In Lady Windermere fan, marriage is perceived from more
than one perspective. Lady Windermere and Lord Windermere are a young, aristocratic and
rich couple who presumably married for love and not for the sake of securing rank,
fortunes, or social standing. The typical Victorian marriage was expected to be
superficial, if not beneficial for all parties involved. Yet, women would still be
considered second class citizens and men took the lead in most
everything.
As far as traditionalism, we see from the
Duchess of Berwick that Lord Windermere had been giving money to a certain Mrs. Erlynne.
The Duchess conveys this information to Lady Windermere and warns her how this is a very
typical condition of men, that men often tire of their wives immediately after marriage,
and that just by going abroad she can just help him "distract" from the
mistress.
On the other hand, Lord Windermere (who was not
Mrs Erlynne's lover but rather was buying her a position in society- Mrs. Erlynne was
secretly Lady Windermere's mother), was very specific in that his wife had no business
being jealous, checking his finances for his money, and he demanded that she not only
accepted Mrs. Erlynne, but that she also invites her to other visits. Even against her
will, Lady Windermere did as she was told, and grudgingly went to seek the attentions of
her admirer, Lord Darlington, to get back at Lord
Windermere.
Finally, from Mrs Erlynne's perspective we see
the typical woman who needs to acquire money (this time, by blackmailing Windermere into
disclosing herself to her daughter, his wife) to be worthy of marrying an aristocrat and
save her reputation- after all, just by acquiring the rank would make her past magically
disappear.
Therefore, the views of marriage in Lady
Windermere fan are stereotypical of a Victorian, superficial and shallow marriage which
an be weakened by the machinations of society at any given time.
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