Sample Essays: Q2: From "Lady Windermere's Fan" by Oscar Wilde

Directions:  Read the following essays for Q2: Lady Winderemere's Fan by Oscar Wilde.  Grade the essays on a 9-point A.P. scale.  How does they compare with your work?  Let's explore together.


Sample I

Legendary author Oscar Wilde’s farce of 19th century society criticizes a society where people say everything and mean nothing. The main characters restrict their conversation to harmless flirtation and trivial, though somewhat cruel, gossip. Their society is one where a title of nobility is rewarded more than intelligence, and wealth and material possessions are considered more important than interesting personalities or kindness. Oscar Wilde expertly crafts his characters to reveal the values held by high society in the late 1800’s.

The Duchess of Berwick always has some gossip to share, a name to drop, or a party to talk about. Wilde gives the Duchess a tone of over-confidence and authority that reflects the importance that wealthy, noble women felt about themselves. She describes women as “good,” but quickly adds that only “some” are actually good. This reflects her tendency to glorify her friends and criticize those who are not part of her exclusive clique. The Duchess has very strong opinions and expects everyone to agree with her. These values reflect the expectation that everyone who is part of their society should behave, act and think in a certain way.

Lady Windemere represents the part of society that never leads, but follows established practices rigorously so that they will not lose their social standing. Her character agrees with everything the Duchess says and does not propogate any original, let alone controversial, opinions. This reflects the idea that people especially women, should conform to very trivial and unoriginal standards.

Wilde’s portrayal of the two women conveys important commentary about the role of women in society. Their dialogue is restricted to parties and gossip; although they poke fun at Lord Darlington for being trivial, they never address any serious subject matter themselves. This suggests that women were expected to remain ignorant about politics and business and be experts about tea parties and balls.

Lord Darlington is a foil to the two women and allows the reader to see a man’s role in this society. His innocent flirtations and harmless self-deprecating comments are fodder for the women’s frivolous conversations. Underneath Darlington’s dialogue, there is an air of condescension and sarcasm. Darlington conforms to his society’s view of males by patronizing the women and encouraging them to continue with their ignorance rather than encouraging original thought or individualism.

Oscar Wilde uses humor to point out the flaws of 19th century society. This passage emphasizes the disparity between the roles of women and men. His vivid characters and interesting dialogue show the imbalance between genders and ridicules the frivolity and triviality that is a fundamental part of this society.



Sample M

In the passage from Lady Windermere’s Fan” Oscar Wilde reveals the characters through conversations. Duchess of Berwick, Lord Darlington, and Lady Windermere are all sitting together discussing the ball for Lady Windermere. As these characters talk to each other about this matter, we are able to see what they think their society is about and we see the values that each one of them have.

Duchess of Berwick is the first character introduced. She starts of by introducing her daughter, Agatha, then states who can and can’t meet her. She states to Lord Darlington, “I won’t let you know my daughter, you are far too wicked.” By doing this, we see that Berwick isn’t afraid to express her opinions. She also says, “We have just had tea at Lady Markby’s. Shuch bad tea, too.” Berwick is prideful. She is constantly puting others down so she can rise above the rest. Although she is prideful, she cares for her daughter by expressing her concerns about the “most dreadful people.”

Lady Windermere is completely opposite from Duchess of Berwick. Rather puting herself above others, she wants the attention to be on everyone else rather than her. She says, “You musn’t think it is going to be a ball, Duchess. It is only a dance in honor of my birthday. A small and early.” But doing this she imediately turns the attention away from her. She expresses her concern for the society when she says, “I will have no one in my house about whom there is any scandal.” Windermere wants to be safe and protected from the outside world. She seems scared of society.

Lord Darlington talks highly of himself, but everyone else put him down. “Why, there are lots of people who say I have never really done anything wrong in the whole course of my life.” He is wrong. People say right to his face that you can’t trust anything he says. You can tell he is a foolish man by what others say about him. “You are not to say foolish, insincere things to people.” When this is said to him he takes it as a joke and blows it off.

