Eltis indicates in Revising Wilde: Society and Subversion in the Plays of Oscar
Wilde that Mrs. Erlynne “very deliberately contradicts the conventional, sentimental
moral, rejecting the role of mother as it interferes with her freedom” (72). Mrs.
Erlynne claims to her son-in-law that she had lived childless and wants to live childless continuously. As Eltis claims, “[s]he does not wish to be a mother nor to be trammeled by the moral strictures of English society” (72). Mrs. Erlynne’s statement is a reassurance to Lord Windermere; but to her, she saves her daughter and herself at the same time:
MRS. ERLYNNE. Oh, don’t imagine I am going to have a pathetic scene with her, weep on her neck and tell her who I am, and all that kind of thing. I have no ambition to play the part of a mother. Only once in my life have I known a mother’s feelings. That was last night. They were terrible—they made me suffer—they made me suffer too much. For twenty years, as you say, I have lived childless—I want to live childless still. (Act IV, p.60)
Eltis continues that “[it] is this rejection of motherhood that Wilde presented his most radical challenge to Victorian theatrical stereotypes and to the moral values they upheld” (72). Mrs. Erlynne’s decision, according to Eltis, is a breakthrough for the drama stereotype in the Victorian age, and also an unpredictable result for the Victorian audience. To Mrs. Erlynne, her freedom is more important than the identity of being a mother. After measuring her situation and her future, Mrs. Erlynne chooses to live childless. The family reunion is regarded as the happy ending for most of the
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dramas, but in Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan, this family reunion “holds no promise” (74) and is a “threat of confinement from which she escapes” (74) in Mrs.
Erlynne’s previous choice. “Mrs. Erlynne’s rejection of the maternal role provides yet another example of Wilde subverting the traditional theatrical climax” (74).
With this observation, Eltis boldly claims that “[t]hrough Mrs. Erlynne, Wilde not only subverted all the conventions governing the behavior of the fallen woman, but dared to question the sacred status of motherhood as woman’s greatest ambition”
(73). With his brave female character, Wilde conveys the messages to the women in the Victorian age that “family” is not that sacred which could never be challenged.
More specifically, the choice of Mrs. Erlynne provides a different decision which differentiates from the Victorian conventions. The perspective that fallen women are bad and should be excluded outside the society is questioned by Wilde through Mrs.
Erlynne’s statement. Although to the Victorians, this avant-garde choice is still overwhelming to them, Wilde’s radical stones still stirred the ripples on the suface of the conventional family structure. Therefore, “Mrs. Erlynne’s rejection of her daughter is not inspired by any lack of heart but rather by her adherence to an unorthodox and independent system of values” (75). The characteristics of Mrs.
Erlynne is quite unique to the women in the Victorian age, and even different from the female characters in dramas which are familiar to the people in Wilde’s time. Mrs.
Erlynne shows the independence of a woman. The women in the Victorian age were supported by husbands or fathers. They cannot decide what they want, never to think about the independence. Women who leave the structure of the patriarchal system would taste the bitterness of the reality and would find no shelter for themselves.
However, Mrs. Erlynne’s existence ignites a little fire not only in the theatrical world but also in the conventional Victorian values.
According to Eltis’ research, Wilde’s careful revision made Mrs. Erlynne
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challenge to the “popular conventions governing the behavior of the fallen woman”
(76) because in Wilde’s first autograph version of the play, Mrs. Erlynne “talks with regret of the family ties she has lost” and that Mrs. Erlynne is an “altogether weaker and more conventional character12” (76) in the first version. However, “when the poised, generous, and self-possessed Mrs. Erlynne of the final version rejects the role of mother, however, her actions challenge the traditional estimation of motherhood as the highest condition that woman could aspire of” (77). In the end of the play, Wilde
“subverted theatrical conventions by rewarding his fallen woman with the ultimate prize of a husband” (79), which the Victorian critics felt ridiculous and unbelievable.
It is this result that makes the critics outraged with sacrilegious offense because instead of “enduring a painful death, poverty, or the rigours of hospital nursing, Wilde’s fallen woman not only leaves the stage in perfect health, impervious to the moral strictures which demanded her repentance and conversion, but also ends the play in possession of a husband” (Eltis 78). Wilde allows his mother character to escape unscathed.
