The Importance of Being Earnest Lesson Plan

In act one, Algernon quips that "women only call each other sister when they have called each other a lot of other things first." How does Cecily and Gwendolen's relationship develop in accordance with this remark?

When Gwendolen and Cecily meet in Act II, they quickly develop a strong dislike towards one another under the false impression that they are engaged to marry the same man. While under this false impression, they engage in a deeply passive-aggressive dialogue over tea in which the women insult one another through their grins of forced civility. By the beginning of Act III, they've discovered that they are not in competition for the same man and that they are...