Satire is defined to be the use of humor to ridicule faults and vices. The Importance of Being Earnest written by Oscar Wilde is a social satire, using irony and paradoxes to insinuate the problems and faults found in the Victorian society. The Importance of Being Earnest is set in the late Victorian Era during a social reform. The class system was defined by the animosity between classes, the upper class treating the lower class …
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showed last 75 words of 860 total
…almost a definition of satire drawing attention to the vices of society, but also the discrimination and hypocritical behaviour of those who were part of it. I would define The Importance of Being Earnest as a social satire. The play exaggerates the negative aspects of the Victorian society and plays it up in a comical manner. Wilde's clever use of wit and irony is used to indirectly make criticism of Victorian social expectations and behavior.