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Lady Bracknell In The Importance Of Being Earnest

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The Importance of Being Earnest contains many contains many characters that possess many different traits. In this play, Jack Worthing plays the protagonist and Lady Bracknell plays the antagonist. Although Jack Worthing is an interesting character, Lady Bracknell is one of the most memorable and satirical characters in Wilde’s play. Lady Bracknell is an arrogant, conservative, opinionated and ruthless woman that looks to rule the lives of others. Lady Bracknell is a very selfish and arrogant woman that always has to have her way. She is an upper class Victorian woman and her ideals correspond to her stature in society. One of the most evident examples of Lady Bracknell’s outspoken ideals is seen in her interrogation of Jack Worthing. Once Lady Bracknell finds out that Jack and Gwendolen are interested in each other, she examines Jack with a series of questions. Lady Bracknell likes the answers to the first few questions she poses but calls Jack a “cloak-room” and “a parcel” after finding out he was found in a handbag as a baby (Wilde 25). The comments Lady Bracknell makes about Jack’s upbringing shows the reader that she looks down upon him. In reality, Lady Bracknell looks down on anyone who is not upper class. These comments also show Lady Bracknell’s lack of perspective and empathy towards others. Jack has no control over what happens when he is a baby, but Lady Bracknell is too selfish to see the situation from Jack’s perspective, so she ridicules him for being found

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