In Victorian times where the intricate rules of society were vital and being respectable and appropriate were most important, people seemed to do the contrary to what one would expect. This way of life is what Oscar Wilde detested about the people of his time which drove him to write the plays he did. He turned the despicable ways of society into comedic stories for the entertainment and to ridicule the Victorian era. The disfunction and shallow nature of the Victorian era people’s give the Importance of Being Earnest a clever comedic edge by emphasizing the misfortunes of the characters.
Oscar Wilde detested the way in which people lived and the rules one had to follow in order to represent their class properly or to not embarrass themselves. The dishonesty and lies that overpowered Victorian era people 's everyday lives are greatly ridiculed in Wilde’s writing. Algernon and Jack use fake identities to escape their current situations, and throughout the play they use this to their advantage until it blows up in their faces. They have fallen in love with women who believe that they are marrying a men with the name of Ernest. Algernon had only just met Cecily when he declared that he was in love with her and he used Jack 's non existent brother as a segway to Cecily’s heart as she yearned to marry someone of the name of Ernest. Only just earlier in the play he criticizes marriage, “In married life, three is company and two is none” (Wilde, 580). Algernon’s views from marriage