• Goring is the most fashionable man of his set, while Valentine is an avid gambler. Both wish to escape creditors, not because they do not have the money to pay, but because paying would signify responsibility- and they do not like that.
• Ladies- We know that in The Ideal Husband, Goring shows a history of women that he loved and then lost. He is certainly no stranger to romancing the ladies. Similarly, Valentine's name says it all: he corrupts girls, attracts them and then leaves them. In modern terms, these two dandies are you typical "players".
• Carelessness- Goring shows through his wits that he could care less what his father thinks of him, whether it is good or bad: Ex: when he says I love talking about nothing, father. It is the only thing I know anything about. Yet, Goring holds a bit of dignity in that he helps his friend save his career and marriage. Valentine, on the other hand, cares about nothing at all: not his family, not the women, not his creditors, and maybe not even his friends. 
• Change- the dandies tend to change toward the end. In Oscar Wilde's plays they often either change by choice or by circumstances. In Congrave's play Valentine certainly changes as a result of love.
• Wit- the wit comes naturally to the dandy given that they are free-spirits that do as they wish and have a chance to fool people. They know people better than they may even know themselves. For this reason, the repartee of paradoxes and epigrams are a typical part of their conversation. After all, as upper-class men, how else could they entertain others at their respective social gatherings?

On and all, the two characters are extremely similar in that they follow the prototype of the dandy which, in reality, must be first credited to Congrave. Wilde may have used Congrave as his mold to create Lord Goring, Lord Darlington, Lord Henry, Algernon, and Ernest "in the city", among others. There are more similarities than differences and it is all due to the fact that a clear mold distinguishes the creation of the dandy as a character.

Education and class come hand in hand in both plays, Love for Love and in An Ideal Husband.

InLove for Love,Marlow is described as "bred educated", intelligent, and well-schooled man who, although brash and moody, is also able to display true emotion. Similarly, his friend Hastings is also described as well-educated. As important characters, their education precludes that they are also elegant, classy, and true gentlemen. Whether that is true at all times or not (and we know that Marlow is not always a gentleman), the fact remains that Congreve awards this trait when he puts forward how these men are particularly unique. Contrastingly, Tony Lumpkin, who could care less about his education, is the prankster of the story, the waster, and the good for nothing son of Mrs. Hardcastle. Again, we see how education seems to be correlated to good morals and gentlemanly behavior. Since Tony lacks such education, he is not to be treated as a true gentleman throughout the play.

InAn Ideal Husbandthe topic of education is most resounding around the females, who discuss whether the "good wife" of Victorian England should be submitted to the toils of "knowing too much". Lady Markby, for example, strongly believes that the "modern" Victorian women waste their time trying to become educated, when their social role as mothers and wives provide all that is needed to keep busy. Contrastingly, Lady Chiltern debates this topic and staunchly defends the rights for women to become educated academically.

Moreover, all of Oscar Wilde's plays make reference to how upperclass men either attend Oxford or Cambridge as a neccesary rite of passage. Dandies such as Lord Goring are usually portrayed as students that are "sent down" from such unversities, meaning that they got kicked out for being lazy, or "idle".

Therefore, in both cases education is synonymous with class status. Obviously the lower classes had nearly no chance to obtain a higher education. Hence, the scholar is also the gentleman, the virtuous man, and the most likely to succeed in the social ladder.

In Wilde's An Ideal Husband, love is defined by Victorian ideals. A man should be intelligent, moral, loyal, honest, and a good provider. The ideal woman, however, was one who finds a man to marry her and then takes up her husbands interests. Lady Chiltern thinks she has this in Sir Robert. Sir Robert is content to let her think that he is just that good. 

In Congreve's Love for Love, deception is more transparent. Men are often cuckolds, or they are commonly cruel to their wives and lovers. Despite this, men are defined not by their love and goodness towards women but instead by how well they do in the word. Conversely, women are not at all defined as good or bad by worldy success but how loose or protective they are of their sexual favors.