Oscar Wilde

A Woman of No Importance Oscar Wilde

A Woman of No Importance is an 1893 play by Oscar Wilde. Like many of Wilde's plays, it satirizes the mores, restrictions, and repression of upper-class British society around the turn of the twentieth century. Wilde, known for his flamboyance, bisexuality, and trademark wit, was a celebrated Irish playwright who fell from grace when he was accused of sodomy, arrested, and jailed in a high-profile case. His health declined and he died in 1900. His seminal works include The Importance of Being Earnest, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and the more serious The Ballad of Reading Gaol and De Profundis, both written while Wilde was in jail. Act I of the play opens on a terrace at Lady Hunstanton's estate. She is throwing a party, and her guests mingle and exchange gossip. One guest, Lady Caroline Pontrefact, decides to take Hester Worsley, a wealthy visiting American, under her wing. She expresses dislike for Gerald Arbuthnot, a man Hester admires. As the two are talking, Gerald enters to announce that Lord Illingworth has agreed to take him on as a secretary. This represents Gerald's first step towards gaining financial success and political influence. Lord Illingworth has ambitions of becoming a foreign ambassador. Lady Hunstanton has a letter sent to Gerald's mother, inviting her to dinner.