Discuss how you would perform the role of Lady Windermere in three separate sections of the play, in order to reveal her change in attitude towards Mrs Erlynne.

[EXTRACT OF WHAT WOULD HAVE TO BE A LONGER ESSAY IN AN EXAM]

When Lady Windermere says to her husband, ‘You are very jealous of Mrs Erlynne’s honour’, I would follow Wilde’s stage direction and ‘turn to him’ then speak with an accusatory tone, suggestively raising my eyebrows and a tilting my head with a raised chin in order to both accuse and dismiss, in an attempt to seem strong. I would work especially hard to demonstrate my disgust when speaking Mrs Erlynne’s name, wrinkling my nose and scowling as I say it. Then, when she continues to say, ‘I wish you had been as jealous of mine’, I would straighten my posture, lower my chin and shift my tone to something more aggressive, raising the volume and lowering my pitch, gripping the sides of my dress in anger, finally turning away from Lord Windermere sharply, allowing the swirl of my Victorian dress to emphasise my fury, and then stride quickly and severely across the stage towards the flowers, which could symbolise both her ‘honour’ and Darlington’s flirtatious invitation to be a friend. Honour and reputation were two highly valued aspects of Victorian life as any slight to honour or reputation, any indecorous behaviour would have quickly become part of Society gossip, thus jeopardising ones’ membership among the elite. It makes sense that Lady Windermere’s disgust for Mrs Erlynne results partly from her role in dishonouring both her and her husband, especially as Victorian husbands were supposed to be the guardians of their wives’ honour, despite being notorious for infidelities….

Later, Lady Windermere displays her aversion and contempt for Mrs Erlynne threatening to strike her across the face with her fan if she attends the ball. After picking up the fan off the table stage right, I would slowly walk towards Lord Windermere down stage left, delighting in a slow paced, lilting gait as I swirled the fan around while pointing it in my husband’s direction, while saying, ‘Yes, you gave me this fan today; it was your birthday present.’ I would use a sickly sweet tone which would contrast greatly with the intimidating nature of my approach, the tense taunting gesture with the fan and my contemptuous facial expressions. I would linger on the words ‘birthday present’ emphasising my displeasure by almost spitting out the plosive consonants ‘b’ and ‘p’ and the final ‘t’. Then my tone would shift to something more obviously threatening with a deep pitch and slow pace, building tension for the audience and Lord Windermere on ‘If that woman crosses my threshold’, and then raise my left hand in front of Lord Windermere’s face while striking it forcefully with the fan in my right hand on the word ‘strike’ in ‘I shall strike her across the face with it’, which I would say in a loud outburst, almost losing control. I would hope to make Lady Windermere’s venom for Mrs Erlynne and her husband’s perceived infidelity clear through these choices, turning a typically Victorian symbol of a woman’s coming of age into a weapon of revenge.