# The Importance of Being Earnest — Character guide

> Key figures in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde.

- [Jack Worthing](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_importance_of_being_earnest/characters/jack_worthing.md): Jack keeps two lives running on one name: sober Uncle Jack at his Woolton estate, where he lectures his ward Cecily on duty, and stylish Ernest in London, where he woos Gwendolen. His own moralizing traps him, since the 
- [Algernon Moncrieff](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_importance_of_being_earnest/characters/algernon_moncrieff.md): Algernon floats through Half-Moon Street on cucumber sandwiches, champagne, and the cheerful conviction that life should be played with wonderful expression rather than accuracy. He prizes style over sincerity and treats
- [Gwendolen Fairfax](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_importance_of_being_earnest/characters/gwendolen_fairfax.md): Gwendolen moves through London society with brisk authority, proposing to Jack in town and later facing Cecily with the same cool command. Her fixation on the name Ernest turns a private whim into a public obstacle, and 
- [Cecily Cardew](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_importance_of_being_earnest/characters/cecily_cardew.md): Cecily studies German, tolerates Miss Prism's lessons, and keeps a diary devoted to the thrilling Ernest, whose scandals she has embroidered into romance. When Algernon arrives at the Manor House posing as that very brot
- [Lady Bracknell](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_importance_of_being_earnest/characters/lady_bracknell.md): Lady Bracknell presides over the play's social world with a list of eligible young men and an unshakable faith in family background. When Jack proposes to Gwendolen, she cross-examines him about income, politics, and par
- [Miss Prism](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_importance_of_being_earnest/characters/miss_prism.md): Miss Prism runs the Manor House schoolroom with moral maxims and a three-volume novel she once wrote, urging Cecily toward German grammar and away from frivolous romance. She disapproves of Ernest's debts and extravaganc
- [Dr. Chasuble](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_importance_of_being_earnest/characters/dr_chasuble.md): Dr. Chasuble is the local clergyman at Jack's country house, forever polishing a sermon he never delivers and gently circling Miss Prism with scholarly affection. His mild pedantry and willingness to perform convenient c
- [Bunbury](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_importance_of_being_earnest/characters/bunbury.md): Algernon's fictional invalid friend used as an excuse.

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