A Woman of No Importance

A Woman of No Importance

By Oscar Wilde.

Table of Contents

1. Titlepage
2. Imprint
3. Dedication
4. Dramatis Personae
   1. The Scenes of the Play
5. A Woman of No Importance
   1. Act I
   2. Act II
   3. Act III
   4. Act IV
6. Colophon
7. Uncopyright

Imprint

This ebook is the product of many hours of hard work by volunteers for Standard Ebooks, and builds on the hard work of other literature lovers made possible by the public domain.

This particular ebook is based on a transcription from Project Gutenberg and on digital scans from the HathiTrust Digital Library.

The source text and artwork in this ebook are believed to be in the United States public domain; that is, they are believed to be free of copyright restrictions in the United States. They may still be copyrighted in other countries, so users located outside of the United States must check their local laws before using this ebook. The creators of, and contributors to, this ebook dedicate their contributions to the worldwide public domain via the terms in the CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. For full license information, see the Uncopyright at the end of this ebook.

Standard Ebooks is a volunteer-driven project that produces ebook editions of public domain literature using modern typography, technology, and editorial standards, and distributes them free of cost. You can download this and other ebooks carefully produced for true book lovers at standardebooks.org.

To
Gladys
Countess de Grey
(Marchioness of Ripon)

Dramatis Personae

• Lord Illingworth

• Sir John Pontefract

• Lord Alfred Rufford

• Mr. Kelvil, M.P.

• The Ven. Archdeacon Daubeny, D.D.

• Gerald Arbuthnot

• Farquhar, butler

• Francis, footman

• Lady Hunstanton

• Lady Caroline Pontefract

• Lady Stutfield

• Mrs. Allonby

• Miss Hester Worsley

• Alice, maid

• Mrs. Arbuthnot

The Scenes of the Play

Act I: The terrace at Hunstanton Chase.

Act II: The drawing-room at Hunstanton Chase.

Act III: The hall at Hunstanton Chase.

Act IV: Sitting-room in Mrs. Arbuthnot’s house at Wrockley.

Time: The present.

Place: The Shires.

The action of the play takes place within twenty-four hours.

A Woman of No Importance

Act I

Scene: Lawn in front of the terrace at Hunstanton.

	Sir John and Lady Caroline Pontefract, Miss Worsley, on chairs under large yew tree.
Lady Caroline	I believe this is the first English country house you have stayed at, Miss Worsley?
Hester	Yes, Lady Caroline.
Lady Caroline	You have no country houses, I am told, in America?
Hester	We have not many.
Lady Caroline	Have you any country? What we should call country?
Hester	Smiling. We have the largest country in the world, Lady Caroline. They used to tell us at school that some of our states are as big as France and England put together.
Lady Caroline	Ah! you must find it very draughty, I should fancy. To Sir John. John, you should have your muffler. What is the use of my always knitting mufflers for you if you won’t wear them?
Sir John	I am quite warm, Caroline, I assure you.
Lady Caroline	I think not, John. Well, you couldn’t come to a more charming place than this, Miss Worsley, though the house is excessively damp, quite unpardonably damp, and dear Lady Hunstanton is sometimes a little lax about the people she asks down here. To Sir John. Jane mixes too much. Lord Illingworth, of course, is a man of high distinction. It is a privilege to meet him. And that member of Parliament, Mr. Kettle⁠—
Sir John	Kelvil, my love, Kelvil.
Lady Caroline	He must be quite respectable. One has never heard his name before in the whole course of one’s life, which speaks volumes for a man, nowadays. But Mrs. Allonby is hardly a very suitable person.
Hester	I dislike Mrs. Allonby. I dislike her more than I can say.
Lady Caroline	I am not sure, Miss Worsley, that foreigners like yourself should cultivate likes or dislikes about the people they are invited to meet. Mrs. Allonby is very well born. She is a niece of Lord Brancaster’s. It is said, of course, that she ran away twice before she was married. But you know how unfair people often are. I myself don’t believe she ran away more than once.
Hester	Mr. Arbuthnot is very charming.
Lady Caroline	Ah, yes! the young man who has a post in a bank. Lady Hunstanton is most kind in asking him here, and Lord Illingworth seems to have taken quite a fancy to him. I am not sure, however, that Jane is right in taking him out of his position. In my young days, Miss Worsley, one never met anyone in society who worked for their living. It was not considered the thing.
Hester	In America those are the people we respect most.
Lady Caroline	I have no doubt of it.
Hester	Mr. Arbuthnot has a beautiful nature! He is so simple, so sincere. He has one of the most beautiful natures I have ever come across. It is a privilege to meet him.
Lady Caroline	It is not customary in England, Miss Worsley, for a young lady to speak with such enthusiasm of any person of the opposite sex. English women conceal their feelings till after they are married. They show them then.
Hester	Do you, in England, allow no friendship to exist between a young man and a young girl?
	Enter Lady Hunstanton, followed by Footman with shawls and a cushion.
Lady Caroline	We think it very inadvisable. Jane, I was just saying what a pleasant party you have asked us to meet. You have a wonderful power of selection. It is quite a gift.
Lady Hunstanton	Dear Caroline, how kind of you! I think we all do fit in very nicely together. And I hope our charming American visitor will carry back pleasant recollections of our English country life. To Footman. The cushion, there, Francis. And my shawl. The Shetland. Get the Shetland. Exit Footman for shawl.
	Enter