“There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating: people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing.” The above is a quote by Oscar Wilde, author of The Importance of Being Earnest, which is a social satire regarding society and upper class attitudes about certain institutes, including marriage and education. For people who know everything are considered the upper class. They are wealthy, pompous, have a stuck-up attitude and feel as if the lower class should be grateful to them for various odds and ends. People who know nothing are the lower class, the commoners who are viewed as guinea pigs when it comes to marriage and education. Many upper class people feel as if educating the lower class is a disaster waiting to happen; they also feel that if the lower class don’t set a better example for marriage, then what good are they there for? There are many satires that Wilde satirizes but mainly upon marriage and education.
When it comes to the idea of marriage for her daughter and the education of her daughter’s future husband, no one has more unnecessary commentary than Lady Bracknell, who is the aunt of Algernon Moncrieff and a person of high standards in society. When Lady Bracknell finds out that her daughter Gwendolen Fairfax has arranged for her own engagement to Ernest, she balks at the indecency. “An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant, as the case may be.” (pg 44) This comes about as a set of assumptions about the nature and purpose of marriage. When Lady Bracknell then interviews Jack for his eligibility as Gwendolen’s husband, her questions reflect the conventional assumptions of Victorian respectability '' social position, income and character. She only thinks of marriage in the sense of making her standings higher in society and not about Gwendolen’s feelings in a marriage. One of Lady Bracknell’s questions for Jack is whether he knows everything or nothing. Jack... [continues]
When it comes to the idea of marriage for her daughter and the education of her daughter’s future husband, no one has more unnecessary commentary than Lady Bracknell, who is the aunt of Algernon Moncrieff and a person of high standards in society. When Lady Bracknell finds out that her daughter Gwendolen Fairfax has arranged for her own engagement to Ernest, she balks at the indecency. “An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant, as the case may be.” (pg 44) This comes about as a set of assumptions about the nature and purpose of marriage. When Lady Bracknell then interviews Jack for his eligibility as Gwendolen’s husband, her questions reflect the conventional assumptions of Victorian respectability '' social position, income and character. She only thinks of marriage in the sense of making her standings higher in society and not about Gwendolen’s feelings in a marriage. One of Lady Bracknell’s questions for Jack is whether he knows everything or nothing. Jack... [continues]
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