Lady Windermere's Fan — Reading Companion

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In Category - Historical Psychological Social Fiction

Authors: Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 1997 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Marriage -- Drama; Mothers and daughters -- Drama; Aristocracy (Social class) -- Drama Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 23,648

Reading time 103 min

Text sections 3

This digital edition of Lady Windermere's Fan — Reading Companion is described by source-level measurements including 23,648 words, 1 hr 43 min estimated reading time, and 3 detected text sections.

The text analysis averages about 9.6 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Marriage -- Drama,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #790

Oscar Wilde's 1892 play about a woman's reputation, a hidden mother, and a fan that becomes a symbol of suspicion. The excerpts reveal a tense confrontation in Act III and a wife's desperate letter, but the catalog subjects 'marriage' and 'mothers and daughters' are only partially borne out by the available text.

Editorial Edition Score 4.5/5

★★★★★ ★★★★★

Calculated from edition completeness, EPUB availability, text structure and catalogue metadata. Not a user rating.

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Description quality20 pts
Title & short description10 pts
Source metadata20 pts
Text length15 pts
Chapters / structure15 pts
EPUB file integrity20 pts

Total of 100 points, scaled to a 2.5-5.0 range. Editions with an empty description or a missing EPUB file are not scored.

Edition quality

File: pg790

Read the Text

LADY WINDERMERE’S FAN

A PLAY ABOUT A GOOD WOMAN

METHUEN & CO. LTD. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON

_First Published_ _1893_ _First Issued by Methuen & Co. Ltd._ (_Limited Editions on _1908_ Hand-made Paper and Japanese Vellum_) _February_ _Third Edition_ (_F’cap_ 8_vo_, 5_s._ _net_) _September_ _1909_ _Fourth Edition_ (5_s._ _net_) _June_ _1910_ _Fifth Edition_ (_F’cap_ 8_vo_, 1_s._ _net_) _November 3rd_ _1911_ _Sixth Edition_ (1_s._ _net_) _November_ _1911_ _Eighth Edition_ (1_s._ _net_) _1912_, _Ninth and Tenth Editions_ (1_s._ _net_) _1913_, _Eleventh Edition_ (1_s._ _net_) _1914_, _Twelfth Edition_ (1_s._ _net_) _1915_, _Thirteenth Edition_ (1_s._ _net_) _1916_, _Fourteenth and Fifteenth Edition_ (1_s._ _net_) _1917_ _Sixteenth Edition_ (5_s._ _net_) _1917_

_The literary and dramatic rights of_ “_Lady Windermere’s Fan_” _belong to Sir George Alexander_, _by arrangement with whom this play is included in this edition_. _The acting version_ (_Samuel French_) _does not contain the complete text_.

TO THE DEAR MEMORY OF ROBERT EARL OF LYTTON IN AFFECTION AND ADMIRATION

THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY

The Duchess of Berwick

THE SCENES OF THE PLAY

ACT I. _Morning-room in Lord Windermere’s house_. ACT II. _Drawing-room in Lord Windermere’s house_. ACT III. _Lord Darlington’s rooms_. ACT IV. _Same as Act I._ TIME: _The Present_. PLACE: _London_.

_The action of the play takes place within twenty-four hours_, _beginning on a Tuesday afternoon at five o’clock_, _and ending the next day at_ 1.30 _p.m._

LONDON: ST. JAMES’S THEATRE

_Lessee and Manager_: _Mr. George Alexander_ _February_ 22_nd_, 1892.

LORD WINDERMERE _Mr. George Alexander_. LORD DARLINGTON _Mr. Nutcombe Gould_. LORD AUGUSTUS LORTON _Mr. H. H. Vincent_. MR. CECIL GRAHAM _Mr. Ben Webster_. MR. DUMBY _Mr. Vane-Tempest_. MR. HOPPER _Mr. Alfred Holles_. PARKER (_Butler_) _Mr. V. Sansbury_. LADY WINDERMERE _Miss Lily Hanbury_. THE DUCHESS OF BERWICK _Miss Fanny Coleman_. LADY AGATHA CARLISLE _Miss Laura Graves_. LADY PLYMDALE _Miss Granville_. LADY JEDBURGH _Miss B. Page_. LADY STUTFIELD _Miss Madge Girdlestone_. MRS. COWPER-COWPER _Miss A. de Winton_. MRS. ERLYNNE _Miss Marion Terry_. ROSALIE (_Maid_) _Miss Winifred Dolan_.

_Morning-room of Lord Windermere’s house in Carlton House Terrace_. _Doors C. and R. Bureau with books and papers R._ _Sofa with small tea-table L._ _Window opening on to terrace L._ _Table R._

[LADY WINDERMERE _is at table R._, _arranging roses in a blue bowl_.]

PARKER. Is your ladyship at home this afternoon?

LADY WINDERMERE. Yes—who has called?

PARKER. Lord Darlington, my lady.

LADY WINDERMERE. [_Hesitates for a moment_.] Show him up—and I’m at home to any one who calls.

PARKER. Yes, my lady.

LADY WINDERMERE. It’s best for me to see him before to-night. I’m glad he’s come.

