Oscar Wilde's Earnest: Character Insights
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Characters of The Importance of Being Earnest
John "Jack" Worthing
Jack is the play's protagonist and most sympathetic character. He was found in a handbag on a railway line and feels less at home in aristocratic society than does Algernon. He lives in the country but has invented a wicked brother named "Ernest" whose scrapes require Jack's attendance in the city.
Algernon Moncrieff
Algernon, Jack's foil, is a hedonist who has created a friend named Bunbury. Bunbury's status as a permanent invalid allows Algernon to leave the city whenever he pleases. He believes this activity, Bunburying, is necessary, especially if one is going to get married—something he vows never to do.
Lady Bracknell
Lady Bracknell is the play's antagonist, blocking both potential marriages. She embodies typical Victorian classism: she does not allow Gwendolen to marry Jack when she discovers he is an orphan, and she dislikes Cecily as a match for her nephew Algernon until she learns that Cecily is wealthy.
Gwendolen Fairfax
Gwendolen is Lady Bracknell's daughter and the object of Jack's romantic attention. Though she returns his love, Gwendolen appears self-centered and flighty. Like Cecily, she desires nothing more than to marry someone named Ernest.
Cecily Cardew
Cecily is Jack's ward and lives with him in the country. Young and pretty, she is favored by Algernon, who pretends to be Jack's brother, Ernest. Cecily has heard about this brother and has written correspondences between the two of them for months by the time she meets Algernon/Ernest. Like Gwendolen, she is only interested in marrying a man named Ernest.
Miss Prism
Miss Prism is Cecily's governess. She obviously loves Chasuble, though his status as a priest prohibits her from telling him so directly.
Lane
Algernon's butler delivers a number of droll lines, revealing he is far from a passive servant.
Chasuble
A rector, Chasuble frequently visits Jack's country house to see Miss Prism. Though celibate, he seems well-matched for the educated Miss Prism.
Merriman
Jack's butler, Merriman has a less significant role than Lane, but in one scene he and another servant force the bickering Gwendolen and Cecily to maintain supposedly polite conversation.