1- What is the setting of the biggest part of the story?

- The Windermeres house. / The Windermeres living room.

2- According to your reading of Act I, what were Lord Darlington values concerning
good and bad people and a betrayed wifes payback?
(p. 16/17)
- LORD DARLINGTON: Do you know I am afraid that good people do a great
deal of harm in this world. Certainly the greatest harm they do is that they make
badness of such extraordinary importance. It is absurd to divide people into
good and bad. People are either charming or tedious. I take the side of the
charming.().
He doesnt believe in pure goodness or pure evil. People behave accordingly
with the society they belong to. For instance, if a wife is betrayed by her
husband, Lord Darlington believes she should console herself in another
mans arms.

3- What is the importance of the Duchess of Berwick in Lady Windermeres belief that
her husband was betraying her?
(p. 23)
- The Duchess of Berwick is the one that tells Lady Windermere about the affair
with Mrs. Erlynne people believed Lord Windermere was having. She is also the
one that tells Lady Windermere her husband pays enormous sums of money to
Erlynne.

4- What makes Lady Windermere think that her husband is actually betraying her with
Mrs. Erlynne?
(p. 23)
- She finds a private book in her husbands drawer that proves he was paying
Erlynne big amounts of money.

5- What does Lord Windermere ask his wife to do about Mrs. Erlynne that leaves Lady
Windermere really upset?
(p. 25)
- He asks Lady Windermere to help Erlynne get back into society by inviting her
to a party in their house.

6- Whats humorous about Wildes choice of some guests names, like Dumby, Tuppy
(Lord Augustus), Mrs Cowper-Cowper?

- When describing members of the high society, Oscar Wilde uses silly and
funny names as a way of satirizing these people. For instance, an important
name such as Lord Augustus become simply Tuppy in other peoples
mouths; also the funny sound produced when we say Cowper-Cowper or the
funny meaning of Dumby are ways of irony towards people from the high
class.
7- Why is the subtitle called A play about a good woman?

- Nobody expects Erlynne to be a good woman until the very end of the play.
After we find out about her and, more importantly, when we see how changed
she was, being capable of making sacrifices to save her daughter and not
wanting any kind of acknowledgment for that, the reader is able to sympathize
with her and see that, despite of what society used to say about Mrs. Erlynne,
she was actually a good woman.

8- Why is the fan important for the story?

- The fan was Lord Windermeres present for his wife. It played an important
part on the story since it was the main evidence that made Lord Windermere
discover that her wife had been at Lord Darlingtons house. Another important
aspect is that the fan represented the loyalty of Mrs. Erlynne towards her
daughter, when she would say she had got the fan by mistake and that, in fact,
she was the one visiting Lord Darlington.

9- Why was the night at Lord Darlingtons house important for Mrs. Erlynne,
concerning her relationship with Lady Windermere?
(p. 64)
- That was the first time Mrs. Erlynne really showed her love for her daughter,
Lady Windermere. Even not telling the truth, she could prevent her daughter
from making the same mistake she did when leaving her husband. And at that
moment, by saving Lady Windermere and pretending that Erlynne herself was
actually the one visiting Lord Darlington, Erlynne knew for the first time how a
mother really feels towards her children.
Only once in my life have I known a mothers feelings. That was last night.
They were terrible they made me suffer they made me suffer too much.

10- Why didnt Mrs. Erlynne tell Lady Windermere the truth by the end of the play?

- Lady Windermere thought her mother had passed away when she was young,
so she had the illusions of how good her mother probably was back then. Mrs.
Erlynne doesnt want to take this illusion away from her daughter by telling she
is her real mother, especially since shes made so many mistakes during her life.

- Read carefully these extracts from Wildes play and answer the following questions in
each letter: who said that to whom? What is the importance of this selected extract for
the story as a whole?
a) Yes, you gave me this fan today; it was your birthday present. If that woman
crosses my threshold, I shall strike her across the face with it. (p. 27)

- Lady Windermere said this to her husband, Lord Windermere. That was
the moment when she had found out about Erlynne, thinking she was
Lord Windermeres lover, and her husband would keep asking her to
invite Mrs. Erlynne to her party. It is also an important extract since we
have the fan, the main object in the story, given to her as a birthday
present from her husband. This object throughout the play turns out to be
the symbol of Erlynnes love as a mother towards her daughter; the fan
 would be the only real proof of their bonding at the night of the visit to
Lord Darlington.

b) Yes, I love you! You are more to me than anything in the world. What does
your husband give you? Nothing. Whatever is in him he gives to this wretched
woman, whom he has thrust into your home, to shame you before everyone. (p.
37/38)

- This was said by Lord Darlington to Lady Windermere. That was the
moment he admitted he loved her and when he was insisting on the guilt
of Lord Windermere, making Lady Windermere ashamed of her
husbands behaviors. This is an important part, since later in the story,
Lady Windermere will remember of these words and will think of
running away with Lord Darlington.

