Ebook Lady Windermere Fan Audible Audio Edition Oscar Wilde Daniel Duffy FrontPage Publishing Books
Download As PDF : Lady Windermere Fan Audible Audio Edition Oscar Wilde Daniel Duffy FrontPage Publishing Books
"Lady Windermere's Fan, A Play About a Good Woman" is a four-act comedy by Oscar Wilde, first produced 22 February 1892 at the St James's Theatre in London. The play was first published in 1893. Like many of Wilde's comedies, it bitingly satirizes the morals of Victorian society, particularly marriage.
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 his wife's birthday ball. Angered by her husband's unfaithfulness, Lady Windermere leaves her husband for another lover. Or does she? Is it really possible to trust delicious gossip? Are all men really bad? These and many other questions are raised and if not answered, then held up for public scrutiny in this biting satire of morals and proper behavior. The best known line of the play sums up the central theme
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." - Lord Darlington
Ebook Lady Windermere Fan Audible Audio Edition Oscar Wilde Daniel Duffy FrontPage Publishing Books
"While not his best work (I just love "The Importance of Being Earnest!"), this is another of Oscar Wilde's insights into his contemporary world's foibles and mores. This is not our present world. However, knowledge of his world can still inform ours. There is a truth that transcends time and world view -- things that can be applied today. While maybe not relevant if viewed literally, there are notions and world views that apply today, and can be translated into our modern society. Give it a chance; see it for what it was then, and enjoy the ride. You may come out knowing more about yourself and others than you did before. That's what makes a great, classic work."
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Lady Windermere Fan Audible Audio Edition Oscar Wilde Daniel Duffy FrontPage Publishing Books Reviews :
Lady Windermere Fan Audible Audio Edition Oscar Wilde Daniel Duffy FrontPage Publishing Books Reviews
- I recommend reading this book before watching the PBS Masterpiece Theater series "Lillie". That series is about Lily Langtry, a friend of Oscar Wilde's. This play represents a betrayal of their friendship, as the characters Mrs. Erlynne & Lady Windermere reference Ms. Langtry and her secret daughter. Langtry was angry, rejected Wilde as a friend, he fell out of favor in English society, and was soon after prosecuted for homosexuality. Langtry's good fortune faded too, though less quickly. They did ultimately reconcile, but damaged each other's reputations and quality of life in the process. An interesting story and the play itself is filled with classic Wilde quotes.
- "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
I found this quote on Goodreads, and liked it so much that I decided to read Lady Windermere's Fan.
Ah! The things we do for love!
It's a beautifully written four-act play that occurs within a day's time.
Everyone is getting prepped up for Lady Windermere's birthday ball. Lady Windermere suspects her husband, Arthur Windermere, is cheating on her with some Mrs. Erlynne. Arthur denies any such affair, and despite Lady Windermere's objection, he invites Mrs. Erlynne to her birthday ball.
That's when the truth starts to unfold.
Apart from the very first quote that I mentioned, some more that I highlighted are
"We make gods of men and they leave us. Others make brutes of them and they fawn and are faithful."
"Men are such cowards. They outrage every law of the world, and are afraid of the world's tongue."
"In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it. The last is much the worst; the last is a real tragedy!"
"A man who moralises is usually a hypocrite, and a woman who moralises is invariably plain."
"What are called good women may have terrible things in them, mad moods of recklessness, assertion, jealousy, sin. Bad women, as they are termed may have in them sorrow, repentance, pity sacrifice."
"Cecil Graham What is a cynic?
Lord Darlington A man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing.
Cecil Graham And a sentimentalist, my dear Darlington, is a man who sees an absurd value in everything and doesn’t know the market price of any single thing."
"It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious."
"Ideals are dangerous things. Realities are better. They wound, but they're better."
"What a pity that in life we only get our lessons when they are of no use to us."
So much wit and wisdom in such a short play! - While not his best work (I just love "The Importance of Being Earnest!"), this is another of Oscar Wilde's insights into his contemporary world's foibles and mores. This is not our present world. However, knowledge of his world can still inform ours. There is a truth that transcends time and world view -- things that can be applied today. While maybe not relevant if viewed literally, there are notions and world views that apply today, and can be translated into our modern society. Give it a chance; see it for what it was then, and enjoy the ride. You may come out knowing more about yourself and others than you did before. That's what makes a great, classic work.
- It has come to my attention that people who stand at the pulpit will often use the words of others to preach the most astounding lessons without giving credit to the original authors. It is only fair to give credit where credit is due instead of attempting to make the congregation believe the words spoken are original and not words read and repeated. Such is the story of Lady Windermere's Fan - give credit to Oscar Wilde for those words.
- Oscar Wilde was one of the greatest writers of all time. Lady Windermere's Fan is filled with love triangles, sex, deception, morality and more. Thought it was written over a century ago, it's message and theme hold true today.
The movie A Good Woman starring Scarlet Johansen and Helen Hunt is based on this brilliant play. Treat yourself to both. - I was curious to learn more about Oscar Wilde's plays and this was an interesting adventure. It was very quick to read, as soon as I learned to jump past the stage directions for it was written as a play. There was humor as well as purpose in the presentation and I could just visualize the British actors. Later I found the Briitish video presentation and was delighted I had read the play first. The film version was faithful to the author's presentations and didn't miss a thing on the Wilde play.
- This is another example of Wilde's remarkable ability to enmesh societal comedies and the horrendous hypocrisy of the British society in one play. Wilde and Bernard Shaw were, and still are, unbeatable in their works in this area. Each mixes lots of clever comedy with the hypocrisy of the treatment of women, even among women themselves. A true, accurate spotlight thrown on the British Caste System.
- Wilde reveals both the bad & 'good' in humanity, even among the high society of London. My favorite line was spoken by Lord Darlington "No, we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
