Question

Who does Gwendolen tell Jack she would not consider marrying?

• A. Someone with no morals
• B. Someone with no inheritance
• C. Someone named Rumplestiltskin
• D. Someone not named Ernest

Answer 1

Answer:

D. Someone not named Ernest

• Gwendolen tells Jack that she would not consider marrying a man who was not named Ernest.

• She declares:

• "My ideal has always been to love someone of the name of Ernest. There is something in that name that seems to inspire absolute confidence."

• This obsession with the name—rather than the person—satirizes the Victorian fixation on appearances over substance. Jack, whose real name is not Ernest, is immediately worried, knowing that his entire engagement depends on a lie.

• This "name question" becomes one of the play’s main comedic conflicts, as both Jack and Algernon later attempt to get christened as "Ernest" to satisfy their fiancées' expectations.