iety.The time frame is also important to the play. This entire labyrinth of irony transpires in less than 24 hours! By this time frame, Wilde expresses how confusing situations become in such a small amount of time. The gossiping Duchess started one little rumor and the rest escalates out of control. This is a microcosm of what happens in life. Bad news makes the blood pump and the heart race. Scandal provokes more passion and feeling. During the play, the characters shift their opinions about Mrs. Erlynne from one extreme to the other, leaving Lady Windermere with her own grief. Everyone likes Mrs. Erlynne after they meet her. This leaves Lady Windermere in a very compromised position because all the commotion dispersed. Later, she too resolves her reservations about Mrs. Erlynne. Thus, Mrs. Erlynne begins as a harlot who climbs the social ladder by winning the approval of nobles and marries a rich man. In the meantime, the Duchess deceptively finds a husband for her daughter, Agatha, Mrs. Erlynne conceals she is Lady Windermere’s mother and Lord Darlington tries to court Lady Windermere. Whew! People feed off scandals and gossip faster than factual information because they take life much too seriously for Wilde’s taste. The end results are just as confusing as the details that render them. Wilde is obviously critical of the way gossip and hypocrisy spins out of control by hurrying the events of the play. The procession of events, scandals and resolutions puts everyone into a tailspin of ebb and flow, even the audience is out of breath. The whole impish production is much too complicated for any character to be truly enlightened or enriched. Lady Windermere’s Fan is a social commentary on how to approach life in general. Wilde took the view one should create for the sake of creativity, or the movement “art for art's sake.” He warned of taking life too seriously. “I never approve, or disapprove, o...
