2 h 17 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 2 h 17 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
In a drawing room full of elegant guests, a rumour can threaten a marriage before the birthday ball begins.
Lady Windermere trusts her husband and believes right and wrong are easy to tell apart. Then the Duchess of Berwick brings gossip about his connection with Mrs Erlynne, a woman society shuns. When Lord Windermere insists that Mrs Erlynne attend his wife's birthday ball, Margaret faces a choice that puts her principles and her marriage under strain.
Oscar Wilde's comedy in four acts turns polite conversation into a contest of wit, suspicion and judgment. Lord Darlington challenges Margaret's strict ideas, while Mrs Erlynne seeks a place among people ready to condemn her. From the birthday preparations to the crowded drawing room, clever remarks expose a troubling question: are the guardians of respectability any better than the woman they reject?
What you’ll discover
- A birthday under strain Watch roses, guests and party preparations become the setting for a crisis of trust.
- Wit with a sting Enjoy sharp exchanges that turn familiar ideas about goodness and respectability upside down.
- Women under judgment Meet Margaret and Mrs Erlynne, facing a society with harsh expectations for women.
- Secrets behind polite smiles Follow a husband's guarded secret as suspicion tests the marriage he wants to protect.
- The cost of respectability Consider who deserves another chance when gossip passes for truth and appearances decide worth.
Who will love it
Readers who love quick wit, drawing room comedy and moral puzzles will enjoy this play, as will anyone who likes a story of secrets and a marriage under strain.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A strict young wife lays down her rules
- The Duchess brings news and a bankbook agrees
- A husband asks for the impossible
- The ball opens and Society shows its face
- Darlington offers escape and a letter is written
- A fan is left behind in Darlington's rooms
- Nobody is simply good or simply bad
- Secrets, a fan and sparkling talk drive the drama
Who’s who
- Lady WindermereA young wife of twenty-one, loving and strict in her beliefs, who wants her marriage to rest on honesty and her world to stay simple.
- Lord WindermereHer husband, who loves her and carries a secret he dares not share, and who wants to protect her from pain.
- Mrs. ErlynneA clever, elegant woman with a past, who arrives in London and wants a place in Society and a secure future.
- Lord DarlingtonA witty man who pretends to be wicked, claims to be Lady Windermere's friend, and wants her love.
- The Duchess of BerwickA chattering aristocrat who spreads news, watches over her daughter and wants her married well.
- Lord Augustus LortonThe Duchess's brother, a good-natured, previously married man who is devoted to Mrs. Erlynne and wants her answer.
- Cecil GrahamA young man about town who loves gossip and clever sayings, and enjoys other people's business more than his own.
- Lady Agatha CarlisleThe Duchess's obedient daughter, who answers yes, Mamma, to everything and attracts a rich young Australian.
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Lady Windermere's Fan
by Oscar Wilde · 1893
A wife finds a secret bankbook that afternoon, a rival attends her birthday ball, and a fan goes missing that night.
Medium level2–5 hours to readEnglish
Excellent
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In short
What would you do if a stranger told you that your husband is paying bills for another woman? Lady Windermere, a young wife who has just turned twenty-one, hears exactly that on the afternoon of her birthday.
Lady Windermere's Fan at a glance
- Reading time
- About 1 h 20 min1 h 5 min fast, 1 h 35 min slow
- Length
- 18,900 words2 chapters
- Pages
- 56 pages85 in large print
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1893by Oscar Wilde
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A strict young wife lays down her rules
The play opens on a Tuesday afternoon in the morning room of Lord Windermere's house in London. Lady Windermere is arranging roses in a blue bowl. Today is her twenty-first birthday, and she gives a dance tonight. Her husband has sent her a fan with her name written on it.
Her first visitor is Lord Darlington, a witty man who pays her elaborate compliments. She tells him she dislikes them. She calls herself a Puritan, raised by an aunt who allowed no compromise. Life, she says, is not a business but a sacrament. Darlington answers that people are not good or bad but charming or tedious.
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1893
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 1 h 30 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Wilde, Oscar. Lady Windermere's Fan. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/lady-windermere-s-fan.
Wilde, O. (2026). Lady Windermere's fan. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/lady-windermere-s-fan (Original work published 1893)
Wilde, Oscar. Lady Windermere's Fan. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/lady-windermere-s-fan.
@book{wilde2026lady,
author = {Wilde, Oscar},
title = {Lady Windermere's Fan},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/lady-windermere-s-fan},
note = {First published 1893}
}
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What is Lady Windermere's Fan about?
It follows a young wife who believes in strict rules and then suspects her husband of paying a notorious woman. Over twenty-four hours, a birthday ball, a letter and a lost fan test her ideas about right and wrong.
Who is Mrs. Erlynne?
She is a beautiful, clever woman with a past who arrives in London six months before the play begins. Society whispers about her, and Lord Windermere asks his wife to receive her, which starts the quarrel that drives the plot.
What does the fan mean in the play?
The fan is a birthday gift with Lady Windermere's name on it. It becomes a weapon she threatens to use, a shield she holds at the ball, and finally the object that links people to a secret place.
The author
Oscar Wilde
1854–1900 · Irish playwright and poet
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) was an Irish poet, playwright, and novelist born in Dublin. He lived in London and later in France, where he died in Paris. He published The Picture of Dorian Gray in 1890. His play The Importance of Being Earnest was first performed in 1895.
More by Oscar Wilde
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