Lady Wildermere

In Oscar Wilde’s play, Lady Windermere’s Fan the character’s values and the nature of their society are revealed through literary techniques. The literary schools of gender and deconstruction can be applied to the excerpt to show a deeper meaning. The technique of symbolism is illustrated in order to grasp the understanding of why the characters are together. The literary techniques used by Oscar Wilde portrays the satire of society and the character values in the play. Each technique picks the words apart and provides a larger outlook.

The literary school of gender is used by Wilde to demonstrate the character’s values and their society. The male and female parts in this play are clearly portrayed as society automatically assumes; women are there just to entertain, while the husbands control everything. The woman, Lady Windermere, is presented as royalty and is seated while the Lord stands. Not only is the Lady siting, but as the Duchess appears she also proceed to sit. Within those actions the femininity is shown amongst woman as they entertain their guests. There is a strong sense of a man as he stands to talk to the women, forcing the women to look up at him. This can be analyzed as the man being the power figure that stands above all. This illustrates that their values follow the gentleman vs. woman view and their society is amongst the highest. Their manors are high and of pure courtesy and respectfulness. As the Duchess says that the women are “getting elbowed into the corner. Our husbands would really forget our existence if we didn’t nag at them from time to time,” the value of women vs. man is shown. Wilde depicts the common society aspect that the husbands are the head, and the wives just nag.

Using the literary school of deconstruction, one can analyze the values of characters and their society, in a satirical way. The language used in the play portrays a higher level of respect and society classes. With words like, duchess, lady, and lord it is...