Lady Jane Hunstanton
Lady Jane is the hostess of the dinner party around which the events of the play occur. Her country estate is known as Hunstanton Chase.
Gerald Arbuthnot
Very young and innocent Gerald holds a position as a bank clerk and is the victim of a scheme by his mother to keep the identity of her real father from her. He has fallen head over heel for Hester Worsley and suddenly finds a tempting offer of becoming secretary to Lord Illingworth extended to him. What he doesn’t know when this offer comes is that Illingworth is his father.
Mrs. Rachel Arbuthnot
The past twenty years that Mrs. Arbuthnot has raised her son Gerald under the cloud of the shame of illegitimacy has created a pious woman willing to sacrifice all for her beloved son. She is the titular woman not important enough for George Harford to marry.
Lord George Harford Illingworth
The stereotypical British dandy, Lord Ilingworth has no visible means of support and is a notorious rake with a long history of woman used and tossed away. His chance meeting with Gerald leads to the discovery that the young man is his son, but his own dissolute history ruins his efforts to win the boy’s affections. Without an heir, society recasts him as a man of no importance.
Mr. Kelvin
Lord Illingworth can resist everything but temptation; Mr. Kelvin has found that the secret to a good life is finding the will to resist temptation. He is one of the guests at the dinner, a member of Parliament, father of eight and currently at work writing a major address on the one topic he considers to truly of national interest and importance: purity.
Hester Worsley
Hester is a pretty young America currently visiting Hunstanton Chase. She is the epitome of American Puritanism who is not afraid to speak her mind about issues relating to sexual purity, gender equality and the double standard. When she falls in love with Gerald Arbuthnot, the moral of the play becomes clear: her father’s financial status becomes the means by which Mrs. Arbuthnot’s sacrifices are finally rewarded as good deeds. Mother and son both find through Hester the route to escape from economic distress.
Lady Caroline Pontefract
Married to husband number four, Lady Caroline is somewhat overbearing and underendowed with intellect. Her advice to the women at the dinner party is that men are good for two things: paying compliments and paying the bills.
Sir John Pontefract
Husband number four spends most of the dinner party under the thumb of his wife, doing as he is told.
Lord Henry Weston
Brother of Lady Caroline, Lord Henry has a notorious past in which the financial lives of others have crumbled around them. Despite this—or possibly because of it—he is always in demand at London’s most fashionable parties.
Mrs. Allonby
The niece of Lord Brancaster who is one of the guests in attendance at the Hustanston’s party outside of London. Her high standing among fashionable social circles in London has lent her a marked preference for such parties that place within London than rather among the surrounding outlying country manors.
Farquhar
Lady Jane Hunstanton’s estate butler.
