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Excerpt from Act 2 Dialogue: Gwendolen and Cecily

 

GWENDOLEN

I am very fond of you, Cecily; I have liked you ever since I met you! But I am bound to state that now that I know that you are Mr. Worthing’s ward, I cannot help expressing a wish you were—well, just a little older than you seem to be—and not quite so very alluring in appearance. In fact, if I may speak candidly—

CECILY

Pray do! I think that whenever one has anything unpleasant to say, one should always be quite candid.

Read the full dialogue.
 

 

Understanding the Given Circumstances

For this scene, consider the following given circumstances:

  • Cecily Cardew, the ward of Jack Worthing, is in the rose garden of the Manor House in Woolton, Hertfordshire, a county in Victorian England.
  • Cecily has fallen in love with Jack’s younger brother, Ernest, whom she has heard of but never met. She has created a fantasy engagement with him, complete with love letters and a ring.
  • Cecily doesn’t realize that Jack and Ernest are the same person—Jack invented a brother and uses his name when in London, allowing him to act out without damaging his reputation in the country.
  • Aware of Jack’s ruse, his friend Algernon pretends to be Ernest Worthing when he comes to visit Jack in the country. He meets Cecily and declares his love for her. He then tries to confess his real name, but Cecily says she could only love a man named Ernest. Just a few minutes prior to this scene, Cecily and “Ernest” become engaged for real.
  • Gwendolen Fairfax loves Jack Worthing, but having met him in London, she knows him only as "Ernest." The day before, she accepted “Ernest’s” proposal of marriage despite her mother, Lady Bracknell, having strong reservations.
  • Gwendolen unexpectedly arrives at the Manor House before afternoon tea, looking for her beloved Ernest. Cecily receives her in the garden.

 

Blocking and Movement

In theater, blocking is the process of planning the actors’ physical movements and positions. Be sure to show respect and establish trust when working with scene partners. As you prepare to block this scene, ask yourself the following questions:

  • Wilde tells us the Manor House garden in July is full of roses with a table and basket chairs. Where is the table placed? Where is the entrance to the house? Are there other entrances into the garden?
  • Gwendolen states, “In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing.” Raised in the city, she values appearances, shares Lady Bracknell’s views, and believes she is always right. How does this influence her physicality and attitude with Cecily? How does she weaponize condescension and when?
  • Cecily believes that “whenever one has anything unpleasant to say, one should always be quite candid.” Raised in the country, she values kindness, shares her governess’s views, and displays a disarming naivety. How does she show this physically and in her line delivery? How does she use candor to get the upper hand, and when?
  • Both girls try to prove they deserve Ernest. What is the arc of the power struggle?
  • Cecily and Gwendolen deal with an assortment of props, including those for afternoon tea. What are they? Where are they? How does their use of props define their characters? How does the cake become a weapon? Is it cut and served with defiance, mockery, graciousness, or assumed innocence?

 

Characters and Their Relationships

Gwendolen begins her encounter with Cecily by asserting, “Something tells me that we are going to be great friends.” Given the personalities of the two girls, it seems unlikely. Or is it? On the surface, the girls are complete opposites. Gwendolen is the fashion plate, highly opinionated and socially correct with a city-bred sophistication. Although described as “excessively pretty,” Cecily dresses simply, enjoys a vivid imagination, and responds honestly with a country-bred innocence. Cecily’s candor throws Gwendolen off-balance. Meanwhile, Gwendolen’s worldliness intimidates Cecily. Gwendolen’s earlier prediction appears doomed once the girls discover they both seem to be engaged to the same man.

Beneath the surface, however, Gwendolen and Cecily have much in common. Both fall in love with a man’s name, Ernest, rather than his personality. Both invent a fantasy life in their diaries, wanting their rather uneventful lives to seem sensational. Above all, both are gullible when it comes to love and long for someone their age in which to confide. In the end, they become like sisters. To quote Algernon, “The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”

 

Full Act 2 Dialogue: Gwendolen and Cecily

 

 [GWENDOLYN enters]

CECILY

[Advancing to meet her.] Pray let me introduce myself to you. My name is Cecily Cardew.

