which England went back to having a monarchy in the 17th century).

The following characteristics are evident from this type of work:

a) An upper-class setting such as it is in the case of the Windermeres.

b) A tendency to ridicule the upper-class men or upper-class women who consider themselves better than the rest (The Duchess of Berwick being portrayed as a dominant gossip girl, Lord Goring's father portrayed as feeble, Agatha portrayed as meek)

c) Clever dialogue- This is Wilde's signature style, where he offers a repertoire of epigrams and paradoxes using as his mouthpiece the charming dandy, Lord Goring.

d) The exploration of dynamics and relationships between men and women- This is the most salient characteristic of Wilde's play and is seen clearly not only between Lord and Lady Windermere, but between Mr. Hopper and Agatha, The Duke and Duchess of Berwick (she openly talks about their dysfunctional relationship), Lord Augustus Lorton and Mrs. Erlynne, and even Lady Plymdale and Mr. Dumby.

These four traits compose the backbone of the comedy of manners. This is Wilde's favorite genre and a most successful conduit to give the best of his witticisms.

In many ways, Lady Windermere's Fan  by Oscar Wilde is a drawing room comedy, i.e. a witty play set in the drawing rooms and ball rooms of the houses of the upper middle class and the rich. It has the upper class characters engaging in complex extra-marital relationships, the witty repartee, the hidden/mistaken identity themes, significant prop, people hiding behind doors and curtains and many of the other characteristic features of the earlier genre of Restoration comedy or the French pièce bien faite of Scribe and Sardou. Because it occurs in polite society with characters who are very concerned with social appearances, it is sometimes also referred to as a "comedy of manners".

In Lady Windermere's Fan, love is self-sacrificing above all. Mrs. Erlynne is the most loving character in the play, giving up the chance to be in her daughter's life by keeping their true relationship a secret. When Lady Windermere almost runs away with Lord Darlington in order to spite her husband, who she mistakenly believes is having an affair with Mrs. Erlynne, Mrs. Erlynne gets her daughter to reconsider. And then, when Lord Windermere sees Lady Windermere's misplaced fan in Darlington's parlor, Mrs. Erlynne pretends she herself had left it there. In doing this, she essentially destroys her own fragile reputation to save her child's.

The ironic part about Mrs. Erlynne being the most loving character is that by the standards of Victorian society, she would be considered deplorable due to her past as an adulteress who left her husband and child behind. Even by modern standards, she can come off as amoral in some of her behavior, such as her blackmailing Lord Windermere to receive money from him. The audience might not expect such a person capable of self-sacrifice or love, but during the climax, Mrs. Erlynne rises to the occasion with grace and redeems herself—not in the eyes of society, as one might expect in a traditional melodrama in which "love conquers all," but in private, where only Lady Windermere will ever be able to appreciate what she has done.