Read the excerpt from Act III of The Importance of Being Earnest.Lady Bracknell. [Sitting down again.] A moment, Mr. Worthing. A hundred and thirty thousand pounds! And in the Funds! Miss Cardew seems to me a most attractive young lady, now that I look at her. Few girls of the present day have any really solid qualities, any of the qualities that last, and improve with time. We live, I regret to say, in an age of surfaces. [To Cecily.] Come over here, dear. [Cecily goes across.] Pretty child! your dress is sadly simple, and your hair seems almost as Nature might have left it. But we can soon alter all that. A thoroughly experienced French maid produces a really marvellous result in a very brief space of time. I remember recommending one to young Lady Lancing, and after three months her own husband did not know her.
Lady Bracknell first values Cecily because she has “a hundred and thirty thousand pounds,” then comments on her plain dress and natural-looking hair and says these can be changed. Her remark about living in “an age of surfaces” and her focus on clothing and appearance show that she is concerned with appearances. The correct choice is D, appearances.
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