In the Victorian world one’s name was the measure of one’s social capital, so the fact that Jack doesn’t have any family is an insurmountable obstacle to his marrying Gwendolen, a daughter of the titled gentry. Upon finding that Jack has no “relations” she exclaims, “To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune…to lose both seems like carelessness,” (as if were Jack’s fault for being an orphan.)
That Jack has none-no family relations, or family name, reflects poorly on his character. First she asks him about his finances and then his family relations, a measure of his class.
Lady Bracknell’s interrogation of Jack’s proposal to marry Gwendolen demonstrates the three “Cs”-cash, class, and character.
The Victorian society in which Wilde lived was concerned with wealth, family status, and moral character, especially when it came to marriage.
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