Act I
Algernon: 'In married life three is company and two is none.'
Read in Books4Free →Satire on Marriage and Victorian Society
From The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
The play relentlessly satirizes Victorian institutions—marriage, class, religion, and education—exposing them as elaborate performances of respectability covering self-interest and hypocrisy.
Act I
Lady Bracknell: 'An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant, as the case may be. It is hardly a matter that she could be allowed to arrange for herself.'
Read in Books4Free →Act III
Lady Bracknell on Cecily's fortune: her sudden approval of Cecily once her 130,000 pounds is revealed.
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