Wilde About Superficial Mothers

        Although we all try not to believe that the mother of our lover is not superficial, it is hard to ignore the superficiality of Gwendolen’s prudish mother, Lady Bracknell.  She is primarily concerned about irrelevant attributes of her daughter’s fiancé that have nothing to do with his true character.  Earnest is in store for the day Gwendolen turns into her mother, because “all women become like their mothers.”  Lady Bracknell lacks respect even for her ‘own kind’, the idle rich.  She leaves Earnest with the presumptuous statement that “people who live entirely for pleasure usually are.”

Wilde About Marriage

        Algy seems to be the most educated in the sacred matter of marriage.  His knowledge in such subject has brought him to the thought that, “in married life three is company and two is none.”  His sacred views of marriage have also caused him to fall in love with a girl who he just met.  Algy’s most optimistic look at marriage led him to conclude that, “divorces are made in heaven.”

Wilde About Ignorance

        Lady Bracknell believes that “ignorance is like an delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone.”  The level of ignorance demonstrated by the upper class is the center of Wilde’s satirical attacks.  The citizens of the upper class have a total misconception on life itself.  The excuse of Lady Bracknell is that “education produces no effect of ignorance.”  If anything, it is their arrogant disposition that makes them exceedingly ignorant.