Lady Windermere. How do you do, Lord Darlington? My hands are all wet with these roses. They came up from Selby this morning. Lord Darlington. They are quite perfect. May I look at it? I have only just seen it myself. You know to-day is my birthday? That is why I am giving this party to-night. Do sit down. I would have covered the whole street in front of your house with flowers for you to walk on. They are made for you. Lord Darlington, you annoyed me last night at the Foreign Office.
I am afraid you are going to annoy me again. Put it there, Parker. That will do. You must tell me what I did. Well, you kept paying me elaborate compliments the whole evening. Ah, but I did mean them. I should be sorry to have to quarrel with you, Lord Darlington. I like you very much, you know that.
Believe me, you are better than most other men, and I sometimes think you pretend to be worse. We all have our little vanities, Lady Windermere.
Why do you make that your special one? Besides, there is this to be said. If you pretend to be good, the world takes you very seriously.
Such is the astounding stupidity of optimism. No, not the world. Who are the people the world takes seriously? All the dull people one can think of, from the Bishops down to the bores. I should like you to take me very seriously, Lady Windermere, you more than any one else in life.
Let us be great friends. You may want a friend some day. You think I am a Puritan, I suppose? Well, I have something of the Puritan in me. I was brought up like that. I am glad of it. My mother died when I was a mere child. She was stern to me, but she taught me what the world is forgetting, the difference that there is between what is right and what is wrong.
She allowed of no compromise. I allow of none. I should be sorry to be on the same level as an age like this. Nowadays people seem to look on life as a speculation. It is not a speculation. It is a sacrament. Its ideal is Love. Its purification is sacrifice.
The men want to know if they are to put the carpets on the terrace for to-night, my lady? Yes, I think she should—I think she has the right. Because the husband is vile—should the wife be vile also? Do you know I am afraid that good people do a great deal of harm in this world.
Certainly the greatest harm they do is that they make badness of such extraordinary importance. It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.
Now, Lord Darlington. Of course there is much against it, I admit. Most women, for instance, nowadays, are rather mercenary.
Well then, setting aside mercenary people, who, of course, are dreadful, do you think seriously that women who have committed what the world calls a fault should never be forgiven? And men? Do you think that there should be the same laws for men as there are for women?
I think life too complex a thing to be settled by these hard and fast rules. Ah, what a fascinating Puritan you are, Lady Windermere! The adjective was unnecessary, Lord Darlington. I can resist everything except temptation. Duchess of Berwick. As a wicked man I am a complete failure.
Why, there are lots of people who say I have never really done anything wrong in the whole course of my life.
Of course they only say it behind my back. Agatha, this is Lord Darlington. Such bad tea, too. It was quite undrinkable. Her own son-in-law supplies it. Agatha is looking forward so much to your ball to-night, dear Margaret. It is only a dance in honour of my birthday.
A small and early. But we know that , dear Margaret, about your house. It is really one of the few houses in London where I can take Agatha, and where I feel perfectly secure about dear Berwick. The most dreadful people seem to go everywhere. Really, some one should make a stand against it.
I will, Duchess. I will have no one in my house about whom there is any scandal. I should never be admitted! With women it is different. Some of us are, at least. But we are positively getting elbowed into the corner. The odd trick? Is that the husband, Lord Darlington? It would be rather a good name for the modern husband. Dear Lord Darlington, how thoroughly depraved you are! Why do you talk so trivially about life, then? Because I think that life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about it.
What does he mean? Do, as a concession to my poor wits, Lord Darlington, just explain to me what you really mean. Nowadays to be intelligible is to be found out. Do let me come. But you are not to say foolish, insincere things to people. It is a dangerous thing to reform any one, Lady Windermere.
I like him so much. Where do you get your gowns? And now I must tell you how sorry I am for you, dear Margaret. Will you go and look over the photograph album that I see there? Dear girl! She is so fond of photographs of Switzerland. Such a pure taste, I think. But I really am so sorry for you, Margaret.
Oh, on account of that horrid woman. She dresses so well, too, which makes it much worse, sets such a dreadful example. Augustus—you know my disreputable brother—such a trial to us all—well, Augustus is completely infatuated about her. It is quite scandalous, for she is absolutely inadmissible into society. Many a woman has a past, but I am told that she has at least a dozen, and that they all fit. I never heard of her, Duchess. And what has she to do with me? Will you go out on the terrace and look at the sunset?
Sweet girl! So devoted to sunsets! Shows such refinement of feeling, does it not? After all, there is nothing like Nature, is there? But what is it, Duchess? Why do you talk to me about this person? My husband—what has he got to do with any woman of that kind? Ah, what indeed, dear? That is the point. He goes to see her continually, and stops for hours at a time, and while he is there she is not at home to any one.