GWENDOLEN

Cecily Cardew? [Moving to her and shaking hands.] What a very sweet name! Something tells me that we are going to be great friends. I like you already more than I can say. My first impressions of people are never wrong.

CECILY

How nice of you to like me so much after we have known each other such a comparatively short time. Pray sit down.

GWENDOLEN

[Still standing up.] I may call you Cecily, may I not?

CECILY

With pleasure!

GWENDOLEN

And you will always call me Gwendolen, won’t you?

CECILY

If you wish.

GWENDOLEN

Then that is all quite settled, is it not?

CECILY

I hope so. [A pause. They both sit down together.]

GWENDOLEN

Perhaps this might be a favourable opportunity for my mentioning who I am. My father is Lord Bracknell. You have never heard of papa, I suppose?

CECILY

I don’t think so.

GWENDOLEN

Outside the family circle, papa, I am glad to say, is entirely unknown. I think that is quite as it should be. The home seems to me to be the proper sphere for the man. And certainly once a man begins to neglect his domestic duties he becomes painfully effeminate, does he not? And I don’t like that. It makes men so very attractive. Cecily, mamma, whose views on education are remarkably strict, has brought me up to be extremely short-sighted; it is part of her system; so do you mind my looking at you through my glasses?

CECILY

Oh! not at all, Gwendolen. I am very fond of being looked at.

GWENDOLEN

[After examining Cecily carefully through a lorgnette.] You are here on a short visit, I suppose.

CECILY

Oh no! I live here.

GWENDOLEN

[Severely.] Really? Your mother, no doubt, or some female relative of advanced years, resides here also?

CECILY

Oh no! I have no mother, nor, in fact, any relations.

GWENDOLEN

Indeed?

CECILY

My dear guardian, with the assistance of Miss Prism, has the arduous task of looking after me.

GWENDOLEN

Your guardian?

CECILY

Yes, I am Mr. Worthing’s ward.

GWENDOLEN

Oh! It is strange he never mentioned to me that he had a ward. How secretive of him! He grows more interesting hourly. I am not sure, however, that the news inspires me with feelings of unmixed delight. [Rising and going to her.] I am very fond of you, Cecily; I have liked you ever since I met you! But I am bound to state that now that I know that you are Mr. Worthing’s ward, I cannot help expressing a wish you were—well, just a little older than you seem to be—and not quite so very alluring in appearance. In fact, if I may speak candidly—

CECILY

Pray do! I think that whenever one has anything unpleasant to say, one should always be quite candid.

GWENDOLEN

Well, to speak with perfect candour, Cecily, I wish that you were fully forty-two, and more than usually plain for your age. Ernest has a strong upright nature. He is the very soul of truth and honour. Disloyalty would be as impossible to him as deception. But even men of the noblest possible moral character are extremely susceptible to the influence of the physical charms of others. Modern, no less than Ancient History, supplies us with many most painful examples of what I refer to. If it were not so, indeed, History would be quite unreadable.

CECILY

I beg your pardon, Gwendolen, did you say Ernest?

GWENDOLEN

Yes.

CECILY

Oh, but it is not Mr. Ernest Worthing who is my guardian. It is his brother—his elder brother.

GWENDOLEN

[Sitting down again.] Ernest never mentioned to me that he had a brother.

CECILY

I am sorry to say they have not been on good terms for a long time.

GWENDOLEN

Ah! that accounts for it. And now that I think of it I have never heard any man mention his brother. The subject seems distasteful to most men. Cecily, you have lifted a load from my mind. I was growing almost anxious. It would have been terrible if any cloud had come across a friendship like ours, would it not? Of course you are quite, quite sure that it is not Mr. Ernest Worthing who is your guardian?

CECILY

Quite sure. [A pause.] In fact, I am going to be his.

GWENDOLEN

[Inquiringly.] I beg your pardon?

CECILY

[Rather shy and confidingly.] Dearest Gwendolen, there is no reason why I should make a secret of it to you. Our little county newspaper is sure to chronicle the fact next week. Mr. Ernest Worthing and I are engaged to be married.

