An Examination of Oscar Wilde’s Mockery of Victorian...

An Examination of Oscar Wilde’s Mockery of Victorian Conventions in â€Å"The Importance of Being Earnest† In Victorian society, the conventional norms of status, gender roles, and marriage were closely linked by an institution that men and women were placed with unrealistic demands and expectations from society. Women were brought up by their parents to become the perfect housewife, and men were forced into marriages based on status within the society. In Oscar Wilde’s play, â€Å"The Importance of Being Earnest,† he mocks the typical Victorian conventions and ideals of what society held on the individual. I will be examining the techniques Wilde uses, such as satire, symbolism, and farcical situations, and showing how he takes those Victorian†¦show more content†¦He is saying that all Victorian husbands practice Bunburying, and if they do not, they will not live in bliss with their wife. He also states that, â€Å"Divorce is made in heaven† (Wilde 1735), inversing the normal idea that marriage is made in heaven. According to Petrie, â€Å"The men’s expectations pressured women to be the ideal Victorian woman society expected them to be† (Petrie 180). This is true for the typical Victorian ideal, but in â€Å"The Importance Importance of Being Earnest† Wilde reverses this idea, having the men get pressured by the expectation of the women. This is shown exceptionally true when both Jack and Algernon are at Shropshire and they are planning on getting re-christened in order to change their name to Ernest, as stated by Jack â€Å"I have just made arrangements with Dr. Chasuble to be christened at a quarter to six†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Wilde 1766) and Algernon â€Å"I made arrangements to be christened at 5:30† (Wilde 1766). When Jack first finds out about Gwendolyn’s obsession over the name Ernest, and asks if she could love him if his name was Jack, she harshly responds â€Å"Jack? No, there is very little music in the name Jack, if any at all, indeed. It does not t hrill. It produces absolutely no vibrations†¦ I have known several Jacks, and they all, without exception, were plain† (Wilde 1742). This goes against the ideal that the