ABSTRACT
Mr. Oscar Wilde is nothing unless brilliant and witty. He has written in a light satirical vein, cultured and refined, and in good taste. There is no particular point about his characters, but they serve as mouths to enunciate the author’s exquisitely funny remarks on society; and this is all that was expected of them. The St. James’s Theatre is, to Mr. Wilde, what the charitable institution is to the amateur dramatic company, a means to an end. Though the remarks of the cynical young men about town, and the garrulous duchess of Berwick, may show a keen appreciation of the vices of society, we are inclined to think that a drama conceived on the lines of Lady Windermere’s Fan, though successful for once, should not be attempted too often, for really, clever and entertaining as it undoubtedly is, it is scarcely a play at all! Mr. Alexander was much perplexed, and did not come up to our expectations in consequence. He was condemned to be good, which was very hard considering the shallow, insincere, cynical throng in which he was mixedup. He is made to do various very silly things in the interests of justice, and evinces throughout the play the knowledge of the world of the average country curate. This is, of course, the author’s fault, not his; but why need Mr. Alexander make the simile more striking by adopting a slightly pulpit style of oratory in all the earnest passages? Here is a question to which there seems no reply. Indeed, we should not have been much surprised had he, on more than one occasion, finished his speech with the ominous words, ‘and here endeth the first lesson.’ That is only one aspect of the question; there are others by which Lady Windermere’s Fan may be condemned. It is very improbable-impossible, one might almost add. Surely a good moral woman, such as Lady Windermere is made out to be, would not desert her husband because of the mere gossip of a scandalmongering old lady. Lord Windermere also would never have allowed matters to come to a crisis without taking his wife into confidence, and explaining to her a little sooner, her relationship with Mrs. Erlynne. But this is not Mr. Wilde’s idea. He is anxious to express to the world his reflections on things in general, to lash the petty vices of people of fashion, and does not, in the least, wish to tell a good story. So the plot does not matter, as the whole interest lies in the conversation, which is as if many Wildes, male and female, were talking together. So far, then, the author is successful. The dialogue is exquisitely funny, is satirical without being aggravating to the audience. It is biting, and at the same time genial and goodhumoured….