c) Why doesnt he come? This waiting is horrible. He should be here. Why is

he not here, to wake by passionate words some fire within me? I am cold cold
as a loveless thing. Arthur must have read my letter by this time. If he cared for
me he would have come after me, would have take me back by force. But he
doesnt care. Hes entrammelled by this woman fascinated by her dominated
by her. If a woman wants to hold a man, she has merely to appeal to what is
worst in him. We make gods of men and they leave us. Others make brutes of
them and they fawn and are faithful. How hideous life is!... (p. 45)

- Lady Windermere is wondering while alone in Lord Darlingtons

house. The importance of this extract lies on her thinking her husband
doesnt love her and that instead, he would prefer to stay with Erlynne.
Thats the reason why she would want to run away with Lord Darlington.

d) I may have wrecked my own life, but I will not let you wreck yours. You
why, you are a mere girl, you would be lost. You havent got the kind of brains
that enables a woman to get back. You have neither the wit nor the courage. You
couldnt stand dishonour! No! Go back, Lady Windermere, to the husband who
loves you, whom you love. You have a child, Lady Windermere. Go back to that
child who even now, in pain or in joy, may be calling to you. (p. 49)

- Here we have Mrs. Erlynne talking to Lady Windermere. The

importance of this extract is that for the first time, Erlynne behaves as a
mother and tries not to let Lady Windermere make the same mistake she
had done in the past by leaving her husband and abandoning her child.

- In the selected extracts, put an H, when theyre humorous, a C, when they represent a
critic or a D, when they are descriptions of the society. Note: more than one letter can
suit for some extracts:

LORD DARLINGTON [smiling]: Ah, nowadays we are all of us so hard up, that
the only pleasant things to pay are compliments. Theyre the only things we can
pay. (p. 14)
-H
 LORD DARLINGTON [still seated L.C.]: oh, 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. Besides, there is this to be
said. If you pretend to be bad, it doesnt. Such is the astounding stupidity of
optimism. (p. 15)
-C

LORD DARLINGTON [rising and moving chair]: And I must say I think you are
very hard on modern life, Lady Windermere. Of course there is much against it,
I admit. Most women, for instance, nowadays, are rather mercenary.
() And men? Do you think that there should be the same laws for men as there
are for women? (p. 17)
-D

DUCHESS OF BERWICK [on sofa L.]: Of course its going to be select. But we
know that, dear Margaret, about your house. It is really one of the few houses in
London where I can take Agatha, and where I feel perfectly secure about dear
Berwick. I dont know what society is coming to. The most dreadful people seem
to go everywhere. They certainly come to my parties the men get quite furious
if one doesnt ask them. Really, someone should make a stand against it. (p. 18)
-D

LORD DARLINGTON: Its a curious thing, Duchess, about the game of

marriage a game, by the way, that is going out of fashion the wives hold all
the honours, and invariably lose the odd trick. (p. 19)
-C

DUCHESS OF BERWICK: () My dear nieces you know the Saville girls,

dont you? such nice domestic creatures plain, dreadfully plain, but so good
well, theyre always at the window doing fancy work, and making ugly things
for the poor, which I think so useful of them in these dreadful socialistic days,
and this terrible woman has taken a house in Curzon Street, right opposite them
such a respectable street, too! I dont know what were coming to! (p. 21)
-H/C

DUCHESS OF BERWICK: () Ah, no, I remember its a boy! Im so sorry.

Boys are so wicked. My boy is excessively immoral. You wouldnt believe at what
hours he comes home. And hes only left Oxford a few months I really dont
know what they teach them there. (p. 21)
-D

DUCHESS OF BERWICK: () However, it is a very young country [Australia],

isnt it?
HOPPER: Wasnt it made at the same time as the others, Duchess?
DUCHESS OF BERWICK: How clever you are, Mr Hopper. You have a
cleverness quite of your own. (p. 30)
-H

LADY PLYMDALE: Oh, you mustnt dream of such a thing. Its most dangerous
nowadays for a husband to pay any attention to his wife in public. It always
 makes people think that he beats her when theyre alone. The world has grown
so suspicious of anything that looks like a happy married life. (p. 33)
-H/D

LADY AGATHA: Yes, mamma.

DUCHESS OF BERWICK [affectionately]: My dear one! You always say the
right thing.
()LADY AGATHA: Yes, mamma.
DUCHESS OF BERWICK: Agatha, you say the most silly things possible. (p. 39
/40)
-H

LORD WINDERMERE: Well, that is no business of yours, is it, Cecil?

CECIL GRAHAM: None! That is why it interests me. My own business always
bore me to death. I prefer other peoples. (p. 51)
-H

DUMBY: Its no use talking to Tuppy. You might as well talk to a brick wall. (p.
55)
-H

MRS ERLYNNE: () That is stupid of you, Arthur; in real life we dont do such
things not so long as we have any good looks left, at any rate. No what
consoles one nowadays is not repentance, but pleasure. Repentance is quite out
of date. And besides, if a woman really repents, she has to go to a bad
dressmaker, otherwise no one believes in her. (p. 65)
-H/D