Oscar Wilde uses satire to highlight the absurdity and triviality of some Victorian conventions. Wilde’s exaggerations extend beyond the boundaries of the actual play. Wilde over-exaggerates food consumption, which is an event that seems to be normal. Wilde turns a commonplace event into an emotional experience. Each time food appears in a story, a character experiences an emotion that’s out of the ordinary for its time.
During 19th-century society, it wasn’t considered polite for upper class members to share their conflicting or private feelings. To maintain decorum, it was necessary to suppress any overpowering emotion in public. Wilde responds to Victorians’ inability to express their emotions by using the exaggerated food consumption. Wilde uses food as a way to hide and stifle negative emotions, such as lust or aggression.
Wilde disguises these feelings and their suppression by a big appetite. There are many barriers in the play between men and women. Jack, who is particularly infatuated with Gwendolyn plans to wed her. Gwendolyn’s dominant mother and Jack’s other identity are obstacles to the couple’s marriage. Jack becomes asexual after the marriage is not consummated. Jack tells Algernon his plan before proposing Gwendolyn. You can imagine the sexual lust Jack has towards his future wife. Jack’s relationship hasn’t progressed beyond flirting at this stage, and he is sexually frustrated. Jack is a high-society member and cannot openly express his sexual desires to Algernon, because it would be perceived by him as unrespectable. Jack’s frustration is directed at the food provided and he tries to maintain his appetite. Algernon, after being denied the cucumber sandwiches suggests that Jack eats some “the butter and bread [that] are for Gwendolyn”. Jack eats so ravenously that Algernon says, “you do not have to eat everything” (3). Algernon states that Jack behaves “as if he were already married” to Gwendolyn, implying his willingness to pursue sexual relationships with Gwendolyn. Jack’s eagerness to consume the bread and the butter is an expression of his sexual desire towards Gwendolyn.
Wilde mocks Victorian tradition that forbids upper-class individuals from discussing lust in public by transferring this frustration to eating. In this period, upper-class members were expected to keep a polite disposition in public, regardless of any anger they may feel. Wilde uses food to stifle the characters’ aggressiveness in order to reflect the period’s customs. Gwendolyn’s appearance at Jack’s countryside house sparks conflict and aggression in Act 2. Gwendolyn has a strong affection for Cecily and even tells her, “we’re going be great buddies” (32). Gwendolyn is initially fond of Cecily and even says, “we are going to be great friends” (32). However, a misunderstanding leads to Gwendolyn believing that “Earnest”, the man who proposed, has also proposed to Cecily. The two develop an antipathy for each other. In the beginning of the play, both girls claimed that they were deeply in love. The idea that anyone could threaten their love was understandable. They are not able to express their anger openly because it is not socially acceptable. The two have tea together and direct their anger subtly towards each other’s food. Cecily has to be a gracious hostess and offer Gwendolyn either cake or bread with butter as sugar for Gwendolyn’s tea. Gwendolyn can’t criticize Cecily personally, so instead she insults Cecily by saying “sugar doesn’t seem to be fashionable any more [… [and] cake is rare in the finest houses” (38). Cecily cuts a cake and adds four sugar granules to Gwendolyn’s drink as a retaliation.
Wilde uses food as a way to demonstrate the level of stress which members of high-society were expected to manage. The plot is complex and has many conflicting elements, which causes stress to each character. Act II ends with a lot of stress, due to the discovery of deceit and the damage done to relationships. Gwendolyn & Cecily storm the house when they discover Jack & Algernon are real. Jack and Algernon’s true love has left them dejected and unsure of how to resolve the situation. Jack initially appears to be conflicted, but he is soon distracted by Algernon eating muffins. Algernon, despite his humorous remarks, rejects the idea of stress. He claims that he cannot eat muffins “in an agitated way”. This shows how he tends to downplay important feelings like stress in favor of trivial things such as eating. Algernon eats because he is stressed out and society doesn’t want him to show it. Wilde dedicates the rest of the conversation between Wilde and Algernon to emphasize their food-gluttony. They focus on food distribution rather than the current situation or their mutual distress. They call each other “greedy”, urging the other person to eat a teacake. The muffins are a desire of both men, and they want to have them. This is reminiscent of their feelings towards Earnest. They are unable to discuss the most important but stressful topic because of the social barriers. Instead, they focus their frustration on the muffins.
Wilde highlights the absurdity of the upper-class’s efforts to maintain an attractive image. The characters are shown to be oblivious to their emotions by the exaggerated use of food. High society members were obsessed with maintaining a perfect image, which meant that they only acted properly in public. Any emotion that was able to create tension was deemed disrespectful and unpleasant. It is in our nature to take these unpleasant feelings seriously, because everyone has felt them. The reader finds it comical that these serious feelings are applied to food and eating which is a trivial matter in relation to emotional well-being. Wilde mocks people who consider expressing their emotions improper. In doing so, Wilde shows the absurdity in this. Wilde uses food to mask the fact that Victorian society was a stifling place.
