Lady Windermere's Fan

Mar 19, 2008 Tosh rated it 5 of 5 stars

Reading an Oscar Wilde play is sort of like life being perfect. The structure of the work is faultless, the dialogue is uber-clever and fantastic. What's wrong with Wilde? Nothing. He's perfect. I can't imagine any writer who wrote so beautifully in his native language. There are some people who are born with 'it' and Wilde is one of them. Of course for someone so perfect he would have to get involved in some nasty social business via his decade. But when you look back at Wilde, one realizes tha...more

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Sep 08, 2007 Melissa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: plays

Wilde's wit never bores me, which is why he is one of my favorite authors. Below are a few quotations I particularly liked from Lady Windermere's fan:

"... scandal is gossip made tedious by morality."

"In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it."

"What is a cynic?...A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing."

"That is the worst of women. They always want one to be good. And if we are good, when they meet us, they...more

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Jul 05, 2007 Cheri rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: drama-british

I enjoyed reading this play, though the situations are so of their period that it can at times feel unrelatable to any modern person.
I have never seen a good performance of it. In fact, it has produced several of the worst stage productions I have ever seen. The play seems to lends itself to stilted acting and un-motivated action. Worse than that, is watching modern actresses who seem to confuse overt sexuality with flirtation, attempt to reproduce the witty and mannered seductions. And if that...more

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Jun 09, 2010 Yngvild rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: plays

Lady Windermere’s Fan is a collection of catchy aphorisms loosely embroidering a fundamentally silly story. Oscar Wilde understood that the best marketing in the theatre world is to have people quote you, and so he built an entire play around the smart set tossing out modish epigrams like baubles from a Mardi Gras float.

This was the earliest successful Wilde play and it does show some rough edges. The main character, Lady Windermere, is an unappealing puritan, an unlikely target for her besotte...more

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Aug 09, 2008 Simba rated it 4 of 5 stars

God bless Oscar Wilde. Has anyone contributed as much to the conversation of otherwise dull people?

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Jan 22, 2012 Artemisia rated it 4 of 5 stars

LADY WINDERMERE: I'm not interested in her - and - you should not mention this woman and me in the same breath. It is an error of taste.

LADY WINDERMERE: I did not ask her. He insisted on her coming - against my entreaties - against my commands. Oh! the house is tainted for me! I feel that every woman here sneers at me as she dances by with my husband. What I have done to deserve this? I gave him all my life. He took it - used it - spoiled it! I am degraded in my own eyes; and I lack courage - I

...more

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May 16, 2013 Truehobbit rated it 3 of 5 stars

The satisfactory ending, worthwhile lesson/message Lady Windermere learns and the fact that it's a very quick and easy read make this three stars - otherwise I found it doesn't quite work. The characters seem undecided in how seriously they should be taken, the balance between social satire and sentiment doesn't work (in fact, what there is in sentiment doesn't work on its own either, not just in terms of balance with the comedy), and most of the few witticisms in it have unfortunately become so...more

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Apr 13, 2013 Riezkystory rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Naskah drama ini membuat Oscar Wilde terkenal dalam semalam ketika akhirnya disadur menjadi pertunjukan pada tahun 1892. Mengambil plot klise tentang kecemburuan dan kesalahpahaman, Wilde berhasil mengubahnya menjadi teropong luar biasa dari gaya hidup, etika, dan paradoks moralitas kelas menengah atas London di akhir era Victorian. Cerdas, lucu, dan seringkali merupakan kritik sosial, menjelang babak akhir Wilde dengan mulus berhasil menggabungkan unsur komedi dan drama, menjadikan 'Lady Winder...more

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Feb 12, 2013 Charles rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: drama, plays, wilde, marital-crisis

'Lady Windermere's Fan' is flamboyant and unconventional for its time, yet still witty and sophisticated. Just like its author. Wilde's witty dialogue, social and moral evaluations, still have relevance today.

