Jack Worthing character sketch

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Source: Google Images









Jack Worthing leads a double life. He pretends to have an irresponsible brother named Ernest who leads a scandalous life and is always getting into trouble which gives Jack an excuse to go after him to help him. The fictional brother Ernest is actually an escape route for Jack to slip away from the countryside whenever he feels like enjoying the pleasures of the town.


When Jack reveals to Algernon, his friend about the fictional Ernest, Algernon calls him a “Bunburyist”, to his definition is a man who leads a double life. But Jack denies this accusation. This character of Jack denying leading a double life marks his character as indeed dishonest. While Algernon admits that he is a Bunburyist, who leads a double life with a fictional brother named Ernest.


Coming to the later part of the play we find that Jack is a man who is double dishonest. When the rest of the party finds out that Jack was actually conning a fake persona he is forced to disclose his secret. He admits that he does not really have a wicked brother but he does not disclose the actual truth. The reason he gives is that he had invented a fake brother as an excuse so that he can come and see Gwendolen in the town/city. In fact, Jack’s desire to get away from Hertfordshire has been motivated by a desire to do things with “a very high moral tone”. Even though Jack admits to being dishonest and fraudulent, he hides back the actual truth. While Algernon admits his faults openly


Jack initially refuses to allow Algernon to marry Gwendolen because of Algernon’s poor moral character - for pretending to be Ernest, Jack’s wicked brother - despite Jack himself being a dishonest man. Jack, when compared to Algernon, turns out to be indeed wicked like his fake brother. Jack badly wants to uphold his position in society. He is ecstatic when he learns that he is not an orphan and that his father was a great man with the name of Ernest. When this truth is revealed, he is happy that his actual name is Ernest, and not concerned about his parents. The behaviour shown by Jack makes him indeed a man of bad character.


Jack in the play represents Victorian values. He wants others to think that he adheres to such notions as duty, honour, and respectability at the same time to deviate from such standards to enjoy the pleasures of life. The aristocratic Victorians valued duty and responsibility. The desire to do the correct thing was at the top of the moral code. Society was only concerned with outward appearance and did not pay heed to check if it was true or false, “style not sincerity is the vital thing”

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