Satire

In the play, “The Importance of Being Earnest,” Oscar Wilde often satirizes the shallow conventions of Victorian upper class society. This is present in all parts of the play, beginning to end. Wilde uses marriage, religion, and relationships to truly narrow in on the shallow conventions of Victiorian upper class society. Between these three examples, Wilde truly dives into the upper class through satire. The first example of how Oscar Wilde satirizes the shallow conventions of the upper class in marriage. The first example of this is an exchange of words between Algernon and Jack. The two men are discussing marriage, and how they view it. First, Jack says, “I am in love with Gwendolen. I have come up to town expressly to propose to her.”

Oscar mainly portrays this satire through Canon Chasuble, a high ranking churchman. This specific character is used to highlight how religion in the upper class is something to show off, not to act on. Through Chasuble’s actions and statements in the play, it is clear to see that the people of the upper class society do not care about withholding their religious values, but just the importance of showing off. Therefore, Wilde uses satire regarding religion to demonstrate this. When Canon Chasuble is called by Cecily to check on Miss. Prism’s headache, he makes a sarcastic remark about Mr. Worthing. Chasuble states, “Ah yes, he usually likes to spend his Sunday in London. He is not one of those whose sole aim is enjoyment, as, by all accounts, that unfortunate young man his brother seems to be.” This quote highlights that Mr. Worthing spends his Sundays in London, when in reality, for someone truly religious, they would spend it in church. Sunday is the holiest day in religion, and this jab of satire shows how Wilde views the Victorians conventions. Next, a conversation between Jack and the churchman offers some satire through baptism. Chasuble states that another man, who is a part of the lower class, is being baptized at the same time as Jack, and offers to do the service together, and Jack responds by saying, “Oh! I don’t see much fun in being christened along with

The first example lies in the conversation between Gwendolen and Cecily. After Gwendolen finds out that she is Mr. Worthing's ward, she says, “I am very fond of you, Cecily; I have liked you ever since I met you! But I am bound to state that now that I know that you are Mr. Worthing’s ward, I cannot help expressing a wish you were—well, just a little older than you seem to be—and not quite so very alluring in appearance.” Between the fakeness and the back and forth of backhanded compliments, this quote uses a sarcastic twist on conversation between women at the time. The women's high social class requires their politeness and modesty, but after a compliment, it’s followed up by how Gwendolan wishes she wasn’t as attractive. This specific example of sarcasm shows how truly shallow the upper class conventions were. The next example that takes place is a conversation between Algernon and Jack after their fiances have outed them. Jack says to Algernon, “How you can sit there, calmly eating muffins when we are in this horrible trouble, I can’t make out. You seem to me to be perfectly heartless.” Algernon then replies with “Well, I can’t eat muffins in an agitated manner. The butter would probably get on my cuffs. One should always eat muffins quite calmly. It is the only way to eat them.” This exchange of words between the two men highlights which type of shallow friendship