This play concerns Lady Windermere who believed, influenced by gossip from the 'Duchess of Berwick, that her husband may be having an affair with a certain, 'mysterious', Mrs Erlynne. Initially resistant to Mr. Darlington's 'advances' and confessions of love for her, Lady Windermere, howev...more

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Mar 11, 2012 Jonathan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: classic-literature, plays, favourites

While I really enjoyed this play I found it less amusing and interesting than the other works of Oscar Wilde. So for me this is not a case of the play being worth less than five stars but rather that it is overshadowed by Wilde at his best. For I believe that A Woman of No Importance and The Importance of Being Earnest capture the better part of his mercurial spirit.

Lady Windermere's Fan rather than focussing on the characteristic wit of Wilde's far more famous plays is a smart play. It's plot i...more While I really enjoyed this play I found it less amusing and interesting than the other works of Oscar Wilde. So for me this is not a case of the play being worth less than five stars but rather that it is overshadowed by Wilde at his best. For I believe that A Woman of No Importance and The Importance of Being Earnest capture the better part of his mercurial spirit.

Lady Windermere's Fan rather than focussing on the characteristic wit of Wilde's far more famous plays is a smart play. It's plot is well constructed and the characters painted in with a sort of shallowness. That is not to say that Wilde fails to create characters. Rather he purposefully leaves them as half empty caskets so that the reader can perceive how shallow the society of balls and manners really is. In fact that is what Wilde does best and will always be acclaimed for: his ability to make fun of the society of his time. For he did it with his clever understanding of satire so that no one in his audience could feel mocked and yet in a way he did play a joke upon them.

Propriety, is made by Wilde in this play, into a fool's game. Propriety it seems he suggests is a game of airs and shadows. A game which the nobles play at to appear morally superior. However in reality they are all shown in their various ways to be rotten souls. The women are self-righteous and the men are boorish.

I say this is a clever play because Wilde uses a simplistic form of wit. He turns to irony to portray the fallacies of his characters. Lady Windermere, Lord Windermere and Mrs. Erlynne all harbour secrets which the audience is made fully aware of but no other character knows. This of course creates a sense of tension and intrigue and leads onward to a most interesting conclusion. Will they share their secrets? Or will they continue to harbour them? The reader must find out for themselves.

I fully enjoyed this. Yet for the sheer fact that Oscar Wilde has written greater works I found myself not enjoying it to the full five star level it was capable. Perhaps you will disagree.(less)

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Nov 17, 2011 Duesterwald-Online rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: belle-irland, drama

Inhalt:
London im 19. Jahrhundert: Lady Windermere arbeitet an den letzten Vorbereitungen für ihren 21. Geburtstag. Doch genau an diesem Tag erfährt sie, dass ihr Ehemann häufig bei einer Mrs Erlynne zu Besuch ist, die einen sehr zweifelhaften Ruf hat. Als sie dann auch noch erfährt, dass ihr Ehemann dieser Frau größere Geldsummen zukommen lässt, steht die junge Ehe kurz vor dem Aus.
Der Ehemann besteht zwar darauf, unschuldig zu sein, möchte aber, dass seine Frau Mrs. Erlynne zu ihrem Geburtstag...more Inhalt:
London im 19. Jahrhundert: Lady Windermere arbeitet an den letzten Vorbereitungen für ihren 21. Geburtstag. Doch genau an diesem Tag erfährt sie, dass ihr Ehemann häufig bei einer Mrs Erlynne zu Besuch ist, die einen sehr zweifelhaften Ruf hat. Als sie dann auch noch erfährt, dass ihr Ehemann dieser Frau größere Geldsummen zukommen lässt, steht die junge Ehe kurz vor dem Aus.
Der Ehemann besteht zwar darauf, unschuldig zu sein, möchte aber, dass seine Frau Mrs. Erlynne zu ihrem Geburtstag einlädt. Dies scheint das Fass zum Überlaufen zu bringen und Lady Windermere beschließt, ihren Mann und ihr Kind zurück zu lassen, um dem Begehren eines Verehrers nachzugeben.

