Which statement about the satire of marriage and social norms is accurate?

• A. It reinforces traditional marriage as ideal.
• B. It satirizes marriage and social norms by exposing their hypocrisy.
• C. It depicts marriage as a solemn, unimportant matter.
• D. It ignores relationships entirely.

Answer: (B)

Wilde uses satire to show how marriage and social expectations are performed more than genuinely lived. The play treats marriage as a social transaction rooted in status, wealth, and reputation rather than true affection. Lady Bracknell’s probing of Jack’s lineage and income turns courtship into a test of eligibility, revealing how arbitrary conventions govern what counts as an appropriate marriage. At the same time, Cecily and Gwendolen’s fixation on marrying someone named Earnest demonstrates how names and social signals can trump real feeling. The humor arises from the clash between strict social rules and the characters’ playful deceptions—Algernon and Jack invent alter egos to pursue romance—highlighting the hypocrisy at the heart of the marriage market. This is why the idea that best fits Wilde’s aim is that the satire exposes hypocrisy in marriage and social norms, rather than reinforcing them, ignoring them, or portraying marriage as solemn and unimportant.