Oscar Wilde is able to show us the values of each of the characters by how they respond to questions and by the way others talk about them. All these characters are different, but they all agree that the outsid world is bad. They think this because they are all Lords, ladies, or duchess’ and they put themselves above the rest. We can learn from these characters that we shouldn’t set ourselves above the rest because pride has the power to ruin us.



Sample P

In the excerpt from “Lady Windermere’s Fan”, the three characters revealed are very different. Although all of them are from a high society, the values of each of them are opposite from the other one.

The Duchess of Berwick is revealed as woman who values money and being proper. This is shown from the beginning when she won’t let Lord Darlington know her daughter because he is “far too wicked.” It is also shown when she is complaining about parties and how they let “the most dreadful people” in. This is significant because it shows that the Duchess values class and does not agree with the way people in her society are changing.

Lord Darlington is the mischievious one of the three characters. He is viewed as being wicked and trivial. His values are more relaxed than the Duchess. He seems like the kind of person who doesn’t care about status, unlike the Duchess who does. This is significant because it was unusual for a man during that time to not care about being proper or respected.

The last character is Lady Windermere. She is portrayed as the kind and gentle figure. She also is the humble one out of the group. An example is when she is talking to the Duchess and tells her that it’s going to be small party, not a ball. This is significant because most women during that time would have exaggerated and made the party seem extravagant, but instead Lady Windermere was humble and told the truth.

The three characters have different values and that is clearly shown. Although they are form the same society, each one values totally different things. The Duchess values money, Lord Darlington values mischief, and Lady Windermere values kindness..



Sample R



In this excerpt from Lady Windermere’s Fan Oscar Wilde illustrated the attitudes of the people as well as the standards of their society. He showed the snobbishness of the people and their views of others as inferior. They act very proper but behind that one can see the attitudes behind their words.

The characters in this play all have an attitude that they’re better than others. They insult each other and brag about themselves. They insult a woman for where she gets her tea. They get mad that certain people go to their balls. They then go on to insult men in general. They value a person social status more than their character. This attitude reveals a lot about their own character.

It also shows a bit about the character of society. These are the upper class people. These people are the ones that others admire. If this is the upper crust, then what is important to this society?

In a society that values propriety and attiquette, many of the upper class does become snobbish. People are told that they’re good because of certain reasons, and it gets to them. These people don’t realize what’s important, or at least what should be.



Sample U

The era of dukes and lords ended long ago but memories of their time live on in history and literature. History focuses on the oppression of the peasants and succession of the royal family while literature questions the practices and culture of the time. In Lady Windermere’s Fan, Oscar Wilde reveals the upper class mindset through dialogue and a normal social situation.

The best hostess could balance propriety and entertainment perfectly at any event. The Duchess of Berwick manages just that. Her guests are equally concerned with social order. It is clear that this society is consumed by propriety. The Duchess of Berwick greets her guests but makes sure to introduce her daughter in hopes of getting Agatha into good social standing. Berwick is entirely consumed by other people’s opinions and by her opinions of others as evidenced by her conversation. Berwick deflates Lady Markby and her tea then procedes to puff Lady Windermere’s ego by expressing Agatha’s excitement about the ball. This continues throughout the passage notifying the reader that this behavior is typical and almost expected in this society. Wilde also uses dialogue to show the shallowness of his characters’ world. To balance the complements and gossip, all three characters engage in a volley of lighthearted insults similar to modern day sarcasm and putdown jokes. Their words do not cut deep or even offend any character. The characters do not stay on one topic for long soon move to marriage. Even this monumental institute is not taken seriously for long. Soon Lord Darlington is lightly ridiculed for his commentary on the subject and then departs.

