Fwd: 4890

Begin forwarded message:

Date: October 2, 2014 at 12:07:45 PM MDT
To: seth weidenaar <sethweidenaar@gmail.com>
Subject: 4890

An excerpt from Lady Windermere's Fan, a play by Oscar Wilde, shows how the wealthy society is in 1892 from simple dialogue. The three characters that interact with each other are shown to be selfish, arrogant and snobbish. To the average person the interactions may seem weird, but this is how the nature of society was for them.

Lady Windermere is a wealthy older woman that is selfish and self absorbed. We see in lines 19-21 an example of this. The Duchess is speaking of the ball, but Lady Windermere states that it is not a ball, but a birthday party in her honour. This is her first line of the excerpt and we can already see that she thinks very highly of her self. She then goes on to say "I will have no one in my house about whom there is any scandal." in lines 34-36. She is very selective about who she is allowing to her 'party'. The next example of her  acting selfish is when she speaks of Lord Darlington. She says he is trivial in line 56. She believes that the world revolves around her.

Lord Darlington also thinks very highly of himself. Although he does not seem as important as the other two ladies, he is arrogant. He has a sense of superiority and self importance. He speaks as if he is proud of what they say about him. The Duchess calls him wicked from the very beginning of the excerpt and he does little to fight it. When Lady Windermere talks about her party and that there will be no one of scandal, he says he will not be admitted. Lord Darlington has the last line of their conversation and states that Lady Windermere is beginning to reform him; after he states that he then goes on to say that it is a dangerous thing to reform anyone.

The Duchess of Berwick is revealed to be very snobbish in nature. As soon as she meets Lord Darlington she says "I won't let you know my daughter, you are far too wicked." After Lord Darlington responds to these accusations she talks of where she has just arrived from. She had tea at Lady Markby's and that it was quite undrinkable. As soon as she is done talking about how bad the tea was, she changes subject as if it is not a big deal. After the subject of the ball, the Duchess brings up marriage and how women are good. She enjoys being correct in each subject she brings up.

Society, for the wealthy, is shown quite well in this passage. Oscar Wilde shows how the nature of society is very snobbish and how it continuously grows more selfish. The characters care only for themselves and being correct. The Duchess of Berwick has a daughter there the entire time, but she is only mentioned twice and out of context. Society will always have this nature for the wealthy, selfish, arrogant and snobbish.