In Lady Windermere’s Fan, Mrs. Erlynne is positioned as a single lady with a past. Although she knows that she has a daughter, she never uncovers this fact, except in front of Lord Windermere. But, it is only because she wants her son-in-law to bribe her with some money to cover up the secret. Mrs. Erlynne does not approve of her mother identity in the play. She saves her daughter from involving in adultery as a mother, yet only at that moment, she considers herself as a mother connecting with
12 In the first version of Lady Windermere’s Fan, when Lady Windermere asks Mrs. Erlynne, “Shall I never see you again, Mrs. Erlyne?” (see Lady Windermere’s Fan Act IV, p.57), Mrs. Erlynne replied, “I am afraid we shall never meet again. Our lives lie too far apart. You have so much in life—a husband who loves you—a child who loves you[.] I am—well, something of the Bohemian is in my veins. I have none of these things. You see, I am quite alone in the world Lady Windermere. I have no relations, or ties of any kind. I have my freedom. It is rather like freedom in the desert—but it is freedom, I suppose.” According to this quotes of the first version of the play in Revising Wilde: Society and Subversion in the Plays of Oscar Wilde, Eltis considers that “neither is [Mrs. Erlynne] a true Bohemian, for her freedom is indistinguishable from loneliness” (76).
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her daughter. Other time in the play, Mrs. Erlynne seems to be a woman who specifically understands herself, realizes what she really longs for, and she makes decisions for her own sake, not for her daughter. She does not regard herself as a mother, but a woman who is free to pursue her own happiness. Her behaviors in the play all show to the audience that she has her own opinions and she would not allow anyone to dominate her life. Her bold and unconventional behaviors include participating the birthday party Lady Windermere holds; talking to the men in the upper-class; introducing herself to the old Duchess and winning the admiration of the Duchess. Her charming attitude and her socializing skill are approved by the guests in the party, whether in a positive or ironic way. Those guests give comments on Mrs.
Erlynne that she has a cunning and powerful speaking skill and is aggressive at giving responses to the others. Lady Windermere even ironically compliments Mrs. Erlynne for she thinks Mrs. Erlynne really makes herself comfortable in the Windermere’s house, just like the hostess. Mrs. Erlynne’s incomparable confidence is also the main reason which forces Lady Windermere to leave the house, as she feels she had lost her status in the house. In other words, Mrs. Erlynne has the quality that Lady Windermere does not have, and thus makes Lady Windermere feels Mrs. Erlynne is a threat to her. Facing that kind of fear, Lady Windermere tries to ignore Mrs. Erlynne but in vain because Mrs. Erlynne is so extraordinary and she has her own thought and opinions instead of following the others. Those reasons make Lady Windermere consider Mrs. Erlynne a very tricky enemy to conquer. Therefore, Lady Windermere did feel embarrassed when meeting Mrs. Erlynne in the party as Mrs. Erlynne is like the sparkling and bright spotlight that catches the whole attention in the party.
In A Woman of No Importance, Mrs. Arbuthnot loves her son so much that she does not want Lord Illingworth to get closer to their son, though Lord Illingworth wants to offer some help as a father. But, because Gerald wants to work with Lord
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Illingworth as this young fellow is attracted by his father’s life philosophy, Mrs.
Arbuthnot compromises after “discussing” with Gerald. In order to fulfill her son’s wish and ambition, she passively gives up on persuading her son from quitting the job as a secretary of Lord Illingworth. As we all think “she is a mother who can sacrifice herself for her son’s sake,” Mrs. Arbuthnot refuses to be framed as this typical woman at the end of the play. Surprisingly, she rejects her son’s suggestion and strongly refuses to marry Lord Illingworth as this man hurts her so much.
Mrs. Arbuthnot has her own reasons. First, she cannot get married to Lord Illingworth due to the hatred; second, she does not think having Gerald is a guilt. Her perspectives then overwhelmed the rooted Victorian values of family structure, in which represents by Gerald. Gerald considers that Mrs. Arbuthnot should marry his father in order to restore her reputation. But to Mrs. Arbuthnot, she does not think she lose any reputation because of Gerald. She thinks she lives well without this marriage.
