Other characters

Lady Bracknell

Lady Bracknell is an important character in the play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. She is Gwendolen’s mother and Algernon’s aunt. At the end of the play, she is also revealed to be Jack’s aunt.

Lady Bracknell is a conservative person. She does not think young girls should be allowed to decide for themselves who they marry. She thinks French music is not suitable because it sounds improper. She also believes modern education is “radically unsound” (Act 1) and ignorance is preferable. 

Lady Bracknell is authoritarian when it comes to her daughter and her nephew. She does not allow Gwendolen to decide who she marries. When Gwendolen tells her she is engaged to Jack, Lady Bracknell tells her:

When you do become engaged to someone, I, or your father (…) will inform you of the fact. An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant, as the case may be. It is hardly a matter that she could be allowed to arrange for herself. (Act 1)

Lady Bracknell believes that a marriage is like a business transaction. She deals with Gwendolen and Algernon’s marriages in the same way, asking the same kind of questions. The character of the suitor is mostly irrelevant to her, but a good financial situation and a respectable family background seals the deal. Her attitude towards Cecily changes drastically when she hears that Cecily is rich and she begins to see her in a favorable light. She also begins to impose her authority on Ceci...