Gerald sees the unfeasiblity of the marriage only through his mother's intervention. She despises the way in which Illingworth and his class toy with people's affections and ruin lives on a whim. You shut out from your society the gentle and the good. Oh, your English society seems to me shallow, selfish, foolish. The play is peopled with aristocrats, politicians and clergy who are unwittingly funny.
Some characters are primarily there to amuse, ask leading questions and deliver punch lines.
Mary Vinette's Lady Hunstanton is right on the mark. The performance pivotal to the play's success is that of Mrs. Arbuthnot. Under Antoni Cimolino's direction, Wendy Gough reveals Rachel Arbuthnot's private pain in an intelligent and impassioned, but dignified, manner. Overall, the performance was truthful to Wilde's intentions. In the end the tables are turned.