Perhaps the single reason that Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest has endured as one of the greatest and most popular works of literature to emerge from Victorian England is its brilliant wit, which conveys both humor and social satire. ... The Importance of Being Earnest, like so many of his works, focused on the elite, and while making fun of their absurdities and excesses, it also reveled in their witty banter and rambunctious lives. ... Yet even as he played with his theme for laughs, Wilde saw earnestness as being a key ideal in Victorian culture. ... In the figure of Lady...

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