Question

Read the excerpt from Act I of The Importance of Being Earnest.

Lady Bracknell. I’m sorry if we are a little late, Algernon, but I was obliged to call on dear Lady Harbury. I hadn’t been there since her poor husband’s death. I never saw a woman so altered; she looks quite twenty years younger. And now I’ll have a cup of tea, and one of those nice cucumber sandwiches you promised me.


Algernon. Certainly, Aunt Augusta. [Goes over to tea-table.]


Lady Bracknell. Won’t you come and sit here, Gwendolen?


What does Lady Bracknell say that makes light of marriage in this excerpt?


She says that she does not want Gwendolen, an unmarried girl, to sit apart from her guardian.

She says that she disapproves of Algernon as a suitable husband because he ate all of the cucumber sandwiches.

She says that she expects certain treatment because she is a married woman.

She says that Lady Harbury looks younger since her husband’s death.

Answer 1

D. She says that Lady Harbury looks younger since her husband’s death.

Step-by-step explanation:

Answer 2

Answer: She says that Lady Harbury looks younger since her husband’s death.

Step-by-step explanation:

To make light of something means to imply that is is not so serious or should not be considered seriously.

In this excerpt, Lady Bracknell comments on how Lady Harbury looked twenty years younger since losing her husband. This can be taken to mean that she was younger because her husband was dead and the marriage over.

One can infer from this that marriage should not be taken so seriously because it can drain a person such that they will look older than they are supposed to.