Which character delivers the line about women's likeness to their mothers?

• A. Jack
• B. Miss Prism
• C. Lady Bracknell
• D. Cecily

Answer: (C)

This line is a sharp, social generalization about gender and family influence, delivered in the voice of someone who embodies the social authority and the marriage market in the play. Lady Bracknell is the one who speaks it, using a cool, ironic quip to comment on how women are shaped by their mothers and, by extension, how marriage is filtered through lineage and propriety. The humor rests on Wilde’s critique of Victorian norms: women appear to be dominated by maternal resemblance, a situation he casts as a tragedy, while men escape such scrutiny. This fits Lady Bracknell’s character perfectly—stern, wittily moralizing, and focused on class and respectability. The line wouldn’t come from the other characters in the same way, since their voices play different roles—Flippant or romantic or didactic—whereas this particular mix of irony and authority is distinctive to Lady Bracknell.