One gathers that this situation is normal and expected because no character is surprised or disgruntled by it. The shallowness of the conversation may be due in part to the brevity of the meeting or the lack of a deep relationship between the characters; however, words and topics of conversation are good indicators of a person’s true values. Berwick is entirely obsessed with social status and pleasing others to get in their good graces as evidenced by her gossip about Lady Markby and complementing of Lady Windermere. Lady Windermere is also engrossed in the fancies of her culture but is not as manipulative as her hostess. Lord Darlington on the other had is a ham who wishes to please and entertain. However his movies are different than the Duchess of Beriwck’s motives; he enjoys teasing the ladies and being in their company.

Oscar Wilde presents these three as normal specimens of their society; thus it can be assumed that propriety and light humor consume the world in which they live.



Sample V

In a short conversation between three characters, the Duchess of Berwick, Lady Windermere, and Lord Darlington, Oscar Wilde reveals the entertaining arrogance of the members of upper class society. The blunt, cynical insults toward the lower class and sardonic language between the three illuminates the attitudes of the characters and the structure of their society including gaps between lower class and high class and men and women.

Wilde’s language is continuous quick witted and sardonic. Upon introducing her daughter, The Duchess of Berwick sates that she will not let Lord Darlington meet her daughter because he is “far too wicked.” Clearly, she does not mean this literally because she continues to have an engaged conversation with Lord Darlington, she therefore uses the insult sardonically and playfully. Furthermore, Lord Darlington’s quick response includes that he has “failed” at wickedness and that men and women say he has not “done anything wrong” in his entire life—a humorous hyperbole. The characters seem to enjoy slightly insulting one another, but the dialogue turns rather more disgusting and unadmirable than humorous when the women begin to insult those that are not similar to them, particularly the poor and scandalous. The Duchess of Berwick comments that the “most dreadful people seem to go everywhere” and Lady Windmere encourages the prejudice by assuring her there will be no such scandalous people at her party. These insults reveal the women’s arrogant attitude. They seem to feel superior to others and Wilde gives no reason for why they should be. Thus their superiority complex is unadmirable and unappealing.

Lord Darlington, with his humor, seems to illuminate these prejudiced attitudes. He does not indignantly speak against them, but Wilde uses this characters to provoke the arrogance of the women in regards to the lower classes and to reveal other injustices of society—such as the women’s lack of power. In response to the women’s insults toward the scandalous, Lord D humorously replies “I should never be admitted.” This comment ends the serious problem of the poor with a glaringly, insulting light note and then serves as a transition to talk of women’s roles.

Oscar Wilde uses the Duchess of Berwick to discuss the small roles women play in society, which from the conversation, seem to be limited to throwing parties. The Duchess of Berwick insists “we are positively getting elbowed into the corner.” This statement of passion and indignation throws the first positive light on her characters, and reveals women’s inferior position to men. Also to be noted, Agatha her daughter who was introduced does not speak a word throughout the conversation and this could attest to the disregard of women, especially younger women. In addition, because the women sincerely talk of teas and parties, Wilde gives the impression that these are women’s main activities and that they are kept out of the political sphere and pushed into the domestic one. This situation is much like the one of Mrs. Dalloway in Virginia Woolf’s novel which similarly comments disapprovingly on women’s inferior roles.

It is Oscar Wilde’s wit, engaging & blunt language, and disapproving tone that reveals the values of his characters and their society. The characters speak honestly and bluntly, and as a result, a clear character description can be gain of them merely by analyzing their dialogue. The women are arrogant & disregard the lower class, yet they desire themselves to be disregarded by men no longer. Oscar Wilde’s placing of these two topics side by side reveals its situational irony, and only adds his own disapproval of the social situation. At times Wilde seems to speak through Lord Darlington, especially as LD mocks Lady Windermere about her party (“very small, very early, very select”). Thus Wilde creates a scenario which is used as a microcosm of the macrocosm of society and integrates his own social commentary.



