Victorian England was puritan and it stressed self-discipline, patriotism, family,
sexual morality, work and capitalism. There was a predominant inequality in the
treatment of the genders; women were discriminated against in many fields of social
life.
Especially women of the upper and middle classes were not expected to be in
employment but to marry and to rear the children. They had an extremely restricted
choice of occupation as many professions refused entry to them, for example
becoming doctors or bankers represented an impossibility. According to Professor
George Peter Landow1, the range of female occupation facilities generally did not go
beyond domestic servant, dressmaker and milliner, factory worker, governess or
teacher, member of religious order, nurse, writer or prostitute. Usually, female labour
consisted only of running the household and offering a pleasant family home to their
husbands.
Since they did not earn any money with the work as domestic servants who fulfil
their duties as housewives and mothers, women were eager to get married and
depended on their authoritarian husbands. Girls were brought up to ignore their
sexual feelings and to obey their spouse as the head of the family. The whole
education of young ladies focused on future marriage and the efforts of the season
were to achieve this particular aim. Normally, the parents found the suitable partner
for their child and they intervened in case of an undesirable liaison. In other terms,
they made the decisions for their daughters. They thought mainly in commercial
terms; the social status or the institution ´marriage´ itself seemed far more important
than the husband-to-be as a person. Society marriage could be seen as a mere
mercenary affair: “People did not marry for love so much as for the conveniences of
the families concerned; all marriages were in this sense “arranged”.” 2 [...]
1 George Peter Landow, Occupation and employment, Brown University, online,
available:http://Landow.stg.brown.edu/Victorian/gender/political.html, 20 August 2000.
2 Christopher Lasch, Divorce and the Family in America, November 1966, online,
available:http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/family/divorce.htm, 15 August 2000.
Table of Contents
A. Social inequalities in the Victorian Age
B. How is Wilde´s attitude shown in his play “Lady Windermere’s Fan” ?
I. Mrs. Erlynne - a fallen woman with a past
II. Lady Windermere - a young Puritan
III. Lord Darlington - the dandy
IV. Other characters
a) Lord Windermere - a typical Victorian husband
b) The Duchess of Berwick - the aristocracy
c) Lady Agatha –a stereotyped daughter
C. The rebel Oscar Wilde and an outcast on other Wildean society plays
Objectives and Thematic Focus
The primary objective of this academic paper is to examine how Oscar Wilde utilizes his play "Lady Windermere’s Fan" to express his critique of Victorian society, specifically targeting social inequalities and rigid moral hypocrisy. The author explores the dichotomy between the "fallen woman" and the "puritan," analyzing how these character archetypes reflect Wilde's own subversive stance against 19th-century conventionality.
- Analysis of gender-based social discrimination in the Victorian era.
- Examination of character development and the breaking of moral codes.
- Critique of the commodification of marriage and aristocratic materialism.
- The role of the "dandy" as a mouthpiece for individualistic rebellion.
- Exploration of Wilde's broader sociopolitical views as a committed feminist.
Excerpt from the Book
I. Mrs. Erlynne – a fallen woman with a past
The first protagonist I want to analyse is actually the true main character of the whole play. Mrs. Erlynne impersonates at first sight the typical “fallen woman” of the Victorian era. She is a beautiful, elegant, middle-aged woman who is the victim of mean gossip due to her dubious past. As the Duchess of Berwick puts it: “Many a woman has a past, but I am told that she has at least a dozen, and that they all fit. (…) Not that many ladies call on her, dear, but she has a great many disreputable men friends.” (p.20) For these reasons, Mrs. Erlynne has a bad and despicable reputation in English society and the women “are very down on her” (p.31) whereas the men are extremely attracted to her. On account of her past, she is considered to be “absolutely inadmissible into society.”(p.20)
Only the audience gets to know the true story of her sad life. “Mrs. Erlynne was once honoured, loved, respected. She was well born, she had position – she lost everything – threw it away” (p.25). Owing to a misunderstanding, she had left her husband and her little daughter about twenty years ago and she had lived abroad. This fatal mistake of her youth brought about her hard expulsion from society. By accident, the fallen woman heard about her child having married a rich man – Lord Windermere - and she decided to use this marriage as her stepping-stone back into English society. Now, she blackmails Lord Windermere by threatening that she will reveal her true identity in public. The young husband is afraid of a scandal and wants to spare his wife the bitter truth about her dead mother whom she expected to have died twenty years ago.
