Oscar Wilde and the Economic Function of Marriage

Love marriage is a “culturally peculiar institution” which developed almost exclusively within Western societies (Macfarlene 22). In that sense, romantic love complex is a unique concept that flourished in England in the era of Queen Victoria, affecting in that way the current perception of love, sex and marriage (documentary Love Chronicles - Love in the Victorian Age). In this context Oscar Wilde is an important literary figure who challenged Victorian confining social norms concerning the issues of marriage, sexuality and gender. The paper analyses Wilde’s approach to marriage, romantic love and sexuality in the comedies The Importance of Being Earnest and Lady Windermere’s Fan. In the analysis of The Importance of Being Earnest the focus is placed on the issue of romantic love. It is argued that the romantic idea of loving only one man is enforced on women. This ideal encourages women to desire marriage; however, marriage is eventually arranged by their parents according to their economic and social status. Next, the paper will examine the issues of sexuality and faithfulness in marriage that Lady Windermere’s Fan deals with. The comedy criticises the hypocrisy of Victorian upper-class marriages that celebrate monogamous love, but within hide a world of lies, secret affairs and female sexual repression. The play depicts a reality of sexual double standard in which a woman is destroyed if she defies monogamous married life. Finally, the comedies communicate that the principal function of marriage is not to celebrate love, but to keep the classes apart and preserve the capitalist ideology based on accumulation of wealth and economic gain