that she “and Lord Bracknell would [never] dream of allowing [their] only daughter -- a girl brought up with utmost care -- to marry into a cloak room, and form an alliance with a parcel” and expels the poor, heartbroken man from her grand mansion (2233). Lady Bracknell not only oversees her adult daughter’s marriage, but also her nephew in his thirties, Algernon Moncrief’s, marriage as well. Allowing him to marry only those both attractive, and more importantly, affluent enough to her liking. Upon her first encounter with Algernon’s lover, she takes no notice of her beauty, but after learning of his lover’s wealth, states that she “seems to be a most attractive young lady,