Meinung:
„Lady Windermeres Fächer“ war mein erstes Stück, das ich von Oscar Wilde gelesen habe. Ich hatte bereits "The picture of Dorian Gray" gelesen und verschlungen und wollte mich an eine seiner Gesellschaftskomödien wagen. Große Erwartungen hatte ich somit nicht, da ich mir keine wirklichen Vorstellungen machen konnte, was mich nun genau erwartet.
Und selbst wenn ich welche gehabt hätte, wären sie wohl alle übertroffen worden.
Ich bin Dramen und Komödien eigentlich immer skeptisch gegenüber gestanden, da ich sie als schwerer zu lesen empfunden habe als ein episches Werk. Oscar Wilde hat mich gelehrt, dass dies nicht immer der Fall sein muss.
Die Dialoge in "Lady Windermeres Fächer" bestechen durch ihren Witz und ihren Einfallsreichtum. Bereits nach der ersten Seite war es mir unmöglich geworden, das Werk noch aus der Hand zu legen. Vor allem das englische Original hat es in sich: Es gibt viele Zitate in diesem Buch, die ich mir wohl mein Leben lang merken werde.
Besonders faszinierend sind die Charakterzeichnungen, derer sich Oscar Wilde bedient. Er erschafft typische gesellschaftliche Stereotypen von Frauen und Männer und zerstört die Illusion des perfekten gesellschaftlichen Lebens dieser Menschen mittels Ironie, Sarkasmus und an manchen Stellen sogar Zynismus.
Für "Das Bildnis des Dorian Gray" habe ich Respekt und Bewunderung gegenüber Oscar Wilde empfunden, seine Gesellschaftskomödien wie "Lady Windermeres Fan" haben mich dazu gebracht, ihn zu lieben.

Fazit:
Missverständnisse, Notlügen, Heucheleien – Wilde greift alle typischen Marotten der Gesellschaft auf.
Das Buch besticht mit Witz, Humor und Wildes Schreibstil.(less)

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Sep 30, 2010 Kaung Myat Han rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: plays

ိဝိတိုရိယေခတ္ေႏွာင္းပိုင္း အိုင္းရစ္စာေရးဆရာ၊ၿပဇာတ္ေရးဆရာ ေအာ္စကာဝိုင္းဒ္ေရးသားခဲ့တဲ့ "ေလဒီဝင္ဒီမီယာရဲ့ယပ္ေတာင္"(၁၈၉၂) ၿပဇာတ္မွာေတာ့ ငယ္ရြယ္ေခ်ာေမာလွပတဲ့ အိမ္ေထာင္ရွင္အထက္တန္းအမ်ဳိးသမီး ေလဒီဝင္ဒါမီယာရဲ့ အထက္တန္းၿဗိတိသွ်လူမွဳ ့
အဖြဲ ့အစည္းအသိုင္းအဝိုင္းမွာ ဝင္ဆံ့ေအာင္ထိန္းထိန္းသိမ္းသိမ္းေနထိုင္ခဲ့ရာမွ တစ္ေန ့မွာ မိမိခင္ပြန္းေလာ့ဒ္ဝင္ဒါမီယာကိုယ္တိုင္ဟာ ေအာက္တန္းစားအမ်ဳိးသမီးလို ့နာမည္ၾကီးေနတဲ့ တစ္ခုလပ္ Mrs. အဲႏုိင္း နဲ ့ ပုံမွန္မဟုတ္တဲ့ပတ္သက္မွဳကို သိသြားတဲ့အခါမွာေတာ့.....

