The Importance of Being Earnest Dramaturg Post #2: "Minor Matters", the World of the Play

Our production of Earnest takes place during the late Victorian period, between 1898 and 1900. The Victorian period is named so after Queen Victoria and lasted from the beginning of her rule (1837) to the end (1901). Her reign was the longest in the history of Britain and was considered one of the most prosperous and powerful periods of Britain's history. It was an age of industrial expansion, economic progress, and a sharply defined social code. In short, the Victorian Era was a period of great changes. At the end of this post, I will include a link to my presentation that I built for the cast during the first weeks of rehearsal that includes further information regarding the late Victorian Era.

During this era, Britain began the transition away from Sovereign power and began moving towards a constitutional monarchy system. Despite having limited power in this new system, Queen Victoria continued to exercise a considerable influence in political matters. Locally, she favored measures that aimed to improve the lives of the poor. Voting rights for all property-owning men, as well as farm and rural workers, were granted via the 1867 Reform Act and the 1884 Act respectfully. However, she opposed giving women the vote throughout her reign because she was a firm believer in women's role as a caregiver and mother. The passing of the Housing of the Working Classes Act (1885) sought to improve the living conditions of the working class. In foreign policy, she used her influence to support peace and reconciliation. She witnessed the fall of the East India Trading Company as the natives rose in discontent in the Indian Mutiny of 1857. When the uprising had been resolved, the Company was abolished and India's government was transferred to the Crown. Twenty years later, the Queen would be officially crowned Empress of India. When a second Franco-German war threatened in 1875, her letter to the German Emperor helped to avert the crisis. Her popularity as Queen led her to become the symbol of the British Empire in her later years. She remained devoted to her duties and her people until her death in 1901.

The Royal Family in 1846

Society during the Victorian era was heavily class-based. There were three distinct class levels during this time: the upper, middle, and working class. The upper class was made up of wealthy landowners and consisted of three subdivisions. In the highest division was the royal class, this division included all those who were coming from a royal family. The second division consisted of members from the middle upper class, these were important officers and lords. In the third division were wealthy men and business owners, they were part of the lower upper class. Members of the upper class typically didn't perform manual labor, instead, they hired lower class workers to do it for them. As landowners, they would make their profits through investments. Mid-Victorian era saw increased development of the middle class thanks to economic advancements made during the second phase of the Industrial Revolution. This class was made up of people holding skilled jobs to help support their families. Those in white collar professions had the opportunity to move up in the corporate rankings and earn a higher salary. Merchants and shopkeepers were among these middle class workers who flourished during the Victorian era. Members of the lower middle class typically worked for those in the upper middle class. Common entertainments shared among the upper and middle classes included visits to the countryside, sports facilities, concert halls, or the theatre. Below the middle class were the members of the working class, the unskilled laborers. Members of this group would be living on the streets with no access to clean water or food and were unable to afford a proper education for their children. Working conditions were unsanitary and often far away from where they lived. Some resorted to alcohol or opium to cope with the hardships they faced every day. Child labor and prostitution weren't uncommon among this class, sometimes it was the only way for people to make their living. Below the working class was the "under class," a group of people who wholly relied on support from others. This class was considered among the upper class as the "criminal class" because of the high crime rates associated with the lowest of the low class. Most of the characters in Earnest are part of the upper class and would share this view.

Amidst this class-based society, there existed sharply defined gender roles. During this era, it was believed that men and women belonged to separate spheres. This ideology was supported by the "natural" characteristics of men and women that suited them for their defined roles. Men were associated with the public sphere and were viewed as the providers and protectors. As a man, there was no greater symbol of success than supporting a family. They faced pressure to impress society and their male gender by detaching themselves from feminine ideals and sought to achieve "manliness" over "gentlemanliness." Women were considered physically weaker, but morally superior to men, placing them in the domestic sphere. As such, a woman's responsibilities lay in caring for the children and being a good wife to her husband while maintaining order in the home while he was away. Upper class women hired servants to perform the housework for her, devoting her energy into paying visits and organizing dinner parties to prove her homemaking skills (and to serve as a status symbol for others). Working class women couldn't afford servants, so they would have to do the housework as well as their jobs. This was used as "evidence" to prove that women didn't belong in the workplace because in doing so, her family wasn't being properly taken care of. When a girl reaches marriageable age (early to mid 20s), she was married off to a man five years her senior to help reinforce the "natural" hierarchy between the sexes. Until she is married, she must remain a pure maiden and may not even be allowed to speak to a man unless accompanied by a chaperone. Marriage for a woman was only to be desired as a means to become a mother and less for sexual or emotional satisfaction. Expressing a desire for marriage outside of motherhood or becoming too focused on finding a husband could mean that the woman has a worrying amount of sexual desire, something which women were believed to be free of.

In my next post, I will delve further into the world of the play by exploring the movement that influenced the visuals of Earnest: the Aesthetic Movement.

Link to Presentation:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/13eIiQftMT3g6mSXT65FeIpeUY7spUuidBbDhynv3-kA/edit?usp=sharing

Sources for this post:

"Changes in the political landscape." UK Parliament. www.parliament.uk, https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/houseofcommons/reformacts/overview/changes/. Accessed 30 Mar. 2020.

"Decisive Events of the Indian Mutiny | National Army Museum." National Army Museum, https://www.nam.ac.uk./explore/decisive-events-indian-mutiny. Accessed 25 May 2020.

HOUGHTON, WALTER E. The Victorian Frame of Mind: 1830-1870. Yale University Press, 1985. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1cc2mbr.)

Late Victorian Era Politics: Monarchy, Parliament, Houses, Right to Vote. victorian-era.org, http://victorian-era.org/late-victorian-politics.html. Accessed 7 Apr. 2020.

 Oram, Kirsty. "Victoria (r. 1837-1901)." The Royal Family, 31 Dec. 2015. www.royal.uk, https://www.royal.uk/queen-victoria.

Readman, P. "The Place of the Past in English Culture c. 1890-1914." Past & Present, vol. 186, no. 1, Feb. 2005, pp. 147-99. DOI.org (Crossref), doi:10. 1093/pastj/gti008.

Social Life in Victorian England | British Literature Wiki. sites.udel.edu, https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/social-life-in-victorian-england/. Accessed 10 Apr. 2020.

"The Royal Commission on the Housing of the Poor." British Medical Journal vol. 1, 1272 (1885): 1017-1018.

Thompson, F. M. L. "Social Control in Victorian Britain." The Economic History Review, vol. 34, no. 2, May 1981, pp. 189-208. Wiley.

Tosh, John. "Gentlemanly Politeness and Manly Simplicity in Victorian England." Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, vol. 12, 2002, pp. 455-72. JSTOR.