Not that many ladies call on her, dear, but she has a great many disreputable men friends—my own brother particularly, as I told you—and that is what makes it so dreadful about Windermere.
We looked upon him as being such a model husband, but I am afraid there is no doubt about it. And they tell me that Windermere goes there four and five times a week—they see him.
And the worst of it all is that I have been told that this woman has got a great deal of money out of somebody, for it seems that she came to London six months ago without anything at all to speak of, and now she has this charming house in Mayfair, drives her ponies in the Park every afternoon and all—well, all—since she has known poor dear Windermere. The whole of London knows it. I assure you, my dear, that on several occasions after I was first married, I had to pretend to be very ill, and was obliged to drink the most unpleasant mineral waters, merely to get Berwick out of town.
He was so extremely susceptible. Though I am bound to say he never gave away any large sums of money to anybody. He is far too high-principled for that! Our child is but six months old. Ah, the dear pretty baby! How is the little darling? Is it a boy or a girl? Boys are so wicked. My boy is excessively immoral. Oh, all of them, my dear, all of them, without any exception. And they never grow any better. Men become old, but they never become good. Yes, we begin like that.
In fact, before the honeymoon was over, I caught him winking at my maid, a most pretty, respectable girl. I dismissed her at once without a character.
But it did, though—it was most unfortunate. It is very kind of you, Duchess, to come and tell me all this. Pretty child! I was like that once. Now I know that all men are monsters. A good cook does wonders, and that I know you have. My dear Margaret, you are not going to cry? Crying is the refuge of plain women but the ruin of pretty ones. Agatha, darling! Lady Agatha. Come and bid good-bye to Lady Windermere, and thank her for your charming visit. His father made a great fortune by selling some kind of food in circular tins—most palatable, I believe—I fancy it is the thing the servants always refuse to eat.
But the son is quite interesting. Good-bye, once more; come, Agatha. How horrible! I understand now what Lord Darlington meant by the imaginary instance of the couple not two years married. I know where Arthur keeps his bank book—in one of the drawers of that desk.
I might find out by that. I will find out. He loves me! But why should I not look? I am his wife, I have a right to look! As he does so , starts and takes out another book. Sees paper knife on bureau , and with it cuts cover from book. Begins to start at the first page. It is true! Lord Windermere. Well, dear, has the fan been sent home yet? Sees book. You have no right to do such a thing!
I think it wrong that a wife should spy on her husband. I did not spy on you. Some one who pitied me was kind enough to tell me what every one in London knows already—your daily visits to Curzon Street, your mad infatuation, the monstrous sums of money you squander on this infamous woman! I wish you had been as jealous of mine. Your honour is untouched, Margaret. I think that you spend your money strangely. That is all. As far as I am concerned, you may squander everything we have.
But what I do mind is that you who have loved me, you who have taught me to love you, should pass from the love that is given to the love that is bought. I feel stained, utterly stained. I never loved any one in the whole world but you. Why do you take a house for her? You gave her the money to do it, which is the same thing. Margaret, as far as I have known Mrs. Her husband died many years ago. She is alone in the world.
Erlynne, she has conducted herself well. If years ago—. I tell you simply this—Mrs. Erlynne was once honoured, loved, respected. She was well born, she had position—she lost everything—threw it away, if you like. That makes it all the more bitter. Misfortunes one can endure—they come from outside, they are accidents. It was twenty years ago, too.
She was little more than a girl then. She had been a wife for even less time than you have. I am not interested in her—and—you should not mention this woman and me in the same breath. It is an error of taste. Margaret, you could save this woman. She wants to get back into society, and she wants you to help her. How impertinent of her! Margaret, I came to ask you a great favour, and I still ask it of you, though you have discovered what I had intended you should never have known that I have given Mrs.
Erlynne a large sum of money. I want you to send her an invitation for our party to-night. I entreat you. She has been to several houses—not to houses where you would go, I admit, but still to houses where women who are in what is called Society nowadays do go. That does not content her. She wants you to receive her once. No; but because she knows that you are a good woman—and that if she comes here once she will have a chance of a happier, a surer life than she has had.
She will make no further effort to know you. If a woman really repents, she never wishes to return to the society that has made or seen her ruin. Arthur [ going to him C. You are wrong, I have friends, many friends. Erlynne to-night. Ah, Margaret, do this for my sake; it is her last chance. Why should you be different from other men?