Sample JJ

In the excerpt of his play Lady Windermere’s Fan, Oscar Wilde creates two opposing values in the characters Duchess of Berwick and Lord Darlington. Along with Lady Windermere, these three characters represent a high class society and convey the triviality of their time. Wilde employs diction, dialogue and irony to suggest the pettiness of the scene.

We know right away that we are reading about wealthy people due to their titles. The Duchess of Berwick is a well of woman who places high importance on money and reputation. She gives in to the gossipy nature of society and believes everything she hears (“you are far too wicked”). She values the material things in life, such as the “ball” and “tea” parties she regularly attends. Her assumption of the bad tea at Lady Markby’s is one of judgement and slight cruelty. She expects only the best and when its not given to her she has something to say about it. The duchess exceeds the acceptable rules of talking about others; she is a gossip. She claims that “men don’t matter” and only some women are good. She is too trivial to realize that she is breaking her own rules of nobility.

Lord Darlington, on the other hand, is a man full of life. He too participates in the society which he mocks, but he sees right through it. He lives as he wants and doesn’t care what others think or say about him. He is very observant and values a good intelectual conversation, which unfortunately cannot be attained while talking to the Duchess. He believes that the ball is “very small, very early, and very select.” This is somewhat satirical as he blatanly mocks the womens before him. Lord Darlington wants to be accepted into the high society while still maintaining his intellect and unique mind (“nowadays to be intelligible is to be found out”).

This high class society places values on reputation and wealth. Through Wilde’s diction of the preceeding characters, we see however interprets and lives out the values they maintain. One is a phony, while the other pretends to be, a phony way to live life anyway.



Sample VV

“Lady Windermere’s Fan” analyzes the conversation of three ladies and one lord. The conversation carries on about what type of values the ladies and lord have, and what kind of society they live in.

The type of values all the characters have, and the kind of society the characters live in is a high class value and society. The author explains this by, having the characters argue about how Berwick doesn’t want Agatha to associate with the lord. She says that he is a rude person.

Later on the three ladies start talking about how Agatha can’t wait to go to the ball, the characters are very picky with little saying form the other characters. They will go at it over simple suggestions and ideas.

The high class high value society is shown in this play on the talk of the characters conversations. They are very picky and rude, to a certain amount of people. Some characters pretend to like others. In which they really despise them.



Sample XX

Lady Windermere’s fan, by Oscar Wilde, conveys the characters high class attitudes towards each other and shows the values of morals and money in their society.

The shortness and the contradictory statements mark the satire that Wilde wished to convey. The argument between Duchess and Lord give insight in this satire also.



Sample XXX



In the play “Lady Windermere’s Fan,” by Oscar Wilde the playwright reveals the values of the characters and the nature of their society.


Sample N

One of the great ways for authors to reproach their audience while simultaneously keeping them interested and entertained is satire. In Oscar Wilde’s 1892 play Lady Windermere’s Fan, Wilde successfully portrays the Victorian upper class as completely ridiculous without becoming offensive.

The Duchess of Berwick has the most dominating personality. As a duchess, she is more highly ranked in society than a lord or lady, and clearly takes her role very seriously. She is so conceited she presumes to tell the lord and lady about their companions—both specifically and generally—in society as if they are half-wits and could not draw their own conclusions. The duchess has all of the long lines with Lord Darlington and Lady Windmere only able to fit a word in when she pauses for breath. Perhaps if she did not love to hear herself talk so much, the audience could be introduced to a fourth character in the seen, Agatha. The duchess refers to and addresses her daughter numerous times without ever allowing her a moment to formulate a response. Her snobbery is apparent when she tells not only how her “friend” Lady Markby’s tea was “quite undrinkable,” but goes on to banish any thoughts of loyalty by commenting that she wasn’t surprised because she disapproves of her supplier. The duchess then goes on to make her class look very elitest and condescending toward the rest of the people when she remarks that there are no more good houses in London and that the society is becoming to common and uncivilized.

