Lady Bracknell The Importance Of Being Earnest Essay

In comparing the views on society’s classes, in the novel The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, there is a connection to the classes in society in London England during the Victorian era. In the novel the character Lady Bracknell makes a comment about the classes, which included some fascinating points, such as; the meanings and origins of the aristocracy, the meanings and origins of the purple commerce and how those two interacted in London during the Victorian era.
To start off, the meaning of aristocracy is Full Definition of aristocracy means ‟a government by the best individuals or by a small privileged class…a government in which power is vested in a minority consisting of those believed to be best qualified…governing body or upper class usually made up of a hereditary nobility…the aggregate of those believed to be superior (Merriam-Webster). In the novel Lady Bracknell and her family is an example of an aristocratic family. The aristocracy is the rank or class right below royalty. During the Victorian era they would have been high in social class and would be seen as very well to do, proper and respectable people. However this did not always mean they were rich, for example; in the text, Algernon is a member of an aristocratic family,
This can be clearly seen when Lady Bracknell was interviewing Jack Worthing to see if he would be a suitable mate for her daughter Gwendolen Fairfax, she asks Jack ‟[Jack’s father] was evidently a man of some wealth. Was he born in what the Radical papers call the purple of commerce, or did he rise from the ranks of the aristocracy? ˮ (Wilde 133) Hence; the aristocracy, the purple commerce and the relationship between the two play and important role in not just the text, but also in the Victorian social