The Importance of Being Ernest.

Before reading The Importance of Being Ernest I did research on the Victorian Era, the time in which the play takes place, to understand it more. The research helped me get how the people of the time thought of upper class and how marriage and the gender roles were.

Gender roles and marriage was a big part of the Victorian Age. Men were seen as the stronger worker of a couple women were supposed to rely on. Women were supposed to sit at home with the kids and cook and be the normal house wife. They were also supposed to be the uneducated person who would have to rely on the men. Marriage was a way for some to get money. It was also expected for girls to get married really young and they were also required basically to get married no matter what. Girls looked for men who were wealthy and came from a good background.This helped me understand why characters like Gwendolen and Jack, and Algernon and Cecily. Both of the women looked for the men to be wealthy and have a good family background.

Class was an unofficial rule that all people of the Victorian Age lived by. The characters are mostly upper class other then the help. Upper class has a lot of money, they look down on lower class and dress very proper. This is seen in how Algernon and Lady Bracknell treat Lane. The author often makes fun of the shallowness of this class. My research helped understand why the class acted the way they did in the play.