"ေလဒီဝင္ဒီမီယာရဲ့ယပ္ေတာင္"...more ိဝိတိုရိယေခတ္ေႏွာင္းပိုင္း အိုင္းရစ္စာေရးဆရာ၊ၿပဇာတ္ေရးဆရာ ေအာ္စကာဝိုင္းဒ္ေရးသားခဲ့တဲ့ "ေလဒီဝင္ဒီမီယာရဲ့ယပ္ေတာင္"(၁၈၉၂) ၿပဇာတ္မွာေတာ့ ငယ္ရြယ္ေခ်ာေမာလွပတဲ့ အိမ္ေထာင္ရွင္အထက္တန္းအမ်ဳိးသမီး ေလဒီဝင္ဒါမီယာရဲ့ အထက္တန္းၿဗိတိသွ်လူမွဳ ့
အဖြဲ ့အစည္းအသိုင္းအဝိုင္းမွာ ဝင္ဆံ့ေအာင္ထိန္းထိန္းသိမ္းသိမ္းေနထိုင္ခဲ့ရာမွ တစ္ေန ့မွာ မိမိခင္ပြန္းေလာ့ဒ္ဝင္ဒါမီယာကိုယ္တိုင္ဟာ ေအာက္တန္းစားအမ်ဳိးသမီးလို ့နာမည္ၾကီးေနတဲ့ တစ္ခုလပ္ Mrs. အဲႏုိင္း နဲ ့ ပုံမွန္မဟုတ္တဲ့ပတ္သက္မွဳကို သိသြားတဲ့အခါမွာေတာ့.....

