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   janeyb

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   Surprisingly, the Victorian society was one budding with feminism. Although clearly woman were not considered the equals they are today, during the Victorian age woman started to assert themselves, especially well read, educated women. Oscar Wilde supported the feminist movement, he even edited a magazine called The Woman's world, which published articles on each side of the suffrage issue. The suffrage issue gained huge momentum during this time. You can see, by Wilde's writing, however, that the pervasive view of women who only gossiped and waited to get married, still existed. In Lady Winderemere's fan, look at Agatha. However, Wilde offsets this by how ridiculous he makes them. He makes the play a hypocrisy. Both the women and the men do not escape this. However, the difference between them can be seen in the different reaction to affairs in the society. Look at the reaction when it is thought that Lord Windermere is having an affair. The Duchess tells Lady Winderemere to ignore it, and that all men have their own "dalliances." However, when it is thought that Mrs. Erlynne is at the house of another man (even though she has only been engaged for an hour) her honor is ruined forever, and she has to leave London.

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   Posted by janeyb on Friday April 27, 2007 at 8:45 AM