Their obsession with such demonstrates the shallowness of the upper class quite clearly on Wilde’s part. He ridicules the upper class by exaggerating their obsession with superficialities such as style or food. Gwendolen and Cecily are also subject to such mockery on Wilde’s part, as he repeatedly paints them as superficial and ignorant. The Importance of Being Earnest is one of Wildes most famous plays and still commands the affection of the public through its cinematic adaptations most recently with Reece Witherspoon and Colin Firth. Bracknell was born into her higher class and Wilde highlights the injustice behind such entry into her social station along with the impossibility of moving towards the higher classes. Chronologically, The Picture of Dorian Gray stands approximately in the middle of Wildes literary career: Wildes first work had been his book Poems, published. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square.” Such seems to reflect Wilde’s own commentary on social class and education the harsh truth is that education, or any real doings in daily life do not affect social class. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. At the same time, Wilde attracted public notoriety for his stream of witty aphorisms. He won fame as a dramatist, poet and novelist whose ideas on art, beauty and personal freedom formed a formidable challenge to Victorian puritanicalism. Alongside Earnest, discover a biblical tragedy retold, Lady Windemere and her infamous fan, and Wilde's take on an ideal husband, in this selection of Wilde's most important plays. Oscar Wilde emerged in late nineteenth century London as the living embodiment of the Aesthetic movement. Bracknell states, “The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Oscar Wilde was a genius of play writing, and his deftness, wit and sharp eye for social satire keep audiences in thrall to this day. With the character of Lady Bracknell, Wilde portrays the harsh reality of an immovable class system and mocks the higher class and its arrogance. In a way, the entire plot that is centered around Jack’s ambitions to marry into the upper class, demonstrates a hypocrisy that shuns and berates the upper class. The lower class on the other hand, are characterized, much like Hallward of The Picture of Dorian Gray, as humble and honest. Throughout the play, there is a clear sense of pretentiousness amongst the upper class these characters hold the thought that they are deserving of their current status and the higher position they sit on. The Wildes set up their residence on Tite Street in Chelsea, and drew heavily upon Constance’s marriage portion and Oscar’s inheritance to maintain a house and a lifestyle befitting the famed aesthete. He utilizes several characters throughout the play to portray this arrogance and snobbish entitlement including Jack and Lady Bracknell. In 1884, Wilde married Constance Lloyd, with whom he spent a few years in marital bliss, by his own admission. With The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde presents a satirical commentary on the arrogance and privilege of the aristocrats.
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