University of Tübingen

Social Criticism in Oscar Wilde’s
Lady Windermere’s Fan

by

Christina König

Contents:

0. Introduction 3

1. Good and Bad 3

1.1. Characterisation Techniques (1) : Lady Windermere the “Good” Woman 4
1.2. Development: Allusions Then Concrete Suspicion 4
1.3. Contrast Relationship(1): Mrs Erlynne the “Bad” Woman 5

1.3.1.Characterisation techniques (2) 5
1.3.2. Suspense-structure 5

1.4. The Change 6
1.5. Contrast Relationship(2):Mrs Erlynne’s sacrifice  6

1.5.1. Space: Lady Windermere’s Impasse 6
1.5.2. Lead of Information 7
1.5.3. Mrs Erlynne’s Sacrifice  7
1.5.4. Irony 8

1.6 Conclusion(1) 8

2. Exclusiveness of Society  8

2.1. But Why Is It So Difficult to Belong to It? 9
2.2.The Exception Proves the Rule 9

3. Hypocrisy and Superficiality  9

3.1. The Speech Behaviour as a Mirror of Society 9

3.1.1 Monologized Dialogue/ One-way Conversation 10
3.1.2 Change of View 10

3.2. Conclusion (2) 11

4. Summary  12

5. Bibliography 13

0. Introduction

Today almost everything is accepted in modern society. It does not matter if a person is homosexual, bisexual or transsexual. Further, everyone can do even almost everything that pleases him. So, a lot of men “try” women –the more, the more they are famous, rich or successful. And even today’s women have broken free from their traditional tasks: raising a family, staying at home and doing the cooking. Instead, it is fashion to live a man’s life: going to parties, having a lot of affairs and neglecting the morals. Today’s women are as bad as their masculine fellow men. And even they have become worse- if you want to believe in what the older generation says about our youth. Maybe, this is true. If you compare it to the Victorian Age, so much seems to have changed. Thinking of Oscar Wilde, you will soon realise that he could have lived a much easier life in today’s world. He was an “enfant terrible” of his time. Not only that his artistic and theatrical views did not fit into society at all, but it were especially his sexual preferences that caused his main problems. In contrast to the latest tendency of accep- tance for homosexuality, it was a real crime about the year 1900 and so he had to spend a certain time in prison. “The double life that it entailed was by no means a simple mat- ter of deceit and guilt for Wilde: it suited the cultivation of moral independence and de- tachment from society that he considered essential to art.” ¹(Small:1999,xiv/xv). With his behaviour he offended the leaders, institutions and press of his Philistine country. Yet, he always tried to be accepted by Society, but his attempts were mostly answered with exclusion.As Wilde lived for art, his works are a mirror of his own disappointment and frustration about the contemporary value system. So it is certainly very interesting to examine his play Lady Windermere’s Fan in regard to social and moral views.

1. Good and Bad

One of the central topics is the theme “What is good and what is bad ?”, which is echoed in the subtitle A Play about a Good Woman.

1.1.Characterisation Techniques (1) : Lady Windermere the “Good” Woman

Right at the beginning, the reader or the audience is confronted with Lady Windermere. Wilde uses three characterisation techniques in order to create her picture. Explicit figural-characterisation works together with explicit and implicit self-characterisation: So on the one hand, many things are said (for example that she is a lady (compare Wilde:1999,page 5,line 12))by other characters, i.e. her servant, Lord Darlington or Lord Windermere. So you get a number of information about her via the explicit figuralcharacterisation. But she characterises herself furthermore explicitly: Saying “Well ,I have something of the Puritan in me. I was brought up like that. I am glad of it.(…)” (p.9,l.73-75) enlarge the knowledge about her. And besides, our sympathies are also directed by the way she talks, the way she acts, the way she looks, etc. These factors of implicit self-characterisation enforce the impression you get from what is said.So Wilde uses three totally different perspectives to guide the sympathy: the opinion of the other characters’, her own view of herself and finally the estimation of the audience itself. All in all, everything that you get to know about her at the beginning of the play is highly positive: she shares Puritan values, is a young, beautiful, married lady and moreover a “good woman”. A person everyone would like. And furthermore, her values are very strict. She does not even want Lord Darlington to make her compliments, for example.

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1 Ian Small, “Introduction,” Ian Small (ed.), Lady Windermere’s Fan. A Play About a Good Woman (London: New Mermaids,1999) xiv/xv.