Why does Algernon think Gwendolen will not marry Jack?

• A. Women don't marry men they flirt with
• B. Jack is too poor
• C. Gwendolen dislikes cities
• D. Jack is already married

Answer: (A)

The idea being tested is how Wilde uses flirtation, names, and social fantasies to show why a woman might gravitate toward a charming image rather than the real person. Algernon is poking fun at Gwendolen’s fixation on romance and on a man’s name as the symbol of that romance. He expects that she wouldn’t actually marry Jack because she’s been flirting with the idea of a man named Ernest—she’s in love with the fantasy, not with Jack as he truly is. In that light, the suggestion that she won’t marry Jack because she’s drawn to flirtation captures the joke: women in this satire are more swayed by flirtation and illusion than by the ordinary reality of a relationship. The other options don’t fit the scene’s focus on names, romance, and social pretense—money, city dislike, or marital status aren’t the hinge of the moment Wilde is lampooning.