In her young age, she might want to form a family with Lord Illingworth, but that was before she discovered that Lord Illingworth is a man who only cares about his own advantages, and for his heir inheriting right so he listens to his mother’s words and
“technically” abandons Mrs. Arbuthnot for pursuing his prosperous and promising future. Eltis indicates that “A Woman of No Importance offered the theatrical clichés of the vulnerable woman who becomes a victim of male depravity, the humble and self-sacrificing mother, and the noble son who honours and protects her in spite of her shame” (96); however, “Wilde subtly recast these conventional elements in order to question the sexual and social mores on which they were based” (96). Mrs.
Arbuthnot’s hope as a woman and as a mother, is to live the rest of her life with her son and to remain single without getting married. Therefore, “Wilde’s unmarried mother fights fiercely against her former lover for sole possession of their son. Her absorption in her son does not lead her to deny her own desires but to place them
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before the wishes of her child” (Eltis 105). Mrs. Arbuthnot lastly reveals her wishes, turning the image that she is a wronged and self-abased woman from the beginning of the play. Unlike the other conventional stage-mother characters in the plays of the Victorian age, Mrs. Arbuthnot “rejects the standard association of maternity and self-sacrifice. Mrs. Erlynne rejected motherhood as too exacting; Mrs. Arbuthnot simply redefines the mother’s role, demanding instead that the son sacrifice himself to her” (Eltis 106). This is the special feature and characteristics of Mrs. Arbuthnot, thus, even though she is different from Mrs. Erlynne, she is a brave woman who dares to fight against the frame of the family structures in the Victorian age. Mrs. Arbuthnot is passively active, as she appears like a weak woman in the play but speaks for herself boldly in the end of the play. Wilde uses this character to increase a new page in the history of Victorian mother characters.
Mrs. Arbuthnot’s charm is in the reversion of her personality that she subverts the typical image of Victorian mother and woman. “Ostensibly, Mrs. Arbuthnot fits into this role: she wears black, hides away from the subtle of society, and devotes herself to religion and charity. Yet when she describes this life of piety and atonement to Gerald it is in tones far from conventional” (106). Mrs. Arbuthnot’s reversing charm then reveals in the play. Mrs. Arbuthnot chooses a different choice rather than taking her son’s suggestion. She bravely speaks for her life and does not hesitate to argue with her son. Even though Gerald still could not understand her mother’s thought, he is later persuaded by Hester. Hester’s opinion actually supports Mrs.
Arbuthnot’s avant-garde choice. As an American, Hester’s statement represents a different idea which differentiates from the Victorians. In the play, Wilde allows Hester to debate with the upper society aristocrats and rectifies these aristocrats’
prejudice about America, though the effects are not that influential. Rather than correcting the prejudice of the English, Hester’s speech highlights more ironical
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elements in the play for the audience to laugh at. But, this lady, who is a stranger and outsider coming from America, accepts Mrs. Arbuthnot as her closest family. “It is less a matter of whether Lord Illingworth or Mrs. Arbuthnot be the guiltier party, than whether terms of innocence and guilt should be applied to human, and more specifically sexual, behaviour” (Eltis 100). Wilde considered it a shame that there was a law for men and another law for women; he thought there should be no law for anybody as he commented in an interview (Eltis 100).
Mrs. Arbuthnot admits that she is guilty about running away from home and eloping with her lover. However, she embraces this guilt and thinks Gerald is more important than her guiltiness. She thinks atonement is the arbitrary claim which would make her son a stain; however, she does not consider Gerald as a life stain. Instead, she thinks having Gerald is the happiest thing in the world as Gerald is her precious jewel. Her special opinion determines the later decision she makes. Staying in a free individual status is Mrs. Arbuthnot’s wish. Marriage is not in Mrs. Arbuthnot’s option because marrying Lord Illingworth means, in disguised form, that she admits that through marriage she would live an ordinary but better life without the condemnation of the conscience. Rather than living with the identity of a legal wife, Mrs. Arbuthnot feels that staying single will be more comfortable, not to mention that Lord Illingworth is her foe she hates from the bottom of her heart after she left him when she was still a young lady. She clearly claims her statement that she would never condescend herself to live a marriage life with someone she does not love:
MRS. ARBUTHNOT. . . . I do not feel it, nor will I ever stand before God’s altar and ask God’s blessing on so hideous a mockery as a marriage between me and George Harford. I will not say the words the Church bids us to say. I will not say them. I dare not. How could I swear to love the man I loathe, to honour him who wrought you dishonour, to obey him
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who, in his mastery, made me to sin? No; marriage is a sacrament for those who love each other. It is not for such as him, or such as me. (Act IV, p.132-3)
Mrs. Arbuthnot is a woman who would not go against her conscience to live. She thinks marriage is for those who love each other, but not for her and Lord Illingworth as they hate each other. Again, Mrs. Arbuthnot tells Gerald how much she loves him, but then she also confesses that she cannot lie to God when standing in front of God.
