The Importance of Being Earnest is a satire on upper-class behaviors. Oscar Wilde brilliantly depicts class-conscious attitudes and snobbery in the play. Fellow playwright, George Bernard Shaw, the lone critic of this 1895 play, feels that the play left him "with a sense of having wasted his evening." Although he finds the play amusing, he believes that it is aloof from social and political issues. He describes it as Wilde's "first really heartless play."

It may be interesting to analyze Shaw's criticism against the background of his personal relations with Wilde. Shaw and Wilde had a lot in common. Both belonged to Dublin. Both were almost the same age. Their careers followed a similar trajectory. Both were recognized as the first Irish playwrights to make an impact on the stage of London. They were impressed by each other's creative potential and held each other in high regard. Their personal relations were courteous, but the courtesy was strained. They never became close friends and met only a couple of times, by chance. Being completely different in temperament and inclination, they developed an uneasy and distant relationship. It is likely that Shaw's criticism reflects the dilemma of two dominant personalities with different visions.