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Lady Windermere's Fan | Introduction

Lady Windermere’s Fan was Oscar Wilde’s first produced play, and it was an instant success on the London stage. Chronicling a series of misunderstandings and deceptions in the high society world of Victorian London, critics and audiences alike were charmed by Wilde’s trademark wit and intelligence.

In the play, Lady Windermere considers leaving her husband of two years when she believes he’s been unfaithful with a woman—who turns out to be her own mother. Remarkably, it will be the mother who sets her straight without ever revealing her identity.

In his letters, Wilde claimed that he did not want the play to be viewed as ‘‘a mere question of pantomime and clowning’’; he was interested in the piece as a psychological study. Although the play has been deemed outdated by recent critics, Lady Windermere’s Fan continues to entertain audiences all over the world.

Lady Windermere's Fan Summary

Act I
The play opens in Lady Margaret Windermere’s home, where she is arranging roses for a party later that evening in celebration of her birthday. Lord Darlington visits, and Margaret chides him for flirting with her. He contends that a woman whose husband of two years is unfaithful has a right to ‘‘console herself.’’

Lady Windermere fails to recognize his oblique reference to her husband, and calls herself a Puritan with ‘‘hard and fast rules’’ for fidelity. Lord Darlington continues to flirt with her, but she ignores him.

He leaves and the Duchess of Berwick and her daughter, Lady Agatha Carlisle, enter. The Duchess cattily reports that Lord Windermere has been spending time and money on a Mrs. Erlynne, whose social status is questionable. The Duchess admits that her own husband has had his ‘‘little aberrations,’’ and assumes all men are immoral.

Yet the Duchess is anxious to marry off her daughter Agatha, saying ‘‘a mother who doesn’t part with a daughter every season has no real affection.’’

After they depart, Lady Windermere looks through her husband’s desk and discovers payments to Mrs. Erlynne in his secret bankbook. When he comes in and finds her looking at it, he gets angry. He demands that his wife invite Mrs. Erlynne to their party in order to help the woman back into society. Lady Windermere flatly refuses.

He addresses an invitation to Mrs. Erlynne himself. Outraged, Lady Windermere threatens to hit the infamous woman with her new birthday fan when she arrives. Lord Windermere protests and she storms offstage.

As the curtain drops, he agonizes over what to do about the situation. Apparently there is something to his relationship with Mrs. Erlynne, for he groans ‘‘I dare not tell her who this woman really is. The shame would kill her.’’

Act II
The Windermere’s party is in full swing, and the guests are being announced. The Duchess of Berwick has advised Agatha to dance with Mr. Hopper of Australia, a prospective suitor.

Lord Augustus Lorton, brother of the Duchess, asks Lord Windermere how Mrs. Erlynne can gain respectability. It seems that Lorton hopes to marry her. He is reassured by her invitation to tonight’s ball, for it paves her way into ‘‘this demmed thing called society.’’

Mrs. Erlynne appears... » Complete Lady Windermere's Fan Summary