So far, the book The Importance of Being Earnest has been very interesting to read. There are many parts throughout the it, that without my knowledge of the Victorian Era, I would have been lost most of the way through the it. For instance, social class was a very big thing back then. If you were of a higher class, you were expected to marry someone of your own class or even higher. Its like when Gwendolen gets engaged to Ernest, who is actually Jack, and if he were of a lower class, she would not have paid any attention to him. It seems a little unfair to me, just the fact that if someone was of a lower class, it would be very hard for them or maybe even impossible to move up.

Another big part of the Victorian Era was the role women played. There were certain standards made and women were expected to follow them. In my research, I found out that the men were expected to do all the work while the women were to stay home and do all the house chores and take care of their children if they had any. Gwendolen and Cecily are two very good examples of what the women stereotype was back then. They both were very lady like and they were both beautiful. They were of a higher class so they were very proper. Cecily was very sheltered when she was being raised. She has a fond interest in so called bad boys, who happened to also be "Ernest" who was really Algernon. All in all I am very glad we did the Victorian research. It helped a lot with the understanding of the book and how and why they lived their lives the way they did.