Read this excerpt from The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. Identify the four sets of lines that satirize the Victorians' tendency to place social status above other factors in deciding whether a person was eligible for marriage.
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Algernon: I am engaged to be married to Cecily, Aunt Augusta.
Lady Bracknell: I beg your pardon?
Cecily: Mr. Moncrieff and I are engaged to be married, Lady Bracknell.
Lady Bracknell: [With a shiver, crossing to the sofa and sitting down.] ...I think some preliminary inquiry on my part would not be out of place. Mr. Worthing, is Miss Cardew at all connected with any of the larger railway stations in London? I merely desire information. Until yesterday I had no idea that there were any families or persons whose origin was a Terminus. [Jack looks perfectly furious, but restrains himself.]
Jack: [In a clear, cold voice.] Miss Cardew is the granddaughter of the late Mr. Thomas Cardew of 149 Belgrave Square, S.W.; Gervase Park, Dorking, Surrey, and the Sporran, Fifeshire, N.B.
Lady Bracknell: That sounds not unsatisfactory. Three addresses always inspire confidence, even in tradesmen.
Jack: [Very irritably.] How extremely kind of you, Lady Bracknell! I have also in my possession, you will be pleased to hear, certificates of Miss Cardew's birth, baptism, whooping cough, registration, vaccination, confirmation, and the measles; both the German and the English variety.
