How Does Lady Bracknell Maintain The Position Of The Upper Class

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Pantalone is one of the most important stock characters found in Commedia dell’arte; his character is wholly based on wealth and social status. In the play, The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde gives the character Lady Bracknell traits that parallel those of Pantalone. Her satirical embodiment of the upper class of Victorian society, unladylike vibe, and impediment of the relationship between Ernest and Gwendolen, shows that she, like Pantalone, serves as Wilde’s comical weapon against the Victorian upper class. Like Pantalone, Wilde sarcastically depicts Lady Bracknell as high society using their stereotypical and ridiculous values. For instance, when Jack tells Lady Bracknell that he ‘knows nothing’ during his interview, she firmly…show more content…
Furthermore, when Jack informs her that he is a foundling, she says, “To lose one parent […] may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.”(303) Wilde seems to be poking fun at some of the contradictory ideals of high society. Lady Bracknell would have felt bad for Jack if he had only lost one parent, but because he lost two, she says it’s his fault for being so careless. Also, when Algernon tells Lady Bracknell, “Cecily is the sweetest, dearest, prettiest girl in the whole world. And I don’t care twopence about social possibilities,” she says, “Never speak disrespectfully of Society, Algernon.…show more content…
Most women of the Victorian era were emotional, passive, submissive, and selfless. However, in contrast, Lady Bracknell is apathetic, harsh, authoritative, and greedy. She touches on the subject of death with unintentional crude humour; to illustrate, when Lady Harbury’s husband dies, she points out, “I never saw a woman so altered; she looks quite twenty years younger.”(297) Instead of addressing her friend’s loved one’s death, or expressing any sympathy, she feels the need to mention that Lady Harbury looked “twenty years younger”, revealing an undertone that implies that her husband’s death was favourable for Lady Hardbury. Additionally, when Algernon announces that Mr. Bunbury has become ill again, she says, “[…] it is high time that Mr. Bunbury made up his mind whether he was going to live or die. This shilly-shallying with the question is absurd.”(298) Without showing any kind of concern for Algernon’s ill friend, Lady Bracknell shows frustration with Mr. Bunbury’s indecisiveness in choosing between life and death. Another instance where Lady Bracknell is depicted as ‘unladylike’, or even monstrous, is when Jack calls Lady Bracknell a Gorgon, a female monster who turns humans to stone in Greek mythology, after his
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