Key Characters

Question 1

Jack/Ernest

Answer 1

Represents conventional Victorian values, seemingly responsible and respectable (but leads a double life). Wishes to marry Gwendolen.

Question 2

Algernon

Answer 2

Nephew of Lady Bracknell. Charming and idle. Jack’s best friend. Known for making witty, paradoxical statements. Invents ‘Bunbury’ to go to the country. Falls in love with Cecily when he meets her at Jack’s country house.

Question 3

Gwendolen

Answer 3

Daughter of Lady Bracknell ; wishes to be engaged to Jack.

Question 4

Cecily

Answer 4

She is Jack’s ward and wishes to marry a man named Ernest. Later engaged to Algernon. Apparently innocent, isolated, imaginative

Question 5

Lady Bracknell

Answer 5

Subverts conventional ideas about Victorian women and the upper classes. She is Gwendolen’s mother and Algernon’s aunt. Authoritative, outspoken, rude.

Question 6

Miss Prism

Answer 6

Cecily’s governess who is romantically interested in Chasuble. A stereotypical spinster character and a device to provide the comic resolution of the handbag.

Question 7

Canon Chasuble

Answer 7

The local rector who is romantically interested in Miss Prism.
Used by Wilde to satirise religion. Dull and predictable.

Question 8

Lane

Answer 8

Algy’s servant, representing the lower classes while subverting expectations of the working class. Witty and intelligent.

Question 9

Merriman

Answer 9

Jack’s servant