drama was that it made the characters superficial and two dimensional types subordinate to the plot. All the character were like puppets in the service of the plot and the representatives of their time criticizing the institutions and social patterns. They were a kind of conventional type such as Mrs Erlynne who is a woman with an unknown past and some facile virtues and Lady Windermere who is a rigid and conservative puritanical lady. As the well-made play did not treat the characters and the issues completely and deeply , they were left inconsistent and undeveloped . The play of situation pointed at drawing attention the spectator , not only to the character but also , the action and the behaviours that the character will do next .1 For instance ,when the men come to Darlington rooms , what will Lady Windermere and Mrs Erlynne do? What will they do , when they see the mislaid fan?What will do Lord Augustus when she was Mrs Erlynne under the curtain.etc.Lady Windermere’s Fan by Oscar Wilde ,which was his first success in the theatre and a comedy of social class , is set in the plot construction of the tradition of the well-made play. The plot of the play is constructed in the ‘exposition’ , ‘crisis’ rising through the complication caused by devices and solved easily and ‘denoument’. In Lady Windermere’s Fan as in Wilde’s other plays not only these elements such as devices , complications and solutions are used , but also unities of time and place are limited in the plot emphasizing a single dramatic action. The unity of time is underlined in the synopsis of the scenes of the play : ‘The action of the play takes place within twenty-four hours , beginning on a Tuesday afternoon at five o’clock and ending the next day at 1.30 p.m.’ In such a short time , the relation between Mrs Erlynne and Lord Windermerewhich rumoured for six months suddenly emerged as a scan...
