TIBE ( I took the caps from the cover to make that name)

When we did our research on the Victorian age I learned a lot (A LOT!) of really interesting and slightly distressing facts, though I figure if it hadn't been that way it wouldn't be this way today. These facts have helped me to have a deeper understanding of the play. I learned of social expectations, gender roles, and the importance and drive behind marriage. The expectation for a higher class man was to be gentlemanly, and for a women to be graceful, bright, and well rounded (to have art skills, speak a few languages, and be able to lead a house hold). All of these things that women had to do were done to enhance their worth as a bride, and marriage was the overall goal. To get married was the way to improve a families social standing and increase their wealth, it was for all important pretenses, was a business arrangement.

In The Importance of Being Earnest there are the four romantic young people, Jack (Ernest), Algernon (Ernest), Cecily (in love with Ernest) and Gwendolyn (ALSO in love with Ernest). The adult figures in charge of each of the girls are pushing for more "advancing" marriages, while they of course (or at least at first) fight to be with their loves. I have trouble explaining how exactly my research helped me, but it definitely deepened my perception of the play.