Lady Windermere's Fan
Lady Windermere's Fan, A Play About a Good Woman is a four-act comedy by Oscar Wilde, first performed on Saturday, 20 February 1892, at the St James's Theatre in London.
By the summer of 1891 Wilde had already written three plays: Vera; or, The Nihilists and The Duchess of Padua had found little success, and Salome had yet to be staged.
[2] Wilde began writing the play at the prodding of George Alexander, the actor manager of St James's Theatre.
[6] These continued after the opening night when, at the suggestion of both friends and Alexander, Wilde made changes to reveal Mrs Erlynne's relationship with Lady Windermere gradually throughout the play, rather than reserving the secret for the final act.
There is an extant manuscript of the play held in the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library at the University of California, Los Angeles.
It is tea time and Lady Windermere—who is preparing for her coming of age birthday ball that evening—has a visit from a friend, Lord Darlington.
She explains to Lord Darlington that she is upset over the compliments he continues to pay to her, revealing that she has very particular views about what is acceptable in society, due in part to her somewhat Puritan upbringing.
The Duchess informs Lady Windermere that her husband may be betraying her marriage by making repeated visits to another woman, a Mrs Erlynne, and possibly giving her large sums of money.
While reading the note, a brief monologue reveals that she is in fact Lady Windermere's mother and made a similar mistake herself twenty years previously.
Mrs Erlynne finally breaks Lady Windermere's resistance by imploring her to return for the sake of her young child, but as they begin to exit they hear Lord Darlington entering with friends.
One of them takes notice of a fan lying on a table (Lady Windermere's) and presumes that Lord Darlington presently has a woman visiting.
I am so sorry.The next day, Lady Windermere is lying on the couch of the morning room anxious about whether to tell her husband what actually happened, or whether Mrs Erlynne will have already betrayed her secret.
Mrs Erlynne's arrival is announced along with the return of the fan, and despite her husband's protestations, Lady Windermere insists on seeing her.
Lady Windermere, taking her husband's hand, to Lord Augustus: "Ah, you're marrying a very good woman!
and appeared before the curtains after the third act, critics were more offended by the cigarette in his hand than his ironically egotistic speech: Ladies and Gentlemen.
[10] Mrs Erlynne was originated by Marion Terry, and Lady Windermere by Lily Hanbury, who was succeeded after a few performances by Winifred Emery.
[13] Peter Raby has also highlighted Lady Windermere's Fan as a good example of Wilde's most successful dramatic technique: the juxtaposition of the comic and the serious.
[14] Scholar Paul Fortunato describes Oscar Wilde as a modernist, who used his modern aesthetics so as to direct him into the realm of mass culture.
Wilde's huge popularity as a playwright began with his production of Lady Windermere's Fan, his recherché attitude and personal aesthetics reflected in his writing.
Fortunato elaborates on the facets of his aestheticism—an aestheticism that distorts and lies on the surface, rejects any notion of an authentic self, and centres on the female aesthete and woman of fashion.
The fan that strings together the play's scenes simultaneously evokes a traditional symbol of modesty while revealing a truly modern current of infidelity.