"ေလဒီဝင္ဒီမီယာရဲ့ယပ္ေတာင္" ၿပဇာတ္မွာ ဇာတ္ေကာင္
တစ္ခ်ဳိ ့ဟာဝိတိရိယေခတ္ေႏွာင္းပိုင္း ၿဗိတိသွ်လူမွဳ့အဖြဲ ့အစည္းအသိုင္းအဝိုင္းရဲ့ အေတြးအေခၚတစ္ခ်ဳိ ့ကို ထင္ဟပ္လ်က္ရွိေနတာ ေတြ ့ရပါတယ္။ဥပမာအားၿဖင့္ ေလဒီဝင္ဒါမီယာရဲ့ မိတ္ေဆြ ဘားဝစ္ၿမိဳ ့စားကေတာ္ရဲ့ ေတြးေခၚပုံေတြဟာ feminist နည္းနည္းဆန္တယ္လို ့ေၿပာလို ့ရတယ္။ ဒါေပမယ့္ သူဟာ ဝိတိရိယေခတ္အေစာပိုင္းဝါဒတစ္ခ်ဳိ ့ကိုလည္း လက္မလြတ္ႏုိင္ေသးပုံေပၚတယ္။ ၿဖစ္ႏုိင္တာကေတာ့ သူဟာ ေယာက်ာၤးေတြ အေပၚမွာ တေၿဖးေၿဖးနဲ ့စိတ္ကုန္လာၿပီးေနာက္ပိုင္းမွာ feminist ဝါဒီပုံေၿပာင္းလာတဲ့ပုံပဲ။ ဥပမာ သူရဲ့ dialogue တစ္ခ်ဳိ ့ (Men become old, but they never become good) နဲ ့ေလဒီဝင္ဒါမီယာဟာ
သူ ့ေယာက်ာၤးအေပၚမွာ အၾကြင္းမဲ့ ယံုၾကည္ေၾကာင္း naïve ဆန္ဆန္ေၿပာလိုက္ေတာ့လည္း “Pretty child! I was like that once. Now I know that all men are monsters.” ၿပန္ေၿပာလိုက္ပုံေထာက္ၿခင္းကိုၾကည့္ခ်င္းအားၿဖင္းဒီလုိ deduction ဆြဲထုတ္လိုက္တာပဲ။ ေနာက္တစ္ခ်က္က သူရဲ့သမီးေလး အာဂါသာ ကိုလည္းေတာ္ရုံေယာက်ာၤးမ်ဳိး
နဲ ့အိမ္ေထာင္မက်ေအာင္ ေယာက်ာၤးေတြမေကာင္းေၾကာင္းေၿပာတဲ့အခါမွာလည္း အသာေလးေဘးထုတ္လိုက္ပုံတို ့ကိုၾကည့္ၿခင္းအားၿဖင့္ေပ။
ေနာက္ဇာတ္ေကာင္တစ္ခု ေလာ့ဒ္ဒါလင္တန္ ဆိုရင္လည္း ဝင္ဒါမီယာေတြရဲ့ မိသားစုမိတ္ေဆြၿဖစ္ေပမည့္လည္း ေလာ့ဒ္ဝင္ဒါမီယာက အငယ္အေႏွာင္းထားေနေၾကာင္း အတင္းအဖ်င္းေတြထြက္လာေတာ့ ေလဒီဝင္ဒါမီယာကို ေသြးေဆာင္ၿဖားေယာင္းဖို ့ၾကိဳးစားခဲ့ပုံကို ၾကည့္ခ်င္းအားၿဖင့္ ဘားဝစ္ၿမိဳ ့စားကေတာ္ေၿပာသလိုပဲ ေယာက်ာၤးေတြေတာ္ေတာ္မ်ားမ်ားဟာ ကာမကိေလသာရမၼက္ရဲ့ဒဏ္ေၾကာင့္ကို မခံႏုိင္ပဲ အိမ္ေထာင္ရွိ အမ်ဳိးသမီးတစ္ေယာက္ကို ေသြးေဆာင္ၿဖားေယာင္းဖို ့ၾကံစည္ခဲ့တာေၾကာင့္ တကယ္ပဲမေကာင္းပုံတဲ့ အခြင့္အေရးယူတတ္တဲ့ ေယာက်ာၤးေတြမ်ားေၾကာင္း စာဖတ္ပရိသတ္ေတြကိုေၿပာခ်င္ခဲ့ပုံပဲ။ ၿပီီးေတာ့ေလဒီဝင္ဒါမီယာဆိုရင္လည္း အေၿပာေကာင္းေသာေယာက်ာၤးမုဆိုးရဲ့ အာခံတြင္းတဲက်လုလု နီးနီးမွာ မိန္းမပ်က္လို ့နာမည္ထြက္ေနတဲ့ Mrs. အဲႏုိင္းက မထင္မွတ္ပဲ ကယ္တင္လိုက္ပုံ၊ Mrs. အဲႏုိင္း
နဲ ့ေလဒီဝင္ဒါမီယာၾကား ပတ္သက္မွဳတစ္စုံတစ္ခုရွိေနပုံစသည္တို ့ကိုလည္း ေနာက္ပိုင္းမွာလည္း twist ပုံစံေလးေတြနဲ ့ေရးသားထားတာကို ေတြ ့ႏုိင္တယ္။
"ေလဒီဝင္ဒီမီယာရဲ့ယပ္ေတာင္” ဆိုတဲ့အတိုင္း ယပ္ေတာင္ကေလးတစ္ခုကိုဟာလည္း အေရးၾကီးတဲ့ အခန္းကလည္းပါဝင္ခဲ့ေသးတယ္။ ဒါကိုေတာ့ အေသးစိတ္မေၿပာလုိေတာ့ပါဘူး။
ကြ်န္ေတာ္သေဘာက်တဲ့ quotations ေလးေတြကေတာ့ “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” “ကြ်ႏ္ုပ္တို ့အာလုံးဟာေၿမာင္းထဲကို ေရာက္ေနေပမယ့္လည္း
ကြ်ႏ္ုပ္တို ့ထဲက တစ္ခ်ဳိ ့ဟာၾကယ္ေတြ ကိုေမာ့ၾကည့္ေနၾကတယ္”၊ “What is a cynic?” “အၿခားလူတစ္ေယာက္ရဲ့ ရည္မွန္းခ်က္ေတြကို ေဝဖန္တဲ့သူဆိုတာဘာလဲ? “A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing” “အရာရာရ့ဲ ေစ်းႏွဳန္းကိုသာသိၿပီး တန္္ဖိုးကိုမသိေသာသူ”
လို ့ေခၚေၾကာင္း၊ “Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.” “လူတစ္ေယာက္ရဲ့
အေတြ ့အၾကဳံဆိုတာ အဲဒီလူမွားခဲ့တာကိစၥမ်ားပင္ၿဖစ္ေၾကာင္း”၊ “I am the only person in the world I should like to know thoroughly.” “ဒီကမၻာေလာကၾကီးမွာ ကြ်န္ေတာ့္အေၾကာင္းကလြဲလို ့တစ္ၿခားဘယ္သူ လူတစ္စုံတစ္ေယာက္ရဲ့ အေၾကာင္းကိုမွ ႏွံ ့ႏွံ ့စပ္စပ္မသိခ်င္ဘူး” စသည္တို ့ပင္ၿဖစ္တယ္။(less)

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Oct 21, 2009 Liz (Consumed by Books) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 4-star, plays

This was my first Oscar Wilde, and I have to say that I read it more quickly than I would have liked. I was trying to finish it before my Vic Lit book club (which I did) and I think later, I will wish I had spent more time reading the play and enjoying Wilde's writing. This is definitely something which I want to own and re-read, and it really made me want to explore more Oscar Wilde.

