Victorian Satire

"The Importance of Being Earnest," a play by Oscar Wilde, gives an interesting look into each of the social classes existent in late Victorian England. As the play follows Ernest Worthing, the main character, through his dilemmas concerning his love for the wealthy Gwendolen, his lack of knowledge concerning his parentage and his overall lack of knowledge concerning his own identity, we see the many classes that he encounters throughout and are given a good …

…fun at, their reaction was not one of rolling in their seats laughing. After Wilde's play had been well read into and the true deeper meaning of his criticism or satirization of the upper class was recognized, it managed to blow up in his face and was said to possibly have been what led him into deeper waters. The people of that time were definitely not ready to realize that they really were that funny.