# A Woman of No Importance — Character guide

> Key figures in A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde.

- [Mrs. Arbuthnot](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_woman_of_no_importance_se/characters/mrs_arbuthnot.md): Mrs. Arbuthnot lives modestly at Wrockley, raising Gerald alone and keeping his father's identity buried under years of respectable silence. When Gerald's new patron turns out to be the very man who wronged her, she face
- [Lord Illingworth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_woman_of_no_importance_se/characters/lord_illingworth.md): Lord Illingworth moves through Lady Hunstanton's house as the most quoted and least trusted man in the room, charming women he despises and mentoring a young secretary he finds refreshingly unspoiled. His wit is a weapon
- [Gerald Arbuthnot](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_woman_of_no_importance_se/characters/gerald_arbuthnot.md): Gerald has grown up poor but adored, and his new position with Lord Illingworth feels like the door to the life he has read about but never lived. He worships his mother and trusts his patron, which makes him the perfect
- [Lady Hunstanton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_woman_of_no_importance_se/characters/lady_hunstanton.md): Lady Hunstanton presides over her country house with benevolent vagueness, delighted by clever talk she only partly follows and oblivious to the American girl absorbing every word. Her drawing room is the stage on which 
- [Mrs. Allonby](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_woman_of_no_importance_se/characters/mrs_allonby.md): Mrs. Allonby is the wittiest woman in Lady Hunstanton's circle, dispensing theories on flirtation, fire, and the strategic value of never leaving men alone. Her banter with Lord Illingworth is the play's sharpest comedy,
- [Hester Worsley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_woman_of_no_importance_se/characters/hester_worsley.md): Hester Worsley is beautiful, wealthy, and unimpressed by the epigrams flying around Lady Hunstanton's drawing room, which makes her both an outsider and a conscience. She befriends Gerald and recoils from Mrs. Arbuthnot'
- [Lady Caroline Pontefract](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_woman_of_no_importance_se/characters/lady_caroline_pontefract.md): Lady Caroline Pontefract presides over drawing-room conversation at Hunstanton Chase, correcting names, summoning her husband John to sit where she prefers, and pronouncing on the alarming modern habit of young women pla
- [Sir John Kelvil](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_woman_of_no_importance_se/characters/sir_john_kelvil.md): A pompous member of Parliament with strong opinions.
- [Archdeacon Daubeny](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_woman_of_no_importance_se/characters/archdeacon_daubeny.md): A clergyman who provides moral commentary at the house party.
- [Lord Henry Weston](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_woman_of_no_importance_se/characters/lord_henry_weston.md): A deceased acquaintance mentioned in conversation.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_woman_of_no_importance_se/characters