Read the excerpt from act i of the importance of being earnest.

jack. gwendolen, will you marry me? [goes on his knees.]

gwendolen. of course i will, darling. how long you have been about it! i am afraid you have had very little experience in how to propose.

jack. my own one, i have never loved any one in the world but you.

gwendolen. yes, but men often propose for practice. i know my brother gerald does. all my girl-friends tell me so.

how does this dialogue poke fun at a society that takes marriage too lightly?

jack is joking about his marriage proposal.
jack tells gwendolen that he loves no one else.
gwendolen is happy that jack has finally asked her to marry him.
gwendolen says that her brother proposes to all her friends.

Option D. The dialogue pokes fun at a society that takes marriage too lightly by having Gwendolen saying that her brother proposes to all her friends.

Explanation:

"The Importance of Being Earnest" is a play written by Oscar Wilde that was first published on February 14th, 1895. The play is a comedy that touches in an almost satirical way very important subjects of the Victorian society, the main one being marriage. Wilde makes the characters discuss marriage throughout the whole play, in lights of whether it is a pleasant or unpleasant disposition, but with most of them agreeing it is needed. In the dialogue of the question, the writer is poking fun at how the society takes marriage too lightly, by having Gwendolen saying that her brother proposes to all her friends, in order to practice his proposal speech. The message of the dialogue is to show how proposing and marriage itself had become just another thing that must be done in order to be taken seriously, but that is no longer deeply considered.