How does Algernon function as a social satirist of the upper class?

• A. He is a stoic moralist
• B. He is a loyal traditionalist
• C. He embodies wit, vanity, and casual attitudes
• D. He avoids social norms

Answer: (C)

Algernon functions as a social satirist by using wit to reveal the pretensions, vanity, and casual attitudes that underlie upper-class conventions. His quick, epigrammatic quips puncture the seriousness with which society treats things like earnestness, propriety, and marriage, showing how appearance and social signaling often trump genuine feeling or principle. He moves through high society with charm and a playful disregard for strict rules, which exposes the hypocrisy and triviality behind the etiquette and norms the upper class so proudly upholds.

This approach fits him best because it centers on how he cultivates humor to critique the social world he inhabits. He doesn’t take on the role of a stern moralist or a defender of every tradition; nor does he escape social norms—he toys with them, bending and poking fun at them to reveal their absurdities. Through his vanity and casual attitude toward serious matters, Wilde shows how this class constructs and performs its identity, making Algernon a sharp instrument of social satire.