Gerald. Not marry him? Mother!
Mrs. Arbuthnot. I will not marry him.
Gerald. But you don’t understand: it is for your sake I am talking, not for mine. This marriage, this necessary marriage, this marriage which for obvious reasons must inevitably take place, will not help me, will not give me a name that will be really, rightly mine to bear. But surely it will be something for you, that you, my mother, should, however late, become the wife of the man who is my father. Will not that be something?
Mrs. Arbuthnot. I will not marry him.
Gerald. Mother, you must.
Mrs. Arbuthnot. I will not. You talk of atonement for a wrong done. What atonement can be made to me? There is no atonement possible. I am disgraced: he is not. That is all. It is the usual history of a man and a woman as it usually happens, as it always happens. And the ending is the ordinary ending. The woman suffers. The man goes free.
Gerald. I don’t know if that is the ordinary ending, mother: I hope it is not. But your life, at any rate, shall not end like that. The man shall make whatever reparation is possible. It is not enough. It does not wipe out the past, I know that. But at least it makes the future better, better for you, mother.
Mrs. Arbuthnot. I refuse to marry Lord Illingworth.
Gerald. If he came to you himself and asked you to be his wife you would give him a different answer. Remember, he is my father.
Mrs. Arbuthnot. If he came himself, which he will not do, my answer would be the same. Remember I am your mother.