In The Importance of Being Earnest, author Oscar Wilde criticizes the Victorian society.

His characters represent the Victorian era and have twisted views on is sues regarding intense emotions such as love and marriage. They do not fully app reciate these concepts and either disregard them or confuse them with emotions t hat lack depth. Wilde depicts his Victorian society as superficial and incapable of love that i s not shallow. In his comedy, both women, Gwendolyn and Cecily, believe to be he ad over heels in love with a man named Ernest. The reason for their love is simp ly that the name Ernest is appealing to them. In fact, Cecily has achieved her l ifetime goal. She states, It had always been a girlish dream of mine to love someo ne whose name was Ernest (Wilde 159). Loving a caring or intelligent man was not a priority. The basis of her love was a name. Wilde illustrates the ridiculous n ature of his Victorian characters and their ludicrous perceptions of love. Wilde s characters do not seem to connect intimate emotions with the word love. Though Ce cily had never met Ernest, she developed a relationship between them entirely in her head. Upon meeting him for the first time, she begins to talk about the let ters she received from him. When he tells her he has never written to her, since they have never met, she says, I was forced to write letters for you I wrote alw ays three times a week and sometimes oftener (158) Cecily and Ernest are supposed ly in love but the only thing they share are the letters Cecily wrote to herself in Ernest s name. There is no real affection between them and the only thing hold ing their relationship together is her attraction to his name.