A lot of people probably think "homosexual undertones/overtones" when they're reading Oscar Wilde's work, but tha...more

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Feb 02, 2012 Miriam rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: readers who love the Jane Austen world and would like to see them in a play

"Lady windermere's Fan" by Oscar Wilde is a story about a young woman who has been married for only two years and gave birth to a son who is six month old at the time the story takes place. The family lives in a house in London and everything seems perfect until, at Lady Windermere's twenty-first birthday, her husband wants her to invite a woman that he is said to have an affair with. Of course this cannot but cause a lot of trouble and questioning how far anyone should go for love.

Once again "L...more

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Feb 12, 2011 Christine rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

This is the first play I read merely for pleasure. The rest I read for my Lit classes. I admit, the fact that it was on sale at 80% off was a big factor in my purchasing it.

Oscar Wilde's most popular work is of course The Importance of Being Earnest. It's on my to-read list, and if Lady Windermere's Fan is a valid preview of Wilde's style and wit, then I guess I shouldn't wait any longer in reading his other play.

Lady Windermere's Fan is a short easy read, but indeed full of charm and wit! Set i...more

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Mar 25, 2013 Eirene rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: list-for-2013

I decided to read this book because I had just watched the movie The Good Woman. I had not noticed that it was an Oscar Wilde play, but there were too many times throughout the movie that I thought it had a bit of flare of Wilde. However, upon reading this play, I find that the movie is completely lacking. It is highly different from the play itself. The took it into the 1930s, and made Windermere an American- which afforded the director and the writer the opportunity to make highly disparaging...more

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Mar 28, 2010 Núria rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, 2-ni-fu-ni-fa, decimononicos, literatura-en-ingles, prestados, teatro

Ya aviso que ésta probablemente será otra entrega de mi larga serie de “opiniones impopulares”. No soy fan del teatro de Oscar Wilde. El mayor problema creo que está en que Oscar Wilde es uno de los autores más citados de la historia. Has oído tantas veces citas suyas fuera de contexto que cuando las ves inseridas en su contexto original te suenan forzadas, falsas, metidas con calzador, “la gente nunca ha hablado así, soltando aforismos” dices. Otro problema que me cuesta digerir es que sus alta...more Ya aviso que ésta probablemente será otra entrega de mi larga serie de “opiniones impopulares”. No soy fan del teatro de Oscar Wilde. El mayor problema creo que está en que Oscar Wilde es uno de los autores más citados de la historia. Has oído tantas veces citas suyas fuera de contexto que cuando las ves inseridas en su contexto original te suenan forzadas, falsas, metidas con calzador, “la gente nunca ha hablado así, soltando aforismos” dices. Otro problema que me cuesta digerir es que sus altas comedias aristocráticas son terriblemente conservadoras. Los diálogos frívolos tienen apariencia de ser muy rompedores y muy críticos con la sociedad que retratan, pero el fondo es totalmente conservador: los matrimonios no se rompen porque el amor auténtico existe, los nobles en el fondo son buenos y honestos, y todo se aclara finalmente de una forma perfectamente civilizada y feliz. Y que sean unas obras tan conservadoras significa también que son unas obras terriblemente predecibles. Y creo que es en ‘El abanico de Lady Windermere’ donde estos defectos (a mi modo de ver) son más flagrantes.