[_Enter_ PARKER _C._]

PARKER. Lord Darlington,

[_Enter_ LORD DARLINGTON _C._]

LORD DARLINGTON. How do you do, Lady Windermere?

LADY WINDERMERE. How do you do, Lord Darlington? No, I can’t shake hands with you. My hands are all wet with these roses. Aren’t they lovely? They came up from Selby this morning.

LORD DARLINGTON. They are quite perfect. [_Sees a fan lying on the table_.] And what a wonderful fan! May I look at it?

LADY WINDERMERE. Do. Pretty, isn’t it! It’s got my name on it, and everything. I have only just seen it myself. It’s my husband’s birthday present to me. You know to-day is my birthday?

LORD DARLINGTON. No? Is it really?

LADY WINDERMERE. Yes, I’m of age to-day. Quite an important day in my life, isn’t it? That is why I am giving this party to-night. Do sit down. [_Still arranging flowers_.]

LORD DARLINGTON. [_Sitting down_.] I wish I had known it was your birthday, Lady Windermere. I would have covered the whole street in front of your house with flowers for you to walk on. They are made for you.

LADY WINDERMERE. Lord Darlington, you annoyed me last night at the Foreign Office. I am afraid you are going to annoy me again.

LORD DARLINGTON. I, Lady Windermere?

[_Enter_ PARKER _and_ FOOTMAN _C._, _with tray and tea things_.]

LADY WINDERMERE. Put it there, Parker. That will do. [_Wipes her hands with her pocket-handkerchief_, _goes to tea-table_, _and sits down_.] Won’t you come over, Lord Darlington?

LORD DARLINGTON. [_Takes chair and goes across L.C._] I am quite miserable, Lady Windermere. You must tell me what I did. [_Sits down at table L._]

LADY WINDERMERE. Well, you kept paying me elaborate compliments the whole evening.

LORD DARLINGTON. [_Smiling_.] Ah, nowadays we are all of us so hard up, that the only pleasant things to pay _are_ compliments. They’re the only things we _can_ pay.

Continue Reading →

In the excerpts from Lady Windermere's Fan, the action is driven by a single, urgent question: will Lady Windermere leave her husband? The play's subtitle, 'A Play About a Good Woman,' immediately signals a concern with moral reputation. Yet the catalog subjects—marriage, mothers and daughters, aristocracy—do not fully capture what the text shows. The surviving scenes focus on a wife's suspicion and a midnight confrontation, not on the mother-daughter relationship that the catalog implies. The fan itself, though titular, appears only in stage directions as a prop; its symbolic weight is not yet evident in these excerpts.

A Wife's Ultimatum and a Hidden Letter

Lady Windermere's language in Act III is striking for its self-dramatization. She calls herself 'cold as a loveless thing' and imagines her husband 'entrammelled by this woman.' The excerpts show her writing a 'fatal letter' that she believes puts her 'in their power.' This letter is a key plot device, but its contents are never quoted. The reader must infer its nature from her panic: 'Arthur would not take me back!' The play's structure hinges on a document that remains unseen, a technique that heightens suspense. Notably, the catalog subject 'marriage' is present, but the excerpts focus on its breakdown, not its daily reality.

The Intruder Who Claims Authority

Mrs. Erlynne's entrance in Act III shifts the power dynamic. She speaks 'authoritatively,' commanding Lady Windermere to return home. The younger woman's response is visceral: 'You fill me with horror.' The catalog lists 'mothers and daughters' as a subject, but in these excerpts, no familial relationship is stated. Mrs. Erlynne acts as a rescuer, not a mother. The text leaves her motives ambiguous. She says, 'You wrong me horribly,' but does not explain. The reader, like Lady Windermere, must guess at her connection to Lord Windermere. This gap between catalog and text is instructive: the excerpts do not confirm a mother-daughter bond.

Setting and Social Performance

The play's settings are all upper-class interiors: a morning-room, a drawing-room, Lord Darlington's rooms. The stage directions specify 'Carlton House Terrace' and 'lamps lit.' These details anchor the drama in a specific social milieu. Yet the catalog subject 'aristocracy' is only indirectly present. The characters' concerns—scandal, reputation, letters—are those of a class that values public appearance. Lady Windermere threatens 'the worst scandal there has been in London for years,' showing that social performance is at stake. The excerpts, however, do not depict aristocratic rituals or gatherings; they show private, tense conversations. The setting is a backdrop, not a subject.

Readers approaching Lady Windermere's Fan through these excerpts should note that the catalog subjects are not a reliable map. The play's emotional core—a wife's desperation and a mysterious woman's intervention—is present, but the mother-daughter theme is only hinted at. The fan itself is absent from the dialogue. Pay attention to what is not said: the unwritten letter, the unspoken relationship, the unseen fan. These gaps are where Wilde's wit and suspense operate.

I finished the Wilde play last night, and that fan kept turning in my mind—how a tiny, pretty object can suddenly carry all a marriage’s weight. It made me think of another old drama I once sat with, Queen Mary; and, Harold — Reading Companion, where the same quiet ache of duty and regret lingers between the lines. Some stories just stay like that, gently.