The testimony in the marriage is not something she thinks which is suitable for her and Lord Illingworth.
Mrs. Arbuthnot insists on staying in the status of unmarried and she rejects Gerald’s proposal to marry Lord Illingworth. Although Mrs. Arbuthnot knows this is Gerald’s anticipation, she still takes her decision as her crucial determination. She does not compromise to her own son though she loves him a lot and regards him as her precious treasure; therefore, Mrs. Arbuthnot does not give up on insisting her own decision. Remaining unmarried can protect the freedom of individuality, also to prove to the public that she can live without men’s supports. Mrs. Arbuthnot’s behavior agitated that women’s free choice cannot be restricted by men at that period of time, as most of the people would expect Mrs. Arbuthnot takes her son’s suggestion, because she has no husband and no rights. Instead of turning Mrs. Arbuthnot into the typical mother who relies on her son, Wilde allows Mrs. Arbuthnot to represent the free spirit which is not so common and familiar to the audience among the dramas and the reality in his time.
Mrs. Arbuthnot is a tough-hearted woman who sticks to what she wants under the appearance of tenderness. Gerald is shocked when he learns that his mother refuses to marry his father. To Gerald, the traditional family perspective is important.
He thinks about restoring his mother’s good reputation. If his mother promises to
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marry Lord Illingworth, she would not have to be an unmarried single mother but as a respected woman in the society. Gerald never thinks of her mother feelings and thoughts; moreover, his mother’s refusal even makes him feel uncomfortable and confused:
GERALD. I implore you to do what I ask you.
MRS. ARBUTHNOT. What son has ever asked of his mother to make so hideous a sacrifice? None.
GERALD. What mother has ever refused to marry the father of her own child? None. (Act IV, p.132)
Both Gerald and Mrs. Arbuthnot insist on their opinions. To Gerald, he thinks his mother marring his father is not a difficult thing to do; but for Mrs. Arbuthnot, she regards it as a hideous sacrifice. Their opinions are against each other, symbolizing the two trends of concepts. Gerald’s idea represents the conventional society, while Mrs. Arbuthnot’s thought breaks the structure and the value of family in the Victorian age. Mrs. Arbuthnot rejects to marry Lord Illingworth because of the hatred. Hatred is a feeling, very personal and concealed. Mrs. Arbuthnot respects her true feelings instead of following the rules of the society. Instead of compromising herself, she chooses to make herself live happier.
Harold Bloom claims that Mrs. Arbuthnot is willing “to sacrifice her love for Gerald for the sake of his happiness” (Oscar Wilde: Bloom's Major Dramatists, 80);
however, when Gerald demands Mrs. Arbuthnot to marry Lord Illingworth in order to restore her good name, she “is absolutely firm in her refusal to sacrifice her hatred for Illingworth for anyone’s sake” (80). In the play, Mrs. Arbuthnot confesses to her son about how she loves him and cares for him as a mother. Mrs. Arbuthnot’s statement is definitely touching that as a mother, her confession to Gerald reveals honestly in front of him without any hidden secret:
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MRS. ARBUTHNOT. . . . And yet, to bear you I had to look on death. To nurture you I had to wrestle with it. Death fought with me for you. All
MRS. ARBUTHNOT. . . . And yet, to bear you I had to look on death. To nurture you I had to wrestle with it. Death fought with me for you. All