Oscar Wilde’s ideal woman: Constructing Victorian upper-class female identity in Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan

Abstract

Abstract This paper examines the definition of the Victorian upper-class woman in the context of Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan, in light of the prevailing gender roles and conventions of the late Victorian era. Drawing upon Judith Butler’s theories of sex and gender, this study investigates Victorian female subjectivity in terms of the power dynamics between men and women. Drawing upon Butlerian analyses of sex and gender, this paper has explored two divergent representations of upper-class female subjectivity in the Victorian period. The representation of intelligible-gendered identities in the Duchess of Berwick is a key point of consideration when examining Victorian upper-class female subjects. In contrast, Mrs. Erlynne serves as an example of an unintelligible-gendered character, allowing for an exploration of the ramifications of challenging the prevailing power structure. In this article, it is demonstrated that Wilde’s female ideal is neither definitively intelligible-gendered nor unintelligible-gendered; rather, she is a figure who resists power and reacts to any perceived threats to her social standing. This article posits that Wilde’s ideal woman is a semi-intelligible-gendered identity. Furthermore, it is suggested that, despite his advocacy of Women’s rights, Wilde still endorses certain gender roles and binary oppositions between the sexes, one of which is the role of motherhood. Wilde illustrates a scenario in which breaking away from these social conventions would lead to a tragic end which no woman is able to escape.