Who is Who, and Has Anyone Seen Bunury? – The Importance of Being Earnest Character List

Lane

Algernon’s servant. Lane is the only person who knows about Algernon’s practice of “Bunburying.”

• Merriman

The butler at the Manor House, Jack’s estate in the country

• Miss Prism

She is Cecily’s governess. Miss Prism is an endless source of nitpicking bromides and clichés. She highly approves of Jack’s presumed respectability and harshly criticizes his “unfortunate” brother. Puritan though she is, Miss Prism’s severe pronouncements have a way of going so far over the top that they inspire laughter. Despite her rigidity, Miss Prism seems to have a softer side. She speaks of having once written a novel whose manuscript was “lost” or “abandoned.” Also, she has romantic feelings for Dr. Chasuble

• Canon Chasuble, D.D.

The head on Jack’s estate. Both Jack and Algernon approach Dr. Chasuble to request that they be christened “Ernest.” Dr. Chasuble has secret romantic feelings for Miss Prism. The initials after his name stand for “Doctor of Divinity

• Algernon Moncrieff

Algernon is a charming, lazy, attractive bachelor. He is the nephew of Lady Bracknell and cousin of Gwendolen He is Friends with Jack, and has been for many years, but knows him as Ernest. Algernon is brilliant, witty, selfish, dishonorable, and given to making short, somewhat absurd declarations. He has invented a fictional friend, “Bunbury,” an invalid whose frequent sudden relapses allow Algernon to wriggle out of unpleasant or dull social obligations.

• Gwendolen Fairfax

Lady Bracknell’s daughter, Gwendolen is in love with Jack, but she only knows him as Ernest. A model and arbitrator of high fashion and society, Gwendolen speaks with unquestionable authority on matters of taste and morality. She is sophisticated, intellectual, and completely pretentious. Gwendolen is fixated on the name Ernest and says she will not marry a man without that name.

• Lady Bracknell

Lady Bracknell is a very condescending snobbish and overbearing woman. And add on gold-digging, to the list. She is Algernon’s aunt and mother to Gwendolen. Lady Bracknell married well, and her primary goal in life is to see her daughter do the same. She has a list of “eligible young men” and an interview she gives to possible suitors. Like her nephew, Lady Bracknell is given to making hilarious announcements, but where Algernon means to be witty, the humor in Lady Bracknell’s speeches is unintentional.

• John (Jack/Ernest) Worthing, J.P.

The main character, Jack Worthing seems to be responsible and respectable, but he actually has a double life. In Hertfordshire, where he has a country estate, Jack, who he really is- is known as Jack but In London he is known as Ernest. Jack is the guardian of Cecily. He (Jack) was given this responsibility by Cecily’s grandfather. The grandfather found Jack at a train station when he was a baby, and adopted him. Jack is also in love with Gwendolen. She is the cousin of Jack’s best friend Algernon.

• Cecily Cardew

Under the care of Jack and the granddaughter of the man who found and adopted Jack. Cecily is probably the most realistically drawn character in the play. Like Gwendolen, she is obsessed with the name Ernest, but she is even more intrigued by the idea of wickedness. This idea, rather than the virtuous-sounding name, has prompted her to fall in love with Jack’s brother Ernest in her imagination and to invent an elaborate romance and courtship between them.

Beckson, Karl E (1970). Oscar Wilde: The Critical Heritage. London: Routledge