What connects Miss Prism to Jack's early life in the backstory?

• A. Miss Prism is Jack's sister.
• B. Miss Prism is Jack's aunt who raised him.
• C. She reveals her involvement in Jack's infancy and the handbag incident.
• D. She is unaware of Jack's past.

Answer: (C)

The main idea here is how a hidden past links a character to the central figure’s origins and drives the comedy. Miss Prism, the prim governess, ends up revealing that she was directly involved in Jack’s infancy and the handbag incident. That admission creates a concrete connection between her and Jack’s earliest life, showing that Jack’s present identity is rooted in a past mistake she made and a moment when he was lost and then found. This moment explains where Jack comes from and why his background matters to the other characters’ expectations about legitimacy and social standing. The other possibilities don’t fit because they contradict what Wilde reveals about her role in Jack’s beginnings; she isn’t his sister or aunt, and she isn’t simply unaware of his past. Her confession is the hook that ties Jack’s present to his backstory and fuels the play’s satire of respectable propriety.