Mrs Dane's Defence (1900) Quick reference
The Oxford Dictionary of Plays (2 ed.)
...now admits he made a mistake, Mrs Bulsom-Porter's slander isolates Mrs Dane from the community. Lionel (Lal) Carteret has fallen in love with Mrs Dane, so his adoptive father Sir Daniel, an experienced lawyer, mounts Mrs Dane's defence. He wishes to force Bulsom-Porter to retract her story and clear Mrs Dane's name, so that she is free to marry Lionel. However, his skilful questioning reveals that she is indeed Hindemarsh, mother of an illegitimate child, who has lied in order to be able to re-enter society. Her real defence is that, in the harsh world of...
Lady Windermere's Fan (1892) Quick reference
The Oxford Dictionary of Plays (2 ed.)
...to go abroad with her elderly suitor. In this, Wilde's first London success, he treats a favourite Victorian theme, that of the ‘fallen woman’. Even more than in The Second Mrs Tanqueray and Mrs Dane's Defence , Wilde is sympathetic towards her situation (she is the ‘Good Woman’ of the subtitle and original title). Despite its wit and realistic contemporary setting, the piece has not yet wholly removed itself from conventional sentimentality to carry the mark of Wilde's brilliantly cynical observation of society. The full text is available at: ...