No sé si vale mucho la pena contar el argumento: una joven huerfanita, bella, pura y honesta sospecha que su marido le es infiel con una mujer mayor a la que visita regularmente. También hay un soltero de oro que va de cínico por la vida pero que luego resulta que es un idealista y que está enamorado de esta joven huerfanita. A partir de ahí los enredos se suceden de forma previsible, puntuados con diálogos ingeniosos y en ocasiones brillantes. Ciertamente está bien escrita, con una estructura clásica que funciona, pero a la vez es tan poco original. Es la más melodramática de las obras de Wilde. Exageradamente melodramática. Realmente hay muy poca comedia. Todos los personajes me han parecido realmente sosos (son demasiado buenos y/o tópicos para ser interesantes). El único que se salva es Lord Darlington. Lord Darlington y los diálogos ácidos burlándose de las costumbres de la alta sociedad, por más que sea una burla inofensiva.
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Jul 23, 2012 El rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: late19th-centurylit, thespian-stuff

(Read as part of the Complete Works of Oscar Wilde.)

Like The Importance of Being Earnest, this play involves some dishonesties, some false pretenses, and so very little communication.

In other words, it's great fun.

I might have enjoyed this more than The Importance of Being Earnest, only because I knew that story going into it, and this was entirely new for me. While the situation is familiar and done to death (by now in the 21st-century), Wilde wrote with a freshness that is undeniable. Maybe it...more

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Feb 09, 2013 Ilona rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is the second play by Oscar Wilde I've read and now I can say that this is the very genre which reveals his talent most clearly. Again A lot of puns and paradoxes (which Oscar Wilde is famous for by the way) and nearly each line is worth citing. Simply perfect.

As for the peculiarities of this very lay fist of all I should point out the plot. The events are arranged in a very curious way and i must confess I never could guess while reading what would happen next, to say nothing of the end of

...more

This is the second play by Oscar Wilde I've read and now I can say that this is the very genre which reveals his talent most clearly. Again A lot of puns and paradoxes (which Oscar Wilde is famous for by the way) and nearly each line is worth citing. Simply perfect.

As for the peculiarities of this very lay fist of all I should point out the plot. The events are arranged in a very curious way and i must confess I never could guess while reading what would happen next, to say nothing of the end of the play. Now I'm really anxious to see this work on the stage because I'm sure that in theatrical atmosphere and performed by good actors it is going to be even more exiting.

The other peculiar point about Lady Windermere's Fan is the characters. And this peculiarity is closely connection with the main idea which on my opinion was put by the author in the very beginning:

"Nowadays so many conceited people go about Society pretending to be good, that I think it shows rather a sweet and modest disposition to pretend to be bad."

And indeed this is the only work by Oscar Wilde, where most of the characters turn to be better in the end that one thought of them in the beginning.

(view spoiler)

So I believe by this play the author tried to show us that you mustn't be prejudiced about anybody no matter what other people say about this person. Lady Windermere having never seen MRs. Erlynne made an impression about her from the words of the main gossiper of the city and a piece of paper with figures and Mrs. Erlynne's name on it. She never spoke to Lord Windermere or Mrs. Erlynne herself about it. No wonder this impression wasn't the best one. Thus as the events following the ones mentioned above show, you should believe only your own experience and your own feelings and before making a judgment about somebody take pains at least to speak to this man.

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Jun 29, 2010 Bruce rated it 5 of 5 stars

Wilde’s wonderful play is both amusing and poignant, in that respect even a greater work than the merely amusing, “The Importance of Being Earnest.” Oh yes, it is filled with the usual scintillating aphorisms that charm and delight us, particularly in Act III:

“Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.”

“A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

“In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting...more

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Jan 19, 2013 Helle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: irish-literature, read-in-2013

This was a quick 'read' (four and a half hours on audiobooks), and though it wasn't among the best works I've read by Wilde, it was a pleasant surprise to suddenly come upon some of his best (and my favourite) quotes; I knew them well but not that they came from this particular play. In chronological order:

"I can resist everything except temptation"

"We're all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars"

"There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the o...more

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Jul 11, 2010 Tanya rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics

"Аз съм загадка - за себе си. От всички хора на света бих искал да опозная напълно единствено себе си; но засега не виждам никаква възможност за това."

"Между мъж и жена приятелство не може да съществува. Страст, ненавист, обожание, любов, да, но не и приятелство."

