Locations
London (city) and Hertfordshire (country)
The country home is surrounded by nature and gives the area a tranquil feeling. Both of our alter ego characters use the change of setting and surroundings as an escape of their true identities. They also use the setting to their advantage by making up relatives in the city. Such as Ernest, Jacks alter ego, is a busy city dweller that enjoys the hustle and bustle of the city while Algernon's alter ego, Bunbury, is in the country and lives a simple life. The opposite of their true personalities. Without the different settings, they wouldn't be able to create alternate egos.
Historical Relevance
Wilde's career started slow and it wasn't until 1891 when his first and only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, was published. He received a lot of scrutiny for this novel in it's time. Wilde enjoyed making fun of Victorian Society and during the time he was trying to write this play as part satire, part comedy of manners, and part intellectual farce. Wilde's career was influenced a lot by his affair with Lord Alfred, which ultimately led to his downfall when he went to Jail. For sixty or seventy years after Wilde’s death, critics and audiences regarded The Importance of Being Earnest as a delightful but superficial comedy, a view that partly reflects the mindset of a period in which homosexuality remained a guarded topic. It's easier to see the comedy and reflection of that time period from a twenty first century perspective. The play is a general comment on the hypocrisy of late Victorian society and that is what Wilde was trying to accomplish.