Lady Windermere's Love Analysis

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In his play, Shaw brings up the realities and issues of the restrictive marriage and divorce laws in England, especially how they affect women. Cuthburtson we know has a judicial divorce because everyone knows about it, because of the publicity of divorce courts at that time. The biggest reference to the issue of marriage and divorce however is in the original third act regarding Julia and Paramore. The couple is struggling because they are no longer happy, in fact were never really happy because they never really cared for each other in the first place. Paramore and Grace wish to get married and Julia 's heart is still with Charteris, although she has no chance of convincing him to marry her. Because divorce could only be initiated based …show more content…

Paramore cannot be the one to commit adultery either considering his and Grace 's reputation at stake. Paramore 's practice would be ruined and an affair is "not in Grace 's character". Finally at the end of the act, they decide to go to South Dakota (despite Julia 's unwillingness) where the divorce laws are much more lenient so that Paramore and Grace are free to marry each other once the divorce is final.
Lady Windermere 's Fan by Oscar Wilde: In Lady Windermere 's Fan, Wilde focuses on the role of society, reputation and the scandal of a divorce. There are a few couples talked about in this play, beginning with Mrs. Erlynne and her lover she left Lady Windermere 's father for. When they got divorced there must have been some money left to Mrs. Erlynne but not quite enough for her to …show more content…

There are two couples in this play who are struggling with the marriage and divorce issue. First, Lady Kitty , C.C and Porteus all began with high statuses. Lady Kitty decided to leave her husband and child for her lover Porteus, a colleague and friend of her husband 's. C.C divorces Kitty who no longer has custody of their son Arnold, however they are unable to remarry because Porteus 's wife refuses to divorce her husband and go through the scandal and loss of income. However, even if by the time of the play his wife chose to give in and divorce her husband, by now it has been over thirty years, it would be too late. The law required that if a couple was seeking a divorce that it had to be filed within a certain time period after the adultery had first occurred, or else the wife would be seen as permitting the affair. Of course, because Porteus and C.C both held high ranking jobs as politicians, the scandal of the divorce court cost them their jobs and seats in parliament and any chance of becoming Prime Minister. The name of the play becomes clear when the child of C.C and Lady Kitty, Arnold, has to endure the same fate as his father he 's been spending his entire life trying to overcome. Arnold is a collector of beautiful things, and it is quite clear that his wife Elizabeth is one of

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