Nama : Alif Fadli

NIM : E1D117005

Social Discrimination in the play The Importance of Being Earnest

In The play The Importance of Being Earnest, we can often find some lines that
indicate the social class of someone. Speaking of social class, discrimination is not a strange
thing when it comes to social class. In the play, we can find one or more social
discrimination. The setting and the character behavior in the play describe the social life in it.
For example, in Act 1, we can find a line that says “The room is luxuriously and artistically
furnished”. The line tells that it is a place for people in higher class of society. Meanwhile, in
the beginning of Act 2, the line with opposite purpose states “Garden at the Manor House. A
flight of gray stone steps leads up to the house. The garden, an old- fashioned one, full of
roses”. From the description, we can conclude that this is a country as the setting, which
indicates that it is where the lower classes live.

Social Class through Behaviour The second aspect that we can use to tell the social
class differences between the characters is through their behaviour, which is presented
through the language used between each social class. The aristocracy in the play are being
described as the superior to the lower classes, they are arrogant and seem to have a high
pride, for example Lady Bracknell as shown in the play when Algernon says in Act 1 that “I
am afraid Aunt Augusta won’t quite approve of your being here. The way you (Jack) flirt
with Gwendolen is very disgraceful. It’s almost as bad as the way Gwendolen flirts with
you”. It means that Lady Bracknell as the upper classes often view lower classes as “bad” and
“disgraceful”, this is very unethical if Lady Bracknell claimed herself as a High Class, then
she shouldn’t look down to people like the way she did to Jack.

Another case when Gwendolen says to Cecily with a very underestimating tone, “I
had no idea there were any flowers in the country. Personally I cannot understand how
anybody manages to exist in the country, if anybody who is anybody does. The country
always bores me to death”. The upper classes are actually polite, yet the way they speak in
the play is more straightforward than the lower classes, they also think that they are above
everyone else.Meanwhile the lower classes are actually way more polite and have limited
actions, especially the servants. Cecily, a girl who lives in the countryside, gets offended
when while she and Gwendolen are having a misunderstading, but she is still able to speak
politely to Gwendolen. As for The servants’ there are not much actions in the play as they
only speak or act when it is necessary, informing on who is coming, serving meals, and
responding to orders.

Another case that is worth checking is that about marriage. When Lady Bracknell
addresses the issue of marriage by saying, “An engagement should come on a young girl as a
surprise, pleasant or unpleasant, as the case may be.” By looking at the bunch of questions
that Lady Bracknell throws at Jack, she surely has a bad view on love and marriage. By
looking at the list of bachelors and the prepared script that Lady Bracknell addresses Jack
from, it is apparent that the social class on which the story is based viewed marriage in terms
of social standing, income, and character of the participants. Lady Bracknell does not seem to
value and respect the marriage institution, and that is why she tries to pair Algernon with
Mary, who is already married.

I personally see Lady Bracknell as the antagonist of the play here because of her cruel
and the straightforward act without respecting others and not thinking about someone’s
feelings if someone is lower class. She rejects Jack when he proposed to Gwendolen because
Jack doesn’t have parents and is not wealthy despite them loving each other, but accepts
Cecily when she approves her to marry Algernon because Cecily is wealthy.

Through the play of The Importance of Being Earnest, we can see that social class can
not be avoided and is one of the main focuses of the play. There are two social classes
described in the play: high class and lower class. These social classes are being portrayed
through the setting of the play and the behaviours of the characters. It can be concluded that
high social class intimidates the lower class, and social class affects the setting and characters
significantly.