Social class and status were extremely important during the Victorian era. People did not have a chance to climb to the top if they were born into a lower class. Poor and less educated people remained the members of their class for life. A person’s belonging to a certain social environment formed different types of thinking, respectively, different types of speech, and created certain communicative-speech situations. Both play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde and Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw demonstrate the importance of social status in the Victorian era.
In Pygmalion, the problem of social inequality and the transformation of human nature depending on class is discussed. The main problem that the author skillfully solved in his play is the question of whether a person is a mutable being. A flower girl from the East End of London with all the traits of a street child turns into a lady of high society (Shaw 12). To show how radically a person can be changed, the author has chosen to go from one extreme to another. If such a radical change in a person is possible in a relatively short time, then the reader should know that any other change in the human being is possible. Professor Higgins believes that having taught a person to speak differently and think differently about himself or herself means eliminating the abyss that separates classes.
In Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, the character Jack Worthing also undergoes some social changes. From an ordinary foundling and pupil of Thomas Cardew, despite the respected social status of a landowner and a magistrate, he is transformed into the son of General Ernest John Moncrieff (Wilde 21). The social problem is precise that Jack does not identify himself with the name Ernest John Moncrief, but rather identifies himself with the name given by Thomas Cardew. The name Jack is socially convenient because due to the high frequency of use, there is no belonging of this name to a particular class. The name Ernest often belongs to people with a high social status in society, a privileged class, which is why Jack chooses this name.
Thus, it can be concluded that a person speaks and behaves just as much as he or she is immersed in a certain social environment. In both plays, The Importance of Being Earnest and Pygmalion, the main characters Jack and Elizabeth appear not only with acquired social statuses but also attributed social status, which usually arises from birth. The transformation of heroes is observed in the nomination of characters, and these changes occur within the class aspect.
Works Cited
Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest: Oscar Wilde. Spark Publishing, 2014.
Shaw, Bernard, Augustin Hamon, and Henriette Hamon. Pygmalion. Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind Educational Centre, 1965.