niche context

Critique of Victorian Imperialism and Class Anxiety

• Lady Bracknell’s obsession with Jack’s unknown parentage and wealth = anxiety about the stability of the British aristocracy amid the economic and social upheaval of the late 19th century

• especially as the British Empire expanded and the class system was challenged.

The Play’s Timing and the ‘New Woman’ Movement

• The 1890s saw the rise of the ‘New Woman’

• educated, independent women challenging traditional roles.

• Gwendolen’s assertiveness and insistence on marrying ‘Ernest’ can be seen as Wilde engaging with these emerging feminist ideas

• also mocking the superficiality of such social shifts.

The Influence of French Farce and Wilde’s Adaptation

• Wilde was heavily influenced by French farce

• a genre known for its exaggerated, improbable plots and mistaken identities.

• Yet Wilde refined this into a sharper, more intellectual ‘Comedy of Manners’ that satirized specific British social mores, rather than just providing slapstick humor.

Oaths Act 1888

• No longer had to swear to God in court

• Victorian culture placed huge importance on the idea of “earnestness”; sincerity, truthfulness, and moral seriousness

• symbolized by these formal oaths and affirmations.

• Wilde’s play ironically undercuts this Victorian ideal by featuring characters who lie, invent fake identities, and treat “earnestness” as a joke, exposing the gap between social/legal expectations and actual behavior.