Within Earnest characters of the upper class display a great deal of pride and pretence whereas the lower classes in Earnest such as Lane, Algernon’s butler, are less pretentious and more humble, but are equal in the sense that they are able to participate in witty repartee. For instance, after Algernon asks Lane as to whether he was listening to him play the piano and Lane replies with the veiled insult of ‘I didn’t think it polite to listen’. Lane’s ability to contribute in quick-witted repartee with someone of higher status than himself demonstrates that he is equal in tone but divided by class. However, after talking with Lane about marriage, Algernon states that ‘if the lower orders don't set us a good example, what on earth is the use of them? They seem, as a class, to have absolutely no sense of moral responsibility’. This is an inversion of conventional thinking; Algernon assumes that the lower classes should set a moral example for the upper classes like the aristocracy. The juxtaposition between the upper and lower class is how Wilde establishes Earnest as a comedy of manners, by criticising the mannerisms of the upper class. For this reason, it is implied that Earnest is not a comedy best described as a ‘game’ played to show social reflections but a serious play that criticises the established order of Victorian
Within Earnest characters of the upper class display a great deal of pride and pretence whereas the lower classes in Earnest such as Lane, Algernon’s butler, are less pretentious and more humble, but are equal in the sense that they are able to participate in witty repartee. For instance, after Algernon asks Lane as to whether he was listening to him play the piano and Lane replies with the veiled insult of ‘I didn’t think it polite to listen’. Lane’s ability to contribute in quick-witted repartee with someone of higher status than himself demonstrates that he is equal in tone but divided by class. However, after talking with Lane about marriage, Algernon states that ‘if the lower orders don't set us a good example, what on earth is the use of them? They seem, as a class, to have absolutely no sense of moral responsibility’. This is an inversion of conventional thinking; Algernon assumes that the lower classes should set a moral example for the upper classes like the aristocracy. The juxtaposition between the upper and lower class is how Wilde establishes Earnest as a comedy of manners, by criticising the mannerisms of the upper class. For this reason, it is implied that Earnest is not a comedy best described as a ‘game’ played to show social reflections but a serious play that criticises the established order of Victorian