Character Review

Algernon Montcrieff is a rapscallion young gentleman who does not believe in marriage: “The very essence of romance is uncertainty. If ever I get married, I’ll certainly try to forget the fact.” He has invented the practice of Bunburying, which is to avoid tedious social situations (such as meeting his imperious Aunt Bracknell) by living a double life. He is constantly visiting his make-believe friend, Bunbury the eternal invalid. He has a good friend, Jack, whom he finds to be “an extremely advanced Bunburyist.” Jack is from the countryside but pretends to have a profligate younger brother called Earnest in town, whose identity he assumes when he comes to London. All this is in order to get away from the stifling moral duty he has to his young ward, Cecily, back home. Algy is selfish but not unfeeling. He helps Jack by distracting Aunt Bracknell so that Jack can propose to his cousin, Gwendolen. The problem is, Gwendolen only knows him as Earnest and loves him for his name.

Algy becomes interested when he hears of Jack’s ward Cecily. He goes secretly to Jack’s house and meets and courts Cecily by pretending to be Jack’s younger brother, Earnest. So Gwendolyn loves Jack and Cecily loves Algy, but both think they love a man named Earnest. The two women meet, of course, and quarrel it out before all is settled. The two men baptize themselves as Earnest in order to marry the women they love.

Algy is also greedy, selfish and a liar, but in a mild and likeable manner. He eats all the cucumber sandwiches he has had prepared specially for Aunt Bracknell, and then tells her that he is terribly sorry “about there being no cucumbers, not even for ready money” in the market that morning. He is conceited, and unlike Jack, takes nothing seriously, even his courtship of Cecily. When the women discover they have been tricked, they leave the men in scorn, and all he thinks is that it has been a wonderful episode of Bunburying. He is only serious about Bunburying and everything else is trivial.

This is a link to a clip, not of Algy but of Jack being interviewed by Aunt Bracknell to find out his suitability for Gwendolyn.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oWBdIx9IQE&feature=related