Question

1. ALGERNON: Why is it that at a bachelor's establishment the servants invariably drink the cham- pagne? I ask merely for information. 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. (The Importance of Being Earnest, I. II. 15–18)

Answer 1

Answer:

The given quote/ excerpt is from the first Act of the play The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde.

Explanation:

In the given excerpt between Algernon and his manservant are in conversation one morning when he began to move to the topic of marriage. This particular exchange between the master and the servant seemed to be an indirect reference to the demoralizing state of married life.

Lane's comment of "married households (where) the champagne is rarely of a first-rate brand" seems to suggest at the low grade of living once a person gets married. This emphasis on the condition of champagne in a bachelor's place and a married household is to show the contrasting lifestyles of households, before and after marriage. By suggesting that even servants drink champagne in a bachelor's place while in a married household, first rated champagne is hard to find, unlike a bachelor's place. This seemed to an indirect comment on the institution of marriage, which the English society of that time is so concerned about.