Homosexuality and Muffins

Before our discussion of Wilde’s writing last week, I had no idea about his incorporation of “homosexuality” in many of his plays, let alone in “The Importance of Being Earnest”, which I have read several times without noticing the theme at all. However, now that I am aware of Wilde’s common commentary on the masculinity of men, I have been able to spot places here and there within the play that support his critique on society. The one that stuck out most to me can be found at the end of the second act when Alegernon and Jack are fighting over who will eat the muffins and who will eat the coffee cake. The fact that Wilde portrays two grown men of significant social status physically fighting over muffins and cake makes the reader question what masculinity really is, and if society’s idea of how men should act is actually accurate at all. It is now much easier to understand why so many found Wilde’s subdued radical ideas injected into his popular plays threatening to the norms of society. When I first read this scene several years ago, it didn’t really seem out of ordinary at all given the character’s tendencies and circumstances. Therefor, I would imagine those viewing the play when it first premiered in the mid 1800s, felt similar to how I felt upon first experiencing it. If they felt that their behavior was also not very out of the ordinary, they would think it not a problem if they were to also act like Algernon and Jack in the real world; theatre is a comment on reality after all. This way of thinking could easily be seen as threatening to the higher ropes of society, and seemingly the only way to stop it was to make an example of Wilde and his writings.