GWENDOLEN

[Quite politely, rising.] My darling Cecily, I think there must be some slight error. Mr. Ernest Worthing is engaged to me. The announcement will appear in the Morning Post on Saturday at the latest.

CECILY

[Very politely, rising.] I am afraid you must be under some misconception. Ernest proposed to me exactly ten minutes ago. [Shows diary.]

GWENDOLEN

[Examines diary through her lorgnette carefully.] It is certainly very curious, for he asked me to be his wife yesterday afternoon at 5.30. If you would care to verify the incident, pray do so. [Produces diary of her own.] I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train. I am so sorry, dear Cecily, if it is any disappointment to you, but I am afraid I have the prior claim.

CECILY

It would distress me more than I can tell you, dear Gwendolen, if it caused you any mental or physical anguish, but I feel bound to point out that since Ernest proposed to you he clearly has changed his mind.

GWENDOLEN

[Meditatively.] If the poor fellow has been entrapped into any foolish promise I shall consider it my duty to rescue him at once, and with a firm hand.

CECILY

[Thoughtfully and sadly.] Whatever unfortunate entanglement my dear boy may have got into, I will never reproach him with it after we are married.

GWENDOLEN

Do you allude to me, Miss Cardew, as an entanglement? You are presumptuous. On an occasion of this kind it becomes more than a moral duty to speak one’s mind. It becomes a pleasure.

CECILY

Do you suggest, Miss Fairfax, that I entrapped Ernest into an engagement? How dare you? This is no time for wearing the shallow mask of manners. When I see a spade I call it a spade.

GWENDOLEN

[Satirically.] I am glad to say that I have never seen a spade. It is obvious that our social spheres have been widely different.

(A long pause. Cecily and Gwendolen glare at each other)

GWENDOLEN

Are there many interesting walks in the vicinity, Miss Cardew?

CECILY

Oh! yes! a great many. From the top of one of the hills quite close one can see five counties.

GWENDOLEN

Five counties! I don’t think I should like that; I hate crowds.

CECILY

[Sweetly.] I suppose that is why you live in town?

[Gwendolen bites her lip, and beats her foot nervously with her parasol.]

GWENDOLEN

[Looking round.] Quite a well-kept garden this is, Miss Cardew.

CECILY

So glad you like it, Miss Fairfax.

GWENDOLEN

I had no idea there were any flowers in the country.

CECILY

Oh, flowers are as common here, Miss Fairfax, as people are in London.

GWENDOLEN

Personally I cannot understand how anybody manages to exist in the country, if anybody who is anybody does. The country always bores me to death.

CECILY

Ah! This is what the newspapers call agricultural depression, is it not? I believe the aristocracy are suffering very much from it just at present. It is almost an epidemic amongst them, I have been told. May I offer you some tea, Miss Fairfax?

GWENDOLEN

[With elaborate politeness.] Thank you. [Aside.] Detestable girl! But I require tea!

CECILY

[Sweetly.] Sugar?

GWENDOLEN

[Superciliously.] No, thank you. Sugar is not fashionable any more.

[Cecily looks angrily at her, takes up the tongs and puts four lumps of sugar into the cup.]

CECILY

[Severely.] Cake or bread and butter?

GWENDOLEN

[In a bored manner.] Bread and butter, please. Cake is rarely seen at the best houses nowadays.

[Cecily cuts a very large slice of cake, and puts it on the tray. Gwendolen drinks the tea and makes a grimace. Puts down cup at once, reaches out her hand to the bread and butter, looks at it, and finds it is cake. Rises in indignation.]

GWENDOLEN

You have filled my tea with lumps of sugar, and though I asked most distinctly for bread and butter, you have given me cake. I am known for the gentleness of my disposition, and the extraordinary sweetness of my nature, but I warn you, Miss Cardew, you may go too far.

CECILY

[Rising.] To save my poor, innocent, trusting boy from the machinations of any other girl there are no lengths to which I would not go.

GWENDOLEN

From the moment I saw you I distrusted you. I felt that you were false and deceitful. I am never deceived in such matters. My first impressions of people are invariably right.

CECILY

It seems to me, Miss Fairfax, that I am trespassing on your valuable time. No doubt you have many other calls of a similar character to make in the neighbourhood.

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