How Does Wilde Present The Expectations Of Society

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Wilde presents the expectations of society as shallow and frivolous, reflected in both the language and story-framing of the play. The society addressed in The Importance of Being Earnest is certainly far detached from our current one, but certain elements remain similar: Ire, social obligations, etiquette, and a code of proper moral conduct. Expanding away from these similarities are the treatment of marriage and women. Expected moral duties are referenced many times throughout the course of the play. These are what call Jack to 'amuse other people' in the country and deem it necessary for him and the character of Algernon to instigate leading double lives. The choking restrain of social etiquette renders it 'ungentlemanly' for a private cigarette case to be read, 'vulgar' to lie, to voice unpleasantries in the midst of a pleasant, civil tea party. Instead, the characters (and by extension, real-life members of the Victorian upper classes) are required to feign a 'shallow mask of manners' to keep up the amiable, respectable façade. These expectations are clearly infeasible and ultimately hypocritical as they result in either abandon, or deceit to escape their suffocating pretence. Ultimately, such is the message Wilde attempted to convey with this major aspect of the play; …show more content…

Gwendolen is expected not to be in charge of choosing her spouse, yet it is insinuated her mother was. Women, in general, are expected to remain passive and pretty, but by Gwendolen taking control of her engagement, her mother being the one to interview Jack instead of Lord Bracknell and the assertive behaviour of all three major female characters in the play contrasted with the passivity of the males, Wilde subverts these traditional gender roles and thus, once again reinforces the notion that such rigid social structures can only be sustained for so

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