I am told that there is hardly a husband in London who does not waste his life over some shameful passion. You are sure in your heart. God knows the last few minutes have thrust us wide enough apart. Sit down and write the card. You are going to invite this woman? Enter Parker. Have this note sent to Mrs. Erlynne at No. Arthur, if that woman comes here, I shall insult her.
There is not a good woman in London who would not applaud me. We have been too lax. We must make an example. I propose to begin to-night. If that woman crosses my threshold, I shall strike her across the face with it. I shall dine in my own room. See that everything is ready by half-past ten. And, Parker, be sure you pronounce the names of the guests very distinctly to-night.
Sometimes you speak so fast that I miss them. I am particularly anxious to hear the names quite clearly, so as to make no mistake. You understand, Parker? From this moment my life is separate from yours. But if you wish to avoid a public scandal, write at once to this woman, and tell her that I forbid her to come here! I will not—I cannot—she must come! Then I shall do exactly as I have said. What shall I do? I dare not tell her who this woman really is. The shame would kill her.
Door R. Door L. Palms , flowers , and brilliant lights. Room crowded with guests. Lady Windermere is receiving them. Hopper is very late, too. You have kept those five dances for him, Agatha? You dear simple little thing! It looks so fast! The last two dances you might pass on the terrace with Mr.
Dumby and Lady Plymdale from the ball-room. Lady Stutfield. Sir James Royston. Guy Berkeley. Good evening, Lady Stutfield. I suppose this will be the last ball of the season? I suppose so, Mr. Quite delightful! Good evening, Duchess. Good evening, Mr. Oh, I think not. Lady Jedburgh and Miss Graham. How do you do, Lady Windermere? How do you do, Duchess? Dear Mr. Hopper, how nice of you to come so early. We all know how you are run after in London. Capital place, London! They are not nearly so exclusive in London as they are in Sydney.
We wish there were more like you. It would make life so much easier. Do you know, Mr. Hopper, dear Agatha and I are so much interested in Australia. It must be so pretty with all the dear little kangaroos flying about. Agatha has found it on the map. What a curious shape it is! Just like a large packing case. How clever you are, Mr. You have a cleverness quite of your own. Well, I hope she has a dance left. Have you a dance left, Agatha? May I have the pleasure? Mind you take great care of my little chatterbox, Mr.
Hopper pass into ball-room. Sir James, will you take me into the ball-room? Augustus has been dining with us to-night. I really have had quite enough of dear Augustus for the moment. Arthur Bowden. Lord and Lady Paisley. Lord Augustus. None of us men do look what we really are. Demmed good thing, too. What I want to know is this.
Who is she? Where does she come from? Demmed nuisance, relations! But they make one so demmed respectable. You are talking of Mrs. Erlynne, I suppose?
I only met her six months ago. Till then, I never knew of her existence. I have just seen her. I have been dining with Arabella this evening! By Jove! But, look here, dear boy. I might be married to her; she treats me with such demmed indifference. She explains everything. She has got any amount of explanations for you—and all of them different.
No explanations are necessary about my friendship with Mrs. Well, look here, dear old fellow. Do you think she will ever get into this demmed thing called Society? Would you introduce her to your wife? No use beating about the confounded bush. Would you do that? It would have saved me a heap of worry and demmed misunderstandings!
Hopper cross and exit on terrace L. Cecil Graham. I like people to ask me how I am. It shows a wide-spread interest in my health.
Now, to-night I am not at all well. Been dining with my people. My father would talk morality after dinner. I told him he was old enough to know better. Hallo, Tuppy! By the way, Tuppy, which is it? You won't be sorry. I listened to the audio recording with Juliet Stevenson.
What a treat! Highly recommended. View all 32 comments. Oct 05, Sawsan rated it liked it. A combination of drama and humor as usual, Wilde criticizes appearances and social hypocrisy of the aristocratic society and the different view of actions of men and women and the most important point about the harsh judgments of people over others while it's so normal for the human nature to fluctuates between right and wrong this play was published at A combination of drama and humor as usual, Wilde criticizes appearances and social hypocrisy of the aristocratic society and the different view of actions of men and women and the most important point about the harsh judgments of people over others while it's so normal for the human nature to fluctuates between right and wrong this play was published at Aug 20, Nora Kovacs rated it it was amazing.
This is my favourite Oscar Wilde play. I loved this play even before I read it. The fantastic film adaptation, The Good Woman, has been one of my favourite movies.
