Performing Morality at the Table: Food as a Marker of Identity in The Importance of Being Earnest (1894) by Oscar Wilde

Abstract

The Victorian society was influenced by strict social conventions and strict lines of class structure that stressed on moral restraint, and proper conduct. But, behind this well-polished social structure, there was gross contradiction in the form of hypocrisy and moral duplicity by the individuals. In such a society, mundane practices, especially those of food preference and eating behaviors had a social connotation and were used to articulate a position in the class, ethical principles and individual identity. Food was not only food but a cultural marker indicating not only traditional ways of life, preferences, and status. In The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde employs food and eating scenes to show these suppressed social tensions. Instead of being merely domestic items, food and consumption habits reveal psychology of the characters, their aesthetic sense, morality and the consciousness of their classes. This paper explores food as an element of identity in the play, by addressing the ways in which consumption and eating habits demonstrate the norms of life, moods, and social attitudes, as well as noted the hypocrisy and hypocrisy of the Victorian society.