Name : Adella Lay Tufadel

NIM : N1D219001
DRAMA ASSIGNMENT

Lady Windermere’s Fan by Oscar Wild

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 me requestion 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 Although the play has been deemed outdated by recent critics, Lady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.

Lord Windermere
Society regards him as the “ideal husband”. He would do almost anything to protect
his beautiful young wife, Lady Windermere. He even lets Mrs Erlynne blackmail him in order
to prevent his wife from getting to know the shocking truth about her mother. He is a typical
gentleman and a man of principles.
Lord Windermere       : Don’t say that, Margaret. I never loved anyone in the whole world
but you”. (Act 1, page 127)
Mrs. Erlynne               : “You must believe it! It is true. It is his love for you that has made him
submit to – oh! Call it what you like, tranny, threats, anything you can choose. But it is his
love for you. His desire to spare you – shame, yes, shame and disgrace. (Act 3, 133)

Lady Windermere
The play’s protagonist. She is a very naive 21-year-old woman, married to the much
older Lord Windermere and mother of a 6 months old boy. She is a puritan with very high
principles and a strong dislike of egocentric and smug people. Her world view is strictly black
and white - for her, people are either good or bad. But when the supposedly wicked Mrs
Erlynne saves her from a terrible disgrace she learns that her opinions about the world and
especially other people need some elasticity. She is one of the only characters to show a
wide range of emotions throughout the play.
 Lady Windermere        : “It is very kind of you, Duchess, to come and tell me all this. But I
can’t believe that my husband is untrue to me”. (Act 1, page 126)
Lord darlington            : “Oh! She doesn’t love me. She is a good woman. She is the only good
woman I have ever met in my life”.(Act 3, page 134)

Lord Darlington
A typical Wildean dandy character and Lady Windermere’s “fan” (in terms of
admirer). He is a charming younger man with a high opinion of himself. Although he might
come ascross as flirtatious and a a bit smug he is truly in love with the happily married Lady
Windermere who of course keeps rejecting him. He is one of the only characters to develop
during the course of the play: From Act II on Lord Darlington becomes much more human
and less self-centered as a man with a broken heart.
 Lord Darlington          : “Don’t say that, Duchess. 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”. (Act 1, page 125)
 Duchess of Brewick    : “Isn’t he dreadful? Agatha, this is Lord Darlington. Mind you don’t
believe a word he says”. (Act 1, page 125)

Lord Augustus Lorton

He is a lovable older gentleman terribly in love with Mrs Erlynne. As he is not very
clever he appears to be completely beyond his depth when dealing with difficulties such as
proposing to Mrs Erlynne. Unlike most of the other male characters he does not care for
showing off or witty remarks (or maybe he is just not clever enough to come up with any of
those himself?) and simply wants to spend the rest of his life in peace with a loving wife by
his side.
 Lord Augustus               : “ Dear Lady, I am in such suspence! May I not have an answer to my
request?”. (Act 2, page 132)
Mrs. Erlynne                    : “ What a nice speech! So simple and so sincere! Just the sort of
speech  I like. Well, you shall hold my bouquet”. (Act 2, page 130)

Mr Dumby
He is a perfect specimen of the preferred sex of the privileged class in English society
to which literature has accustomed us: a blasé, dispassionate and idle older man who will
not trouble himself to get angry or excited or to show any emotions at all.
 Mr. Dumby                 : “I am – to myself. I am the only person in the world I shouldlike to
know thoroughly, but I don’t see any chance of it just at present”. (Act 2, page 130)
 Mrs. Erlynne               : “So that is poor Dumby with Lady Plymdale? I hear she is frightfully
jealous of him. He doesn’t seem anxious to speak to me tonight. I suppose he is affraid to
her”. (Act 2, page 130)

Mr Cecil Graham
One of the play’s most eccentric characters. He is the identified misfit - a contrary
cynic. But although he appears so unlike the other male characters, he is part of society. He
is an insecure and offensive young man masquerading as witty. His sense of humour is very
sharp and biting.
 Mr. Cecil Graham        : “ By the way, Tuppy, which is it? Have you been twice married and
once divorced, or twice divorced and once married? I say you have been twice divorced and
once married. It seems so much more probable”. (Act 2, page 129)
 Lord Augustus             : “ You’re excessively trivial, my dear boy, excessively trivial!”. (Act 2,
page 129)

