Marriage in Victorian England comes under fire throughout the first act. Wilde saw marriages filled with hypocrisy and often used to achieve status. Wilde also saw marriage as an institution that encouraged cheating and snuffed out sexual attraction between spouses. When Lane says that wine is never of superior quality in a married household, Algernon questions Lane's marital status. Lane flippantly mentions that his own marriage resulted from a "misunderstanding." The nonsense continues as Jack explains that his purpose in coming to the city was to propose. Algernon replies that he thought Jack had "come up for pleasure? ...I call that business." Algernon humorously explains that to be in love is romantic, but a proposal is never romantic because "one may be accepted." Marriage brings about an end to the romantic excitement of flirting: "...girls never marry the men they flirt with. Girls don't think it right." Each of these references to marriage or courtship trivializes a serious subject and turns around accepted values. Wilde corrupts the maxim, "Two's company; three's a crowd," to humorously chide the conservative audience. Algernon says, "In married life three is company and two is none." So much for the joys of wedded life. In short, Wilde seems to say that marriage is a business deal containing property, wealth, and status. Family names and bloodlines are deathly important.
Wilde uses food and eating as symbols for the sensual and/or for lust. Victorians did not discuss such subjects in polite society. Mouthing platitudes about the reverence of marriage, duty, and virtue, Victorian males often conducted extra-marital affairs with the blessings of a hypocritical society. Wilde expresses their repressed sexual drives with the hilarious scenes of his characters eating voraciously and discussing food. He also refers to sex and vitality with the euphemism of "health." When Algernon says that Gwendolen is "devoted to bread and butter," Jack immediately grabs some bread and butter and starts eating greedily.
