Lady Windermere’s Fan

Lady Windermere’s Fan

By Oscar Wilde.

Table of Contents

1. Titlepage
2. Imprint
3. Dedication
4. Dramatis Personae
5. The Scenes of the Play
6. Lady Windermere’s Fan
   1. Act I
   2. Act II
   3. Act III
   4. Act IV
7. Colophon
8. Uncopyright

Imprint

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To
The Dear Memory
Of
Robert Earl Of Lytton
In Affection
And
Admiration

Dramatis Personae

• Lord Windermere

• Lord Darlington

• Lord Augustus Lorton

• Mr. Dumby

• Mr. Cecil Graham

• Mr. Hopper

• Parker, Butler

• Lady Windermere

• The Duchess of Berwick

• Lady Agatha Carlisle

• Lady Plymdale

• Lady Stutfield

• Lady Jedburgh

• Mrs. Cowper-Cowper

• Mrs. Erlynne

• Rosalie, Maid

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.

Lady Windermere’s Fan

A Play About a Good Woman

Act I

Scene: 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.
	Enter Parker.
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 anyone who calls.
Parker	Yes, my lady.
	Exit C.
Lady Windermere	It’s best for me to see him before tonight. I’m glad he’s come.
	Enter Parker C.
Parker	Lord Darlington,
	Enter Lord Darlington C.
	Exit Parker.
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 today is my birthday?
Lord Darlington	No? Is it really?
Lady Windermere	Yes, I’m of age today. Quite an important day in my life, isn’t it? That is why I am giving this party tonight. 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.
	A short pause.
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?
	Exit Parker C.
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.
Lady Windermere	Shaking her head. No, I am talking very seriously. You mustn’t laugh, I am quite serious. I don’t like compliments, and I don’t see why a man should think he is pleasing a woman enormously when he says to her a whole heap of things that he doesn’t mean.
Lord Darlington	Ah, but I did mean them. Takes tea which she offers him.
Lady Windermere	Gravely. I hope not. I should be sorry to have to quarrel with you, Lord Darlington. I like you very much, you know that. But I shouldn’t like you at all if I thought you were what most other men are. Believe me, you are better than most other men, and I sometimes think you pretend to be worse.
Lord Darlington	We all have our little vanities, Lady Windermere.
Lady Windermere	Why do you make that your special one? Still seated at table L.
Lord Darlington	Still seated L.C. Oh, nowadays so many conceited people go about Society pretending to be good, that I think it shows rather a sweet and