English Oral - Lady Windermere's Fan - Oscar Wilde - Essay Example

The book, Lady Windermere’s Fan, is a drama about a biting satire on the morals of Victorian society, particularly about marriage. The theme of the story is hypocrisy. As defined, hypocrisy is pretending to be something one is not or feigning to believe in something one does not. Most of the characters in the story accept hypocrisy as a necessary component of their social world. People in high society must pretend, must conform to the social norm in order to maintain their position. The story concerns Lady Windermere who discovers that her husband may be having an affair with another woman.

She confronts her husband but he instead invites the other woman, Mrs. Erlynne, to her birthday ball. Angered by her husbands unfaithfulness, Lady Windermere leaves her husband for another lover. After discovering what has transpired, Mrs. Erlynne follows Lady Windermere and attempts to persuade her to return to her husband and in the course of this, Mrs. Erlynne is discovered in a compromising position. She sacrifices herself and her reputation in order to save Lady Windermeres marriage. The book, Lady Windermere’s Fan was staged in St.

Jhames Theatre in London as a play in February 1892. This was written at the request of George Alexander, actor-manager of the St Jamess Theatre in London. Wilde described it as "one of those modern drawing-room plays with pink lampshades". It was immediately successful, the author making the enormous sum of seven thousand pounds from the original run.1 Numerous characters in the play draw their names from places in the north of England: Lady Windermere from the lake Windermere, the Duchess of Berwick from Berwick-upon-Tweed, Lord Darlington from Darlington.

The plays Broadway premiere on 15, 1892 at Palmers Theatre was also the first Broadway performance for stage and screen actress Julia Arthur, who played Lady Windermere. Lady Windermeres eavesdropping convinces her of her husbands fidelity. Also Mrs. Erlynnes sacrifice of her own reputation convinces her of the older womans virtue. Further adding to the dramatic intensity, the story often has the eavesdropper leave something behind in the room. Hamilton criticized the book; He is an English teacher at Gary Academy, an innovative private school in Gary, North Carolina.

He explores how the wit in Lady Windermeres Fan contributes to the structure and meaning of the plot, while also investing the book with a satirical jab at high society. Likewise, Jacobs, one of the critics of Oscar Wilde, examines Wildes use of fantasy in exploring the question of cultural identity. Though fantasy has been dismissed by many academics as a genre of marginal literary value, it attracts artists as well as readers. Indeed, one reason why a consensual definition of literary fantasy eludes us is that authors working in many genres draw upon it, smudging generic boundaries.

Lady Windemere s Fan has been adapted in two silent films: a 1917 version by Ideal Film, and a 1925 Warner Brothers production called The Fan by director Ernest Lubitsch.Otto Preminger remade The Fan with sound in 1949.Librettist Don Allan Clayton adapted the play for an Off-Broadway musical comedy called A Delightful Season in 1960. The wit of Oscar Wilde as an author of this book is indicative that filmmakers and play directors liked his book, being a reflection of society’s character and tradition.1.