Essay On The Importance Of Being Earnest: Marriage Is Reality

Love is an ever-present theme in people’s lives; everyone would like to have it because it makes them feel happy and satisfied. Some of couple would get married because they think that marriage is the continuation of a love affair. However, this begs the question: what is marriage? Everyone has his or her own conception of marriage, which can become problematic when two people with differing opinions marry. Some people assert that marriage like a besieged city: inside the city, people want to come out, but outside the city of people want to go in. Other people think that marriage is a dark cage-- marriage is restrictive, and once married, an individual loses his or her autonomy. Most of people, however, argue that marriage is the end result of love between two people.
In different eras, the definition of marriage and what was expected in a marriage was different. In the play The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde explores the concept of love and marriage by satirizing the stereotypical relationships of the day between young men and women from well-to-do families. He took care to examine and poke fun at the superficiality of high society in the Victorian era, questioning the importance of high society’s core values in marriage and relationships: wealth, name, and social status.
According to Wilde in The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Bracknell is portrayed as thinking that money and social status are very important in life-- perhaps the most important thing in life. When it comes to marriage, Lady Bracknell is adamant that people within her social circle and family marry well. In Act I, her daughter, Gwendolen, wants to marry; however, she has chosen Jack. Lady Bracknell is extremely suspicious of Jack, and spends a lot of time questioning him about his age, habits, political affiliations, and so on. However, her main concern is Jack’s socioeconomic status and the degree to which his family is respected (or could be respected) within her social circle. When Lady Bracknell discovered that Jack’s annual revenue was about eight thousand pounds, she was satisfied that he was a good match for her daughter. It was not until she discovered this, however, that she accepted the match; this proves that she is incredibly conscious about money.
Despite Jack’s financial status, when Lady Bracknell and Jack discuss his familial status, she finds it very difficult to accept that Jack is an orphan. Furthermore, when Jack tells her that he was left in a hand-bag in the cloakroom at Victoria Station, Lady Bracknell becomes convinced that Jack is an illegitimate child. Lady Brackwell says: "as for the particular locality in which the hand-bag was found, a cloak-room at a railway station might serve to conceal a social indiscretion—has probably, indeed, been used for that purpose before now—but it could hardly be regarded as an assured basis for a recognised position in good society"(Wilde, Act I). She demonstrates two things in this statement: first, that the inclusion into “good society” is paramount in her opinion, but also that one’s station is determined by birth, not only by money. Victorian society was very concerned with status, but individuals in this society were born with status; it was not something that could be earned through income or education.
This quote also shows that Lady Bracknell values people's social position highly when considering marriage. Thus, she goes on to strongly advise Jack that "to try and acquire some relations as soon as possible, and to make a definite effort to produce at any rate one parent, of either sex, before the season is quite over" (Wilde). She implies that a successful marriage is determined by one's social status, and she does not allow her daughter to marry a man who does not have a good social status, regardless of how much money he makes.
When Jack told her that he cannot do marry, Lady Bracknell's attitude makes a stark turnaround. She sweeps out in majestic indignation and expresses her disagreement; she insists that they get married. Lady Bracknell’s change in attitude shows strongly that she is too concerned with money and social status. She claims, many times, that they are the most important things in a marriage, particularly for her daughter. If Jack does not have good social standing, she will not allow Gwendolen to marry him; for Lady Bracknell, a marriage is a thing of convenience. Marriage’s purpose is to elevate a woman’s wealth and social status, and to improve both families’ social credit. Marriage, then, is not for love, but for practicality. Happiness does not enter into the equation at all for Lady Bracknell.
Things change, however, in Act III. Lady Bracknell is desperate to find her daughter, Gwendolen, a suitor; she goes to the countryside where she knows her nephew Algernon is engaged to a woman named Cecily. Cicely Cardew is Jack’s ward, and Lady Bracknell believes her to be essentially destitute. From her attitude towards money and status that has been previously seen, it becomes apparent that she will hold Cicely Cardew’s financial status against her.
This attitude affects her relationship with her nephew, Algernon; she begins to treat him very badly, and says multiple times that Cecily does not deserve Algernon’s love and affection. However when she knows that Miss Cardew’s family solicitors are Messrs. She is quite satisfied, and her attitude becomes more positive. And then, she is very polite to ask Jack if Miss Cardew has any money available to her.
When Jack tells her that Cecily has about a hundred and thirty thousand pounds in the Funds, she is very excited. She exclaims: “A moment, Mr. Worthing. 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"(Wilde, Act III). Her entire attitude towards the young woman changes, underscoring her reliance on her perception of social status and financial status to judge a person’s worth.
In keeping with her concern about appearances, Lady Bracknell states: “I do not approve of mercenary marriages. When I married Lord Bracknell I had no fortune of any kind. But I never dreamed for a moment of allowing that to stand in my way. Well, I suppose I must give my consent" (Wilde,Act III). She is, essentially, afraid that other women are going to take the same path she took; because she is “new money,” she is insecure and feels the need to look down upon other people in similar situations. It shows that she is very hypocritical and arrogant, as well. On the one hand, she states that does not approve of mercenary marriages. On the other hand, she is very focused on Cecily and Jack's social status, financial status, and property status.
In addition, in Victorian society, high society placed a large emphasis on the name of the individuals who were being married. Young women thought that a successful marriage was determined by the family they married into, rather than the happiness and satisfaction that they got from the relationship.
In Act I, when Jack expresses love to Gwendolen, she answers: “my ideal has always been to love some one of the name of Ernest. There is something in that name that inspires absolute confidence. The moment Algernon first mentioned to me that he had a friend called Ernest, I knew I was destined to love you" (Wilde Act 1). This is satirical; “Ernest” is a play on the word “earnest,” which means honest and open. Gwendolen is expressing her desire for an open and honest marriage through her preference for the name “Ernest,” although she seems incapable of truly expressing this to her future husband; perhaps she is even unaware of it herself.
However, Cecily shares a similar view on marriage with Gwendolen. In Act II, Cecily tells Algernon: “you must not laugh at me, darling, but it had always been a girlish dream of mine to love some one whose name was Ernest. There is something in that name that seems to inspire absolute confidence. I pity any poor married woman whose husband is not called Ernest" (Wilde Act II). Again, this is a play on words, which Wilde is very famous for: the name “Ernest” is being substituted for the word “earnest,” which is what women should truly be looking for in a husband.
Wilde is demonstrating his superior wordplay through the use of the name “Ernest.” Being earnest is considered a good thing, but the men in the play are certainly not considered earnest; rather than being focused on the name which their future husband has, they should be focusing on his qualities. Is he truly earnest? Is he kind? Will he be a good fit to make a family? These issues are never addressed by the women; they care only about the appearance of choice.
This wordplay is also evident in the title of the play, The Importance of Being Earnest which is simultaneously ironic and satirical; no one in the play is particularly earnest with the exception of Lady Bracknell, who consistently expresses how she feels. It also serves to show the audience that Wilde is discussing the mistakes that Victorian society has made in regards to the values they place on marriage.
In the play The Importance of Being Earnest, Victorian society is very effectively parodied through the use of wordplay. The values of a successful marriage at the time were quite skewed; however, high society was so unaware of the silliness that Wilde felt the need to write a satirical play about the values he witnessed in regards to marriage. Wilde is very attuned to situational irony, and is one of the best wordsmiths to ever utilize the English language; he has crafted a masterpiece in The Importance of Being Earnest.