Discuss The Importance of Being Earnest as a critique of Victorian society.

The Importance of Being Earnest is a critique on the morals of the British upper class, and it uses comedy to do so. For example, the usage of parody mocks the standards to which the upper class holds themselves.  The aristocracy believed in arranged marriages, unions between families to contain the wealth among the few.  Mothers sought out gentlemen of that specific upper class quality for their delicate daughters.  Wilde derides this practice, through the banter between Lady Bracknell, Gwendolyn's mother, and Jack Worthing, Gwendolyn's suitor.  Lady Bracknell asks a number of questions that she believes are vital for a good husband for her daughter: what is his income, how old is he, where does he live, what are his politics (Act I).  The most important question, however, is who is his family, because the family name is what is important in a lasting marriage among the upper class.  Wilde, however, parodies the situation, as Jack does not have a family (not a sign of misfortune, but of carelessness), but a bag (Act I). Found by the late Mr. Thomas Cardew on the Brighton Line, Jack came from a "somewhat large, black leather handbag, with handles on it," instead of having parents (Act I).  Lady Bracknell tells him to produce a parent, of either sex, because her delicate daughter will not "marry into a cloakroom, and form an alliance with a parcel" (Act I).   Through the parody, Wilde criticizes the process of finding suitable husbands, the parading and careful selection by mother hens for their young.  Cecily, Jack's ward, herself inadvertently mocks the institution of marriage, fancifully creating a fictional storyline based off of the novels of the period.  In her diary, she writes of her engagement to Ernest, after several breakups and her own purchase of a ring for him to give her, because that is expected in a romance (Act II).  Wilde, through Cecily's formulated engagement, critiques the triviality of the upper class, that instead of practicing German or learning about economics, the upper class squanders away their time dreaming.  During this time period, Great Britain was a manufacturing giant, extorting the labor of the poor factory workers. Although unmentioned in the play, the absurdity of Cecily's concoctions sharply contrasts the realities of the period.