Wilde Victorian Characters – Are They the Real Deal?

Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” is written with much humour intwined in the works as possible. It was written in the Victorian times, and Wilde wanted to find ways to subtly poke fun at their strict society.

My favourite line from Act 1, said by Algernon is:

“The only way to behave to a woman is to make love to her if she is pretty, and to someone else if she is plain.”

The plain ridiculousness of this line struck out to me in class, and I burst into uncontrollable peals of laughter when my classmates acted the scene out. It was a bit out of hand, to be honest. I couldn’t stop myself. I’m quite sure that that wasn’t the exact mood that Shakespeare was aiming for in his audience. Most Victorians would be shocked at such a vulgar line said in such an unassuming play. Quite frankly, I should have found it vulgar too. One simply does not just make love to other women given that the lady you are wedded to is plain. It was absurd, but also hilarious. To me, it seemed like such a “guy” thing to do, though something I’d relate to teenage boys instead of men in their 20’s (though I do believe that there are a few men in their 20’s who’d act a similar way). The fact that makes this line even funnier is the fact that this play was written in the latter part of the 1800s, to be performed to a very unassuming prim and proper Victorian audience who would most likely find the whole play rather alarming, vulgar, and downright rude. I suppose  it was the fact that the Victorian audience would have found this so insulting that resulted in my cackling like a hyena in the middle of Lit class, though, I suppose, there are worse things to laugh at.