The play The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde takes place in the Victorian Era. By doing research on this time period beforehand I can tell that it majorly impacted my comprehension of the play. Their social classes, marriage, and gender roles are greatly different than in the present. Many people got married their relatives, such as first cousins, or other relations. Most women were lucky to get someone any younger than the age of 40 which was to be considered normal. When their husbands died, they would be left all of their land and possessions. Women mainly married to move themselves up in social status, while males usually married so they could obtain more possessions. Also, people didn't believe it was right to get married because you were in love. It was their custom to have their marriage arranged for them as opposed to now, how people don't normally have arranged marriages.In the book, Gwendolen and Jack want to get married and Lady Bracknell doesn't approve of him because he doesn't have any relations highlighting his lower class social standing because no one knew his background. When Lady Bracknell was interviewing Jack for the "job" of marrying Gwendolen she said, "I would strongly advise you Mr. Worthing to try and acquire some relations as soon as possible..." (pg.27). This shows her disapproval of Jack for her daughters husband, and her potential son-in-law. One of my favorite quotes was that of Algernon, "No married man is ever attractive except to his wife" (pg. 44). This quote clearly states what many men think of marriage.
Another main part in the play is stereotypes. Many of them are still true now. In this play the most common source of the stereotypes is women. Algernon believed that "All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy." (pg.28). This quote is saying that all women in the Victorian Era would eventually become like Lady Bracknell who was a typical older woman of that time. Also when Algernon said "Women only do that after they have called each other a lot of other things first." (pg. 30). This stereotype is definitely still true now, and definitely in my family. Researching the Victorian Era before I read the play impacted my understanding of the play very much.