"Всички се валяме в калта, но някои от нас поглеждат към звездите"

"На този свят има само две нещастия. Едното е да не получиш това, което желаеш, а другото е да го получиш. Второто е далеч по-лошо, то е истинското нещастие."

"- Колко вре...more

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Jun 16, 2010 Neil rated it 3 of 5 stars

The trouble with this play for modern audiences is that one has to relate to Victorian morality for the satire to really work. Otherwise, it comes off as kind of stiff and frumpy for an Oscar Wilde work.

Redeeming this somewhat is that the play is stuffed to the gills with tasty aphorisms, quotes that you probably know but didn't know where they originated.

Ultimately it's a problem that the quotes hold up but the central plot doesn't. The ending is abrupt. Lady Windermere is unappealing. Many of...more

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Jul 21, 2012 Katsumi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: humour, classics

Women have a wonderful instinct about things. They can discover everything except the obvious. -- Oscar Wilde

The plot is about Lady Winderemere who goes from being a pillar of Victorian society to a woman of wandering morals. The woman who pulls her up is the one she suspected of being her husband's mistress. It's a comedy of society manners and morals with acerbic repartees and funny quips, in the great Oscar Wilde tradition.

Now, more than 100 years later, it still has a thought provoking dept...more

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Jan 29, 2011 Malak Alrashed rated it 5 of 5 stars

The dialogue is witty especially in the III act I kept going back to it and laugh every time! ✔ checked.
the writing? come on it's Wilde! He invents words and amaze you with every line he writes! ✔ checked.
Morals? Well, in this play Wilde is kinda mocking of the morals of the Victorian's society back then, and how must of people are judging each other according to their appearance & their reputations they never actually try to give others a chance to show themselves truly. It also shows a dee...more

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Feb 23, 2012 Sham Issa rated it 5 of 5 stars

First book I read for Oscar Wilde, although I've always been a fan of his quotes.
I found the play very amusing and utterly observant and smart, with remarks on the human nature and its tendency to label people and judge them. In the end, no one is entirely bad or entirely good, and nothing is supposed to be viewed in white and black shades exclusively.
I love the cynicism in it as well. Dumby and Cecil Graham are real entertaining characters, with that insightful conversation between the men in A...more

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Jul 03, 2012 Alex rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reading-through-history, 19th-century, 2012

Not Wilde's best. The plot was pretty lame - done before, and with lots of those rom-com situations where you think "This would all be cleared up if they'd just talk to each other like normal humans" - but it's still Wilde, so it's still plenty fun to read and has lots of things you probably would have put as your high school yearbook quote if you'd read it back then.

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."

"Experience is a question of instinct about life."

"There's n...more

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Sep 07, 2011 Benjamin rated it 4 of 5 stars

My first Oscar Wilde play. I'll be honest and say that my only knowledge and interest in reading any Wilde work is derived from Morrissey's fondness of his writing. It makes sense that every piece of work I've read by Wilde I've enjoyed immensely. A play that deals with trust and deceit, this is a very well done story that proves to be an excellent starting point for the transition into more work by Oscar Wilde.

"Men become old, but they never become good."

"I am the only person in the world I sho...more

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Jun 06, 2011 Kelly rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: plays

Oscar Wilde's quotes are so ubiquitous --and we know so many of them-- that it's easy to forget that he wrote plots that originally strung them all together.

Lady Windermere's Fan is not my favorite of the Wilde plots. We may be so far removed from the moral sensibilities of the 19th century that the histrionics over mistaken intentions can only read as melodrama.

Even the wacky Wilde one-liners are a tad more overblown than witty ("We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the star...more

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Oct 01, 2011 Gretchen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I happened on a film adaptation of this play on TV the other night and decided afterwards to read the original. Not the most deliciously clever of Wilde plays, but I think my impression of how good it is might change based on a performance of it. It seems like there is room to do great things with any of the main characters. The film version I saw, A Good Woman, features a woefully miscast Helen Hunt and Scarlett Johannassen (both actresses I normally admire), but I still like the expanded scrip...more

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