Apart from many of his literary predecessors, who focused on lower-class misery in their writings, Oscar Wilde chose to satirize the aristocracy of Victorian society. This he did most ingeniously in his most popular play, The Importance of Being Earnest, first staged in 1895.
             All the characters in the play take a stance on contemporary society, each of them being more or less oppositional to its moral code. Living in the aristocracy of upper class London, the main characters decide to break out of the snobbish circles, while the less important characters act according to tradition or simply fill up spaces in the dramatic structure. Even so, they all have a central concern about, or a least an opinion to marriage, which is the main theme of the play. Whatever trivial matters the characters may be confronted with regarding marriage, they are always treated with a great portion of humour and satire in numerous epigrams that expose the absurdities of Victorian behaviour.
             The characters can be sorted in a symmetrical structure to some extent reflecting the repetitive structure of the dramatic progress. They can easily be grouped into categories distinguished by flatness or roundness according to E.M. Forster's division. I will focus on the relative complexity of Algernon's personality and the simplicity of Lady Bracknell's.
             Algernon + Cecily and Jack + Gwendolen constitute the two 'symmetrical' couples. All four are young, spontaneous and emotional. They are willing to break moral rules to obtain personal wants, and they don't care much about strict conformity, although the two women are not entirely liberated from maintaining an elegant appearance. According to Forster, a round character "has the incalculability of life about it" . So when Algernon forces Jack to reveal the mystery about his proper name by keeping back his cigarette case, Jack's frustrated reaction is ordinary human. And Algernon shows deliberate energy in sudden...