Mr Hopper
The young and handsome son of a successful Australian businessman. He is in love
with Lady Agatha Carlisle. He often diverges from traditional male attire, possibly because
he is a foreigner and as an outsider to London’s high society less bound by convention than
all the other characters. His chief aim is to win Lady Agatha’s admiration. Speaks with an
incomprehensible Australian accent.
 Mr. Hopper      : “But I should like to dance with Lady Agatha, Duchess”. (Act 2, page 128)
Duchess of Brewick     : “ How clever you are, Mr. Hopper. You have a cleverness quite of
your own. Now I mustn’t keep you”. (Act 2, page 128)

Duchess of Berwick
She is a seemingly polite - though acid-tongued - noble lady with a commanding
manner and a very high opinion of herself. She is also a great scandalmonger, well-disguised
under a layer of conventional politeness. When speaking she uses lots of circumlocutions.
She is able to carry on entire conversations single-handedly.
Duchess of Berwick     : “ Of course it’s going to be select. 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. I don’t know what society is coming to.
The most dreadful people seem to go everywhere. They certainly come to my parties – the
men get quite furious if one doesn’t ask them. Really, someone should make a stand against
it”. (Act 1, page 125)
Lady Windermere         : “Duchess,Duchess, it’s impossible!...”. (Act 1, page 126)

Lady Agatha Carlisle

The Duchess of Berwick’s daughter. She is a compliantly submissive adolescent in
love with Mr Hopper. She is one of the play’s funniest characters as she has one very
memorable action: Her only line, which she keeps repeating in every single scene she is in, is
“Yes, mamma.” The perfect role for anyone not wanting to learn an awful lot of lines.
 Lady Agatha Carlisle : “ Yes, mamma”. (Act 2, page 128)
Duchess of Brewick     : “mind you take great care of my little chatterbox”. (Act 2, page 128)

Lady Plymdale
A typical female representative of high society, she thinks highly of herself and is
eager to make her mark. Most of the time she stands out in an atrocious, though thorougly
acceptable, manner.
 Lady Plymdale            : “ Because I want you to take my husband  with you. He has been
attentive lately, that he has become a perfect nuisance. Now, this woman is just the thing
for him. He’ll dance attendance upon her as long as she lets him, and won’t bother me. I
assure you, women of that kind are most useful. They form the basis of other people’s
marriage”. (Act 2, page 130)
Mrs. Erlynne                 : “.... I suppose he is afraid of her. Those staw-coloured women have
dreadful tempers....”. (Act 2, page 130)

Lady Stutfield - Lady Jedburgh - Mrs Cowper-Cowper

The three ladies are definitely some of the play’s flattest characters. They are typical
representatives of high society and as such do little else than to behave charmingly and say
a few witty things now and then. They are absolutely interchangeable nonentities. They flit
about the stage, talking non-stop like chattering birds.
Lady Stutfield  : “ I suppose so, Mr. Dumby. It has been delightful season, hasn’t it?”. (Act 2,
page 128)
Lady Jedburgh              : “Most kind of you to say these charming things to me!”. (Act 2, page
129)
Mrs. Cowper-cowper    : “Good evening, Mr. Dumby. I suppose this will be the last ball of the
season?”. (Act 2, page 128
 Mrs Erlynne
A woman of about 40 who twenty years ago left her husband and her newborn
daughter (Lady Windermere) for another lover and was in return left by him. She is now an
outcast of society, struggling to make a living and find a way back into society. When she
discovers that her daughter has married a rich man, she starts asking him for enormous
sums of money. She is the suspicious wicked outsider of whom we hear much more than we
actually witness. At the beginning of the play we get the impression of her as a thoroughly
depraved and promiscuous woman, but later on we learn that there is more to her than just
plain wickedness. She is in fact a lovely, bewitching and especially rather good woman. She
is the living proof that even as an “older” woman one can have charm and beauty.
Mrs. Erlynne     : “Lady Windermere, before heaven your husband is guiltless of all offence
towards you! And I tell you that I had it ever occurred to me that such a monstrous
suspicion would have entered your mind, I would have died rather than have crossed your
life or his – oh! Died, gladly died”. (Act 3, page 133)
Lady Windermere : “I must speak of it. I can’t let you think that I am going to accept this
sacrifice. I am not. It is too great. I am going to tell my husband everything. It is my duty”.
(Act 4, page 138)