The Importance of Being Earnest suggests that men had more of a greater influence than women did. Men held the house down with the decision-making as women cooked and cleaned for there families.
Wilde brings in intriguing questions about the gender roles portrayed throughout the play by putting women in the positions of power and how men make all of the decisions in the family. I believe Wilde portrays comedic humor through the characters to mock the roles of society. The two main female characters Gwendolen and Cecily are portrayed as hopeless romantics who are upper class young women that are fixated on only marrying a man with the name of Earnest.
As Gwendolen admits, “my ideal has always been to love someone of the name Earnest there is something in that name, that inspires absolute confidence,” she is portraying the high standards that upper class victorian women had to follow.