Summary of Chapters
A. Social inequalities in the Victorian Age: This chapter contextualizes the Victorian era by highlighting its puritanical nature, strict patriarchal structure, and the severe economic and social disadvantages faced by women.
B. How is Wilde´s attitude shown in his play “Lady Windermere’s Fan” ?: This core section provides a detailed character analysis, demonstrating how specific figures in the play embody or subvert the moral and social constraints of their time.
I. Mrs. Erlynne - a fallen woman with a past: This analysis focuses on the play’s central figure, exploring her role as a transgressive woman who challenges societal ostracism through wit and maternal transformation.
II. Lady Windermere - a young Puritan: This part examines the transformation of the title character from a rigid, narrow-minded moralist to a woman capable of nuance and forgiveness.
III. Lord Darlington - the dandy: This chapter highlights Lord Darlington as a cynical, witty commentator who represents the Wildean ideal of individualistic defiance against social hypocrisy.
IV. Other characters: This section covers secondary figures to illustrate the broader spectrum of Victorian aristocratic archetypes present in the play.
a) Lord Windermere - a typical Victorian husband: This analysis portrays him as a man striving to maintain the outward appearance of respectability and moral integrity, often at the cost of honesty.
b) The Duchess of Berwick - the aristocracy: This character is explored as a prototypical aristocratic gossip who enforces societal norms while simultaneously mocking the superficiality of her own class.
c) Lady Agatha –a stereotyped daughter: This chapter discusses the character of Agatha as a victim of her mother’s control, illustrating the lack of agency young women possessed in the Victorian marriage market.
C. The rebel Oscar Wilde and an outcast on other Wildean society plays: This concluding chapter synthesizes the findings to establish how the play serves as a profound, ironic critique of the English ruling class, comparing it to Wilde's other works.
Keywords
Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan, Victorian Society, Social Criticism, Fallen Woman, Dandy, Gender Inequality, Marriage Market, Moral Hypocrisy, Puritanism, Individualism, Feminism, Aristocracy, Social Ostracism, Character Archetypes
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this research paper?
The paper examines the social criticism embedded in Oscar Wilde’s play "Lady Windermere’s Fan," focusing on how the author highlights the flaws, hypocrisy, and rigid moral structures of the Victorian era.
What are the primary thematic fields covered in the work?
The study covers gender inequality, the economic nature of Victorian marriage, the contrast between "fallen women" and "puritans," and the role of the dandy in criticizing social conventions.
What is the main objective or research question?
The author aims to investigate how Wilde’s critical attitude towards society is manifested through his characters and how these figures reflect his desire for social reform and individual liberation.
Which methodology is applied in the paper?
The author uses a literary analysis approach, closely examining character development and dialogue in the play while grounding these observations in historical and sociological context through secondary critical literature.
What content is addressed in the main part of the work?
The main body consists of an analysis of individual characters, including Mrs. Erlynne, Lady Windermere, Lord Darlington, and other members of the Victorian aristocracy, to illustrate the play’s internal conflict between traditional values and individual rebellion.
Which keywords best characterize the work?
Key terms include Oscar Wilde, social criticism, Victorian era, gender inequality, the dandy, moral hypocrisy, and the struggle for individual rights against societal norms.
How does the author define the "dandy" in the context of this play?
The author views the dandy, particularly represented by Lord Darlington and the wit of Mrs. Erlynne, as a character who maintains a distance from society to comment ironically on its flaws while exposing the hypocrisy of its moral absolutism.
In what way does the paper describe Mrs. Erlynne’s evolution?
The paper portrays Mrs. Erlynne not merely as a "fallen woman," but as an agent of change who eventually undergoes a maternal awakening, sacrificing her reputation to save her daughter from the same social ruin she experienced.
- Quote paper
- Simone Conen (Author), 2000, Social criticism in Oscar Wilde´s Lady Windermere´s Fan, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/17672
