How far do you agree with the opinion that Wilde uses conventions of dramatic comedy in The Importance Of Being Earnest to satirise and undermine the institution of marriage?
Lane
Lane: I attribute it to the superior quality of the wine, sir. I have often observed that in married households the champagne is rarely of a first- rate brand.
Algernon: Is marriage so demoralising as that?
Lane: I believe it is a very pleasant state, sir. I have had very little experience of it myself up to the present. I have only been married once. That was in consequence of a misunderstanding between myself and a young person.
Even though lane does not think marriage is demoralising, he is not to be trusted as he later says, ‘consequence of a misunderstanding between myself and a young person’. This then raises the question of why did his marriage end, if it was not ‘demoralising’ or a ‘pleasant state?’
Algernon regards Lane’s views on marriage as “somewhat lax.” Laid back or not as strict as it should be taken +
Questions of marriage and whether its ‘demoralising’ or a ‘pleasant state’ are mentioned so early in the play, by lane and Algernon. This depicts that the rest of the play will be an ongoing debate on the institution of marriage.

Algernon; Oh! There is no use speculating on that subject. Divorces are made In Heaven (Act1, page 4) this shows an inversion as the actual phrase is meant to say that ‘marriage are made in heaven’. (A reversal of the usual order of words) this might also have a deeper meaning, as it might show Wilde’s feelings or attitudes to marriage. As by committing the act of divorce, you have to be married first, therefore marriage is an entrapment.

Algernon and jack have led a double, to avoid their duties and have used these fictionious characters as a tool of escapism; The idea of the leading a double life, could suggest a reflection of Wilde’s own life as he has also led a double life as a result of his sexuality at the time, as it was seen unacceptable and in some cases still today seems unnatural to be homosexual.

Gwendolen and Cecily are intrigued by their partners, only because of their name; Ernest neither of these two women seems to care about whether the men are actually earnest. This shows how shallow and cliché they are as they are using marriage to get what they want even though they do you not really know the character of Algernon and Jack
However, Algernon and jack are no better as Algernon proposes to Cecily within a short period time from when he met her to suggest that he does not care about whom she really is and what kind of person is underneath the surface.

Lady Bracknell: views marriage as a financial or business arrangement as she too, has no interest in what character the man her daughter is marrying is. All she really wants for her daughter is someone whom is financially profitable and from a high social rank from a wealthy and know family. This is shown when she is interrogating Jack. Also at act when Algernon says to her that he is marrying Cecily, she does not agree with the engagement up until she learns that Cecily is quite wealthy. Lady Bracknell emphasises the Victorian tendency to see marriage as business arrangement. Here, Wilde is satirising the elders during the Victorian era as they were snobbish and had no intention of reading between the lines and actually discovering people’s character.