If the Duchess of Berwick makes the patronizing upper-class look awful, Lady Windermere does nothing to salvage the picture. Actually taking the duchess’s self-important attitudes seriously, she represents the ladies of London as simpering sycophants, ready to do the beck and call of their betters to be approved by and invited among the “right people.” Lady Windermere not only reforms herself to fit the duchess’s standards, she ends up imitating her attitude toward men, specifically Lord Darlington, and society. She immediately humbles herself before the duchess, making her ball seem smaller to become a mere dance and vowing that she will only invite the proper company of which the duchess approves. Towards the end she teases Lord Darlington in a similar manner to the duchess’s, calling him trivial, and lightly reprimanding him about his “foolish insincerity” in a playful tone.

Lord Darlington is exactly what his name denotes—a darling. He is the character that would be favored by the audience. Obviously more intelligent than any of the present company, the audience would smile in sympathy as both he and they are forced to listen to the duchess’s diatribes about the current society. They would laugh, pleased and amused, at his clever remarks when comparing husbands and wives to card games and at his careful flattery of the duchess when informing her the ball would be “very select.” They would thoroughly appreciate his discreet mockery of the women’s intelligence with his paradox on the importance of life being too serious for discussion. The audience would also understand why, despite his amused mockery and slight contempt for the women, he appeals to their egos in the end to stay in their and society’s good graces.

To conclude, Oscar Wile effectively uses ironic humor and mockery to reproach the Victorian upper-class about their elitest attitudes in his play Lady Windermere’s Fan. He manages to make fun of them and entertain them at the same time with his enjoyable wit.



Sample DD

In the excerpt from the play Lady Windermere’s Fan by Oscar Wilde, three characters are introduced, Duchess of Berwick, Lord Darlington, and Lady Windermere. The values of all three characters and the nature of their society is revealed by their conversation and how they say it.

The Duchess of Berwick is the first character that is introduced in the excerpt. Immediately the reader can tell what type of person she is. She comes to very harsh conclusion of people as seen in the line “I won’t let you know my daughter, you are far too wicked.” Even though she may know Darlington well, she doesn’t allow her daughter to come to her own conclusions. It is prevelant that the Duchess values wealth and status in society with the saying of the lines “I don’t know what society is comming to. The most dreadful people seem to go everywhere.” The Duchess obviously does not like poorer people and thinks very highly of herself. Lady Windermere is not as self-rightious as the Duchess. Lady Windermere values her friends and isn’t as snobby as the Duchess is. Lady Windermere values her friends as seen in the line “I will, Duchess. I will have no one in my house about whom there any scandal.” because she is complaiant with the Duchess to make her happy. Lady Windermere also does not think of herself as or put herself on a pedestal as the Duchess does as seen in the lines “Oh, you musn’t think it is going to be a ball, Duchess, it is only a dance in honor of my birthday. A small and early.” Lady Windermere doesn’t value her wealth as much as the Duchess.

Lord Darlington values how he is viewed by others. This is prevelent in the lines “…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.” This shows that Lord Darlington is proud of how he is viewed by others for being a wicked man. He values how other people see him to be.

The second half of the excerpt reveals the nature of the three characters society. The women of the society are pushed back while the men are always in the foreground. “But we are positively getting elbowed into the corner.” Also, it seems as if they believe that divorce is getting popular by the statement, “—‘the wives hold all the honours and invariable lose the old trick.’ ‘The old trick? Is that the husband. Lord Darlington?’” It is percieved that the socities women are the ones who cause the divorce.

The excerpt from Lady Windermere’s Fan reveals the values of the Duchess, Lay Windermere, and Lord Darlington. The Duchess valued wealth and status because of how she talked about others as well as herself. Lady Windermere valued her friends because of how she agreed with them to make them happy. Lord Darlington valued how others percieved him because he became happy when thought about it. Women being under men and divorce was a big part of the nature of their society. From this excerpt Oscar Wilde reveals the characters’ values and the nature of their society.