After reading the play, I can appreciate how perfect the casting is even more. Helen Hunt as Mrs. There aren't many things in this world that I dislike more then verbal compliments. There are many ways to show appreciation, love or admiration and I think if the best you can do is utter a few meaningless words, you better just shut up. Nov 20, Jasmine rated it really liked it Shelves: fiction , classics , victorian , in-english , plays , To shut one's eyes to half of life that one may live securely is as though one blinded oneself that one might walk with more safety in a land of pit and precipice.
Oscar Wilde is my favorite author of all time, and this play in four acts is as delightful as I expected. It is short, but packed with nuances and insight. It put a huge smile on my face, for hours. Apr 07, Loretta rated it really liked it Shelves: myreading-challenge , plays , classic , april Many Goodread members classify Lady Windermere's Fan as a comedy and although there are definitely some witty parts, you know the Oscar Wilde wit, but I found the play to be more of a drama.
Slightly disappointed that I figured out who Mrs. Erlynne was before I got to the end and what part she really played. Four stars.
Feb 21, Fenia rated it it was amazing Shelves: favorite-classics. Oscar Wilde is a genius! This was so realistic, there was so much wisdom pouring out of it.
It was entertaining and short, straight forward, full of cherished quotes. Loved it! Lady Windermere's Fan is classified as a Comedy of Manners, and while there are certainly humorous elements present in the usual clever Wilde manner, I would contend that there is more of drama here than comedy.
The story at the base of this play is quite serious. The subject of the ease with which a person particularly a woman could be ruined and expelled from society something that Wilde, even as a man, knew something of is a serious topic for Wilde. The instinctive love of a mother is a s Lady Windermere's Fan is classified as a Comedy of Manners, and while there are certainly humorous elements present in the usual clever Wilde manner, I would contend that there is more of drama here than comedy.
The instinctive love of a mother is a serious topic for me. As is so often Wilde's technique, there is much misunderstanding and confusion that leads characters to do foolish or socially dangerous things. Erlynne might be a bad woman, but she does a very good thing; Lady Windermere prides herself on being a good woman, but she does a very bad thing. Perhaps the lines are not that clear or delineated. I particularly enjoy the progress that Lady Windermere makes in her thinking by the end of the play.
I also enjoy the contrivance in which we, the audience, share in a secret that the Lady does not know. Plays are meant to be seen, not read. I have never had the privilege of seeing this play produced, but in a movie was made based on this play entitled "A Good Woman" and starring Helen Hunt. If you have not seen it, it is worth seeking out. I think Oscar Wilde would be proud. View all 8 comments. Nov 23, Liam rated it really liked it Shelves: of-plays , on-gender , on-manhood.
Video Review I grew up with a girl who wrote love letters to a prisoner during our teens, and during this period she told me on rough days that "We're all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars". We drew a lot of optimism and strength from that quote. It stopped her dropping out of school, it stopped me dropping out of friendships. We knew Oscar Wilde wrote it, but we weren't sure where it came from.
And then I just forgot about it, books took a backseat, growing up was hectic. More than a decade later, I'm considering quoting this in my PhD thesis. And so I looked it up and found it was in Lady Windermere's Fan.
Lady Windermere's Fan is a pretty fantastic and enjoyable play, as you'd imagine from Wilde. It is quite silly, but less so than most comedies, and is full of tension and painful dramatic irony.
He called a character Dumby, so it's a light jest of a play. But the quote is so much different than I thought. It's not about optimism at all! It's a response to a bunch of drunk men talking about what women want. He is declaring all men are immoral but love makes them long to be better.
It isn't that women want a man to be bad and good, it's that a woman's love reforms a man. The gutter is a moral one not a miserable one, and the star is a lover not happiness. Women don't want men to change, they don't need to.
They know that a man that loves them will change for the better, and that most men are capable of changing for the better. It's not one-sided, it's cooperation. Society keeps men down so that they can be raised, through love. And with this recognition, it has sexualized what was this innocently motivating aphorism I've had in my head for over a decade. I'm still processing it, I feel like I've been lied to by my own ignorance.
That's psychological development for you. Funny enough, to date, GoodReads users have liked this cherished quote, but only GoodReads users have rated this book with less than reviews total. This means that more than half of the people who like this quote have never actually read it in its very different context!
My sympathies in advance for those of you who reach the awareness that what you were hanging onto were misinterpretations, but it happens to us all at some point. But one thing that's obvious to me now, is that even if social justice didn't float your boat, there's a very good practical, self-centred reason for reading diversely.
Oscar Wilde dissects problems with heterosexual relationships and marriage in a way heterosexual writers simply couldn't, even if censorship wasn't an issue, due to them being biased and part of the problem. How many heterosexual men write about good women in a way that is believable and unbiased, and vice-versa?
