Can we read 'The Importance of Being Earnest' as a play that has been written with a purpose? Justify your answer.

The Importance of Being Earnest, by
Oscar Wilde, is indeed a play that has been written with a purpose. First, it is a
representative of the genre of plays that treats topics as a comedy of manners. This
genre explores and mocks the behaviors and mannerisms of different social classes in
order to produce a comical result.

However, it is not just
satire for satire's sake. It is also a reality check for the upper classes, so that they
can see in the plays a mirror of how the majority of the population thinks of them. The
hypocritical snobbery, their affectation of voice and poise, their "holier than thou"
attitudes, and their elitism made them an easy target for jokes by the likes of Austen,
Wilde, Dickens, Shaw, and many more literary greats. This is also a window into the
mentality of the social classes, and of how they treated each other as community
members.

Just from this play alone we can see that there
was a marked difference among individuals as far as class, rank, peerage, family name,
family history, income, place of residence, and expectations. These differences led no
doubt to dissension and resentment among social classes. This is hardly a characteristic
of a strong and stable society.

Hence, The
Importance of Being Earnest opens a window into the lives of typical
Victorians, and shows us their idiosyncrasies, systems of belief, behaviors, mannerisms,
and expectations for themselves an others. This gives us a great profile and background
information that may help us understand the reason why some characters were created the
way that they were.