Plot & Events
This is the city where Jack lives his secret life as Ernest.
What is London?
This character lives a double life and uses the name Ernest in London.
Who is Jack Worthing?
The truth is rarely pure and never simple.
Who is Algernon?
Lady Bracknell's questions about Jack's income show that she considers this important when evaluating a potential husband.
What is financial security?
What is reputation?
Today, people may still carefully manage what they show others online because of concern about this.
Jack uses this name when he visits London.
What is Ernest?
This character invents a fictional invalid named Bunbury to escape unwanted social obligations.
Who is Algernon Moncrieff?
"The very essence of romance is uncertainty."
Who is Algernon Moncrieff?
Jack's inability to identify his parents creates a serious problem because Victorian society placed importance on this.
What is family lineage?
Judging someone by their followers, clothing, school, possessions, or family background reflects the same concern with this that Wilde makes fun of.
What is social status?
Algernon discovers Jack's secret identity through this personal object.
What is a cigarette case?
This character falls in love with Ernest partly because she considers the name itself attractive.
Who is Gwendolen Fairfax?
“I don't like novels that end happily. They depress me so much.”
Who is Miss Prism?
The play mocks the expectation that women should be particularly concerned with this institution as a route to social security and status.
What is marriage?
When people feel pressured to behave differently in different social groups, they experience the same tension between their real selves and these.
What are social expectations?
Algernon travels to Jack's country home pretending to be this person.
Who is Ernest Worthing?
This character is Jack's young ward and falls in love with Algernon.
Who is Cecily Cardew?
“To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.
Who is Lady Bracknell?
The play suggests that people with higher social status have greater power to determine who is considered respectable.
What is social privilege?
Someone presenting a perfect life online while privately experiencing something very different demonstrates this theme from Wilde's play.
What is appearance versus reality?
At the end of the play, Jack discovers that his real name is this.
What is Ernest Moncrieff?
This character famously questions the social acceptability of a man who was found inside a handbag.
Who is Lady Bracknell?
“I never change, except in my affections.”
Who is Gwendolen Fairfax?
Wilde's characters often follow social rules publicly while secretly breaking them, exposing this contradiction in Victorian society.
What is hypocrisy?
Jack's respectable behaviour in the country can be interpreted as this slang term because he carefully maintains a particular image.
What is performative?