In The Importance of Being Earnest, play-write Oscar Wilde expresses his criticism of the views and ideals during the Victorian Era. During this era people placed more importance on trivial things, such as outward appearance or social status, than the more pressing issues at hand. This allowed the people of this time to escape the stress and pressure of serious issues simply by prioritizing silly things over serious things. Much to this effect, the characters that Wilde creates escape from their problems by moving from the country to the city and living there for days at a time assuming alter egos.
As Jack Worthing and his best friend Algernon Moncrieff nobly cater to the needs of their fictional brother and friend, they are, in reality, using these characters to escape the monotony of their everyday lives. Their desire to avoid serious topics and issues is also evident as they quickly change the topic to meaningless things, such as cucumber sandwiches or the proper way to eat muffins, whenever faced with potentially difficult or unpleasant situations. An important scene where this is evident is in the very beginning of the play, where Algernon is getting prepared for his aunt, Lady Bracknell, to come to visit. As Jack enters the scene the topic is quickly changed to cucumber sandwiches. It is definitely more important that Lady Bracknell is coming to visit, however Jack and Algernon are too caught up in fighting about cucumber sandwiches to finish the preparation for her visit.
During the Victorian Era, there was a tremendous amount of importance put on superficial ideals such as social status, wealth, appearance, etiquette, and manners. This was exaggerated by Wilde as his characters were more focused on the proper way to eat muffins than dealing with working out their relationships with Gwendolen and Cecily in the city. Their recreated selves, first used as an escape from reality, now create a more serious and complex issue when they fall in love with Gwendolen and Cecily. As the girls realize that they have been lied to about the true identities of their fiances, the men come close to losing their future wives. At a time when they should be thinking of ways to fix this problem, they instead quibble about how one should not eat muffins in an agitated manner, for one might get butter on his cuff. This change in topic and shallow argument show their tendency to avoid their problems, much like how they escape to the city in the first place. Had they not used this physical separation as an escape, this web of issues would never have occurred.
Perhaps if society, during this period, was not so rigid and obsessed with outward appearances, then the characters of Jack and Algernon would not have felt the need to escape by physically moving themselves from one location to another. The strict rules and ideals of this time period were the reason why the characters felt this overwhelming need to escape, not only emotionally but physically as well.
In this comical play, Wilde ridicules the attitude of society during the Victorian Era by creating humorous characters that use relocation and avoidance as a means of not dealing with the more serious issues, or facing the monotony of their lives. As a result, their lives become even more complicated and bigger problems arise. This shows that the attitude and views of the Victorian Era were flawed, and therefore Wilde scoffs at people of this era.
WARNING: Do not eat muffins in an agitated manner, you may get butter on your cuff!
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