The Victorian research we did a few weeks ago deeply broadened my view of the era we would be reading about. The Importance of Being Earnest has full of things that I would have thought strange of unusual, had I not done the research. In the Victorian era it was normal to marry your own cousin. I also learned that women had to marry very young and that most people would become engaged after only knowing each other for a very short time. This is shown in the book when Algernon proposes to Cecily after knowing her for only a few minutes.
In the Victorian era, women of the upper class were supposed to marry a wealthy man and that was one of the reasons the Lady Bracknell had to question Jack about his class and income. Women from rich families were supposed to have educations. The lower classes had to focus more on being housewives and sometimes didn’t have educations. Both Gwendolyn and Cecily who are upper class had been educated.
