Victorian Era

The research that we did on the Victorian Era honestly didn't 'enhance my understanding of the play' much. I think that the play didn't include much Victorian culture without explaining it first somehow in the play. Maybe that's just me. But it did slightly help me understand the marriage, classes, and gender roles, even though I for the most part knew them from past history classes in middle school or other books I've read before. The research I did with the questions forced me to learn all I can about the Era, and I do think that helped me at least a little bit.

In my research I found that social class is very important during the era. For example, when Lady Bracknell comes to interrogate Jack on why he should marry Gwendolen. She won't let him marry her daughter just because he wasn't born into a high class. Or so they think. He was found in a purse in a train station or something, so he can't advance Lady Bracknell's family with his social class, even though he is rich. For a concrete detail, on pg. 24, Lady Bracknell says "Fortunately in England, at an rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square." That proves that education doesn't matter when you get married, it's actually your social class.

I also found that women in the era were separated into very strict, yet blended together, stereotypes. Lady Bracknell was the typical mother of a high class family, and wants the best for her family, not just her daughter. She will do anything to advance her family and cares minimally for feelings and emotions. Cecily is the naive, careless young girl who is overly dramatic when it comes to feelings. Miss Prism is the well educated, teacher-like character who is strict and also doesn't much care about emotions. And Gwendolen kind of the working, obedient daughter who has the qualities to make an excellent wife and mother. Since I did the research before reading the book, I wouldn't really know if it helped me understand or not, but I sure hope it did.