Is it impossible for men and women to be friends, as this play suggests? But our best hope and identifying and reforming bad elements like this will be be through the eyes of 'others'. We learn so much more from people different from us, that the differences themselves are never as important as the amount we can learn from working together.
And frankly, our diversity also extends to the realm of humour. Life is also just funnier reading diversely, because Oscar Wilde can make jokes no sane heterosexual would dare to, and it probably wouldn't be as funny even if they had the charisma for it. So yes, this play is light, true, serious and fun. It's jokingly provocative. It's light satire that calls for decency. That's more than a play needs to be, really.
Jul 30, Duane rated it really liked it Shelves: book-challenge , english-calssics , rated-books , plays-theater , reviewed-books. I think these classic plays are better enjoyed on stage than by reading. That seems so obvious that it seems silly to say. But the problem for most of us is, we haven't seen them on stage and probably won't.
There is enough going on in this play though to make it a fun read. I use the word fun rather loosely because, even though it is a comedy, it doesn't seem like one to me. Maybe that is one of the things lost in reading versus watching, I don't know. I think it's a subtle style of humor that I think these classic plays are better enjoyed on stage than by reading. It felt more like a drama to me. But it has stood the test of time, performed first in London in , and throughout the world during the 20th century, with a major production as late as at the Harmen Center in Washington D.
Beyond the appreciation level, my meager vocabulary could ever achieve! Jun 30, Vanessa J. Well, it seems that my liking of Wilde's works follows a graphic like this one: I am not kidding you. Every time I read another play, I think it's better than the one I read before. Perhaps I'm reading them in some particular order unknown to me, or my opinion is starting to get biased. In any case, I enjoyed this immensely. This one involves more drama and problems than the plays I read previous to this one.
It has a jealous wife, there's blackmailing, there are some misunderstood things that lea Well, it seems that my liking of Wilde's works follows a graphic like this one: I am not kidding you.
It has a jealous wife, there's blackmailing, there are some misunderstood things that lead to more problems, etc. In short, it was brilliant. My favourite of these plays keeps being The Importance of Being Earnest , even when I said my enjoyment for them has been growing exponentially. In the end, I recommend this wholeheartedly. It's really funny, cynical, satirical and easy to read. There's none of that complex or dense writing that characterizes many Victorian works. Plus, it's written by the one and only Oscar Wilde.
Need I say more? They're the only things we can pay. If you pretend to be bad, it doesn't. Such is the astounding stupidity of optimism. It is wrong for a wife to remain with a man who so dishonors her. History is merely gossip. But scandal is gossip made tedious by morality. Now I never moralize. A man who moralizes is usually a hypocrite, and a woman who moralizes is invariably plain.
They wound, but they are better. Jun 05, Katarina rated it it was amazing Shelves: plays. So much drama, so much fun. Mar 10, Laura Cooper rated it really liked it Shelves: a-level-english , plays. Derrida, but satirical. Mar 17, itsdanixx rated it it was amazing Shelves: classics , publisheds , britain-ireland , male-author , humour-satire , plays-screenplays. Now this is more like it! I loved this one. Charm and humour galore, as well as drama and excitement. Apr 12, WhatIReallyRead rated it it was amazing Shelves: classics , funny , great-writing , fiction , freebie , owned-ebook , play , read-in-english , e-book.
This is the second play by Oscar Wilde I've ever read. And again, it is beautifully and brilliantly written. Here we have the patent Wilde wit, depth of observation, and humor.
It's a delight to read. Well, that is no business of yours, is it, Cecil? That is why it interests me. My own business always bores me to death. Lady Windermere does not want to leave without seeing Mrs. Erlynne to thank her, but Lord Windermere does not want them to meet because he fears Mrs. Erlynne will reveal her relationship to his wife. Erlynne arrives at the house and speaks to both Lord and Lady Windermere, asking Lady Windermere for a photo of her to take since she is going away.
She alludes to a connection by noting that they have the same Christian name when she asks if Lady Windermere will also give her the fan Lord Windermere recently gave her as a present. However, she does not reveal that she is Lady Windermere's mother. She leaves with Lord Augustus who comes back and announces that they are going to be married. Was Mrs Erylnne's decisions right?
Act II shows just how quickly social relationships can change. Because the guests at Lady Windermere's party believe she invited Mrs. Erlynne, they start to give Mrs. Erlynne a chance. Erlynne uses her own devices as well to quickly work her Lady Windermere's Fan as a satire?
Wilde's satirical prowess can be seen in Lady Windermere's Fan through the play's focus on gossip, social status, gender politics, morality, and secrecy. The play had a positive popular reception but critics had a strongly negative reaction,
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