This open interest in the idea of immorality is what takes Cecily out of the realm of Victorian hypocrisy and makes her a suitable love interest for Algernon. Her notion that if Jack’s brother is not really wicked he has been “deceiving us all in a very inexcusable manner” turns the plot of the play on its head. She goes on to define hypocrisy as “pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time.” It isn’t, of course. It is the opposite of hypocrisy. In fact, it is the creed of the Wildean dandy-hero.
