'The Importance of Being Earnest' may be treated as a social document.Discuss.

In The Importance of Being Earnest, the characters' actions satirize the notions of the rich who have nothing to do with their time and also make fun of Utilitarianism (the moral worth of an action is determined by its utility, by making people's lives better.)

During that time in history the revolution moved rural people, making them leave the countryside to live in cities. They were workers in the industries that made up the Industrial Revolution. Britian benefited from the changes but people suffered.

Writers and intellectuals and priests talked about the social problems and changing society. Novelists made literary masterpieces that reflected the poor during these times, like Elizabeth Barrett and Charles Dickens.

Society became reformed as a result of the public debates at this time in London. Some of the improvements were in hospitals, orphanages, prisons, workhouses, schools and factories. Especially child labor laws were enacted to counter child labor practices.

In this sense, yes the novel was a social treatise as were other books at the time.