Characters

“On the contrary, Aunt Augusta, I’ve now realized for the first time in my life the vital Importance of Being Earnest” (71). “When one is in town one amuses oneself. When one is in the country one amuses other people. It is excessively boring” (14). “Well my name is Ernest in town and Jack in the country, and the cigarette case was given to me in the country” (17).
 * __John Worthing __**: John Worthing is the protagonist of the play. He is a “bunburyist” who pretends to have a younger brother names Ernest in order to run off and do as he pleases, leaving his responsibilities behind. He tries to come across as a proper English gentleman of righteous manner. He wants to marry Gwendolen but is unable to do so because he doesn’t know who his parents are. Throughout the play we see that Ernest and John are mirror images of each other, it is ironic because John uses Ernest as an excuse to engage in the behavior which he looks down upon, said behavior which Ernest is said to engage in. At the end of the play his web of “bunburyism” is dismantled and he has to be earnest in order to become Ernest. (word play;). Through John Wilde pokes fun at the hypocrisy of the Victorian Era, and people’s ability to lie for selfish motives at all costs.

**__Lady Bracknell__**: Lady Bracknell is Gwendolen’s mother, and Algernon’s aunt. She is the typical frigid Victorian woman, who at any cost will maintain a façade of perfection and of righteousness. She is exactly the type of person that Oscar Wilde pokes fun at through this play. She preys on the ignorance of others and manipulates situations all she care about is an individual’s monetary assets, and their societal class. She is your typical shallow, controlling, materialistic Victorian era woman. “…To be born, or at any rate bred, in a hand-bag, whether it has handles or not, seems to me a display of contempt for the ordinary decencies of family life that remind one of the worst excess of the French revolution” (27). “Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone” (26). “Cecily, you may kiss me!” (64).

**__Lane (Manservant):__** Lane’s main appearance is at the beginning of the play and he periodically and briefly appears throughout the play. He is Algernon’s servant and at first he is the only person who knows about Algernon’s bunburyism. He is constantly being told what a negative person he is his only response ever is that he is there “to please”. He appears very submissive.  “I didn’t think it polite to listen, sir” (13).

**__Reverend Canon Chasuble D.D__** – Reverend Chasuble is the religious social figure in the play that Wilde criticizes. He is approached by both Jack and Algernon to ask if they can be christened “Ernest”. Chasuble does not think about their decisions, but quickly agrees. He is also very flirtatious with Miss Prism. The initials of D.D. after his name mean //Doctor of Divinity//. These initials give the impression that he thinks highly of himself as a spiritual and holy person. “You would no doubt wish me to make some slight allusion to this tragic domestic affliction next Sunday. My sermon on the meaning of the manna in the wilderness can be adapted to almost any occasion, joyful, or, as in the present case distressing. I have preached it at harvest celebrations, christenings, confirmations, on days of humiliation and festal days.” (Act II. Pg. 27)

**__Merriman-__** Merriman simply is Jack’s butler. “I have put Mr. Earnest’s things in the room next to yours, sir. I suppose that that is all right?

**__Algernon Moncrieff __**: the dandiest of all the characters is Algernon, who’s fake obsession with a man who doesn’t exist named Bunbury releases him from his social obligations whenever he pleases, most commonly the obligations with his Aunt Augusta. His hypocrisy shows when he ridicules Jack for making up a fake brother to get out of the country when he pleases, when he himself has made a fake alias to get away too. “It is a great bore, and, I need hardly say, a terrible disappointment to me, but the fact is I have just had a telegram to say that my friend Bunbury is very ill again. They seem to think I should be with him.” (Act 1) “My duties as a gentleman has never interfered with my pleasures in the smallest degree.” (Act 2)  “Relations are simply a tedious pack of people, who haven’t got the remotest knowledge of how to live, not the smallest instinct about when to die.” (Act 1 )

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 160%;">“And I pity any woman who is married to a man called John. She would probably never be allowed to know entrancing pleasure of a single moment’s solitude. The only really safe name is Ernest.” (Act 1) <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 160%;">“I am known for the gentleness of my disposition, and the extraordinary sweetness of my nature, but I warn you, Miss Cardew, you may go too far.” (Act 2) <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 160%;">"How absurd to talk of the equality of sexes! Where questions of self-sacrifice are concerned, men are infinitely beyond us!” (Act 3)
 * __<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Gwendolen Fairfax __ **<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 160%;">: Gwendolen is the epitome of conventional Victorian womanhood who is bent on self improvement. She has fallen in love with Jack, mostly because she is under the impression that his name is Ernest and not Jack, and she has always wanted to marry a man named Ernest since it “inspires absolute confidence”. Her being is a young version of her own pretentious mother who wants nothing but her daughter to marry a man who is deemed rightful by her views based off of society’s perception of a perfect husband.

**__<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Cecily __****<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Cardew - **<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Jacks charge and Algernon’s romantic interest. She is the foil to Gwendolen in that she spends all her time daydreaming about romantic fantasies; she is not what most would consider a mannered Victorian woman to be. She pictures her lover as a rugged "knight in shining armor."

<span style="background-color: white; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 160%;">“I keep a diary in order to enter the wonderful secrets of my life. If I didn’t write them down I should probably forget all about them.” (22). <span style="background-color: white; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 160%;">“It is always painful to part from people whom one has known for a very brief space of time. The absence of old friends one can endure with equanimity. But even a momentary separation from anyone to whom one has just been introduced is almost unbearable.” (31). <span style="background-color: white; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 160%;">“I don’t think that you should tell me that you love me wildly, passionately, devotedly, hopelessly. Hopelessly doesn’t seem to make much sense, does it?” (32).

**__<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Miss Prism­ __**<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> – She is the Governess and she tries to keep Cecily on check with her school work and duties. She tends to shut down Cecily’s ideas and tries to set her straight into the ideal Victorian woman.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 160%;">“The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means.” (22).