This play may not be as dramatic and engaging as others of Wilde's, but ooh that final line! Again Wilde tackles the subject of gender equality, this time through the conceit of a reunited pair of former lovers and an unbeknownst son. It's actually rather ridiculous that Victorian society treated jilted women in such a way, but interesting that Wilde gave his character a believable success story and an ultimate revenge on the man who mistreated her! I wonder if after the story ends the ne'er do well man actually disappears as he's been made to do, but even more importantly if the woman and her son (and presumably daughter-in-law) will go to America and live far away from the trite scandals of England. This being the second play I've read of Wilde's which emphasizes the benefits of American society over English, I am starting to detect a theme and Wilde has revealed his obvious disdain for England. Interesting for a man so wrapped up in its society... ( )

> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/Wilde-Une-Femme-sans-importance/504779

> Une pièce qui illustre une réflexion sur la place des femmes dans la société, les relations entre les sexes. On pense à Mrs Allonby, femme surprenante, libre, aux répliques digne d'un dandy. Il y a aussi et surtout le destin de Mrs Arbuthnot et de son fils : une vie rendue invivable à cause de l'étiquette sévère d'une aristocratie hypocrite.
—Danieljean (Babelio) ( )

I cheerfully confess that I may be poorly- qualified to review plays based on reading their script. I don't excel at being able to imagine them as performed on stage, especially given the absence of anything beyond the dialogue (not even stage directions about appearances). However, other than to offer no opinion whatsoever, I can do no other than acknowledge these limitations along with my reactions to the written work -- even if for my own amusement and recollection alone. For what it's worth, even a reader as obtuse as myself can recognize Wilde's The Importance of Being Ernest as a wonderful masterpiece, and Salome as a dreadfully unpleasant piece of work.

Quite frankly, I found Oscar Wilde's A Woman of No Importance to be a disappointment. It is melodramatic and sentimental, and (through no fault of the writer) it manifests a long - outdated morality in which a birth outside of the bounds of matrimony is so highly scandalous as to ruin the lives of the woman as well as her offspring. I could call up no sympathy for Gerald (Mrs. Arbuthnot's woman's 20-year old son, around which the action occurs). He is a pathetic milksop, ingratiating and ignorant (including of women). Why Hester (who with her wealth and youth could do far better) would have an interest in marrying him is hard to understand. Beyond the generally unappealing characters are the serial epigrams -- offered in some passages (especially in Act 3) in rapid fire call-and-responses that are far from real conversation. These are cute little phrases intended as witticisms to draw laughter when uttered on stage before a 19th century audience. However, to my ear, they seem labored and artificial, both dated and tiresome, in their commentaries on life "these days" and the alleged differences between men and women

The plot? In a nutshell, Gerald is, unbeknownst to himself, the illegitimate son (as we used to say) of Mrs. Arbuthnot (with whom he lives) and Lord Illingsworth. To do right by his son, Lord Illingsworth seeks to offer him a plush position as his secretary, but Gerald's mother urges him to turn down the position (without telling him why). Gerald is unmoved; and a central conflict of the play revolves around Gerald's ambition and his relationship with his mother, given the latter's secret shame and desires to protect him. When Hester rushes into the room, terribly upset that Lord Illingsworth has "horribly insulted" her (presumably he tried to kiss her), this arouses young Gerald's ire, the first sign of life that he shows. The upshot is that he turns down the position. In the play's least believable episode, Lord I offers to marry Mrs. Arbuthnot, and this gives her the chance to turn him down, as (in the plays' closing words) "a man of no importance". Social retribution triumphs, along with a mother's love for her son, and with nuptials in the offing, the audience goes home happy.

Probably this play comes across better on stage than in print. Further, given the play's time frame, we ought to acknowledge that Wilde was pointing out the hypocrisy of the age, one that judged men and women by different standards, and in which a woman who gives birth outside of marriage is looked down upon, while the man who deceived her can maintain his social position. Wilde also implicitly challenges the standard by which extra-marital pregnancy was so harshly judged.

Quite likely I have overlooked some of this play's charm, significance, and meaning. For an alternative perspective, I recommend my LibraryThing friend Waldstein's review here: http://www.librarything.com/work/11096761/reviews/53782677

In supplementation of this "review", I post here some video links that may be interesting:

1) A one-minute summary, delivered by actors in a recent production:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8Yw0aisXB4

2) A six minute except of a production, with the melodrama evident
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxE0jY_trq0

3) A six minute presentation about a production in Dublin, Ireland:
https://vimeo.com/47474504

4) an excellent BBC radio drama of 90 minutes in duration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JzHw4AHZBU

5) a two-hour stage production, broken into two parts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54DyG-mkORk&t=358s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR0MdZlTnmw ( )

Read as part of my omnibus "The Plays of Oscar Wilde" while listening to the BBC Radio 4X radio drama (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jr48).

This play, while containing some excellent quips including the famous exchange Lord Illingworth: "All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy." Mrs. Allonby: "No man does. That is his.", lacks the lightness of touch that characterizes "An Ideal Husband" and "Lady Windemere's Fan". Instead, Wilde seems almost to pound home his point about the unfairness of society's judgement that when a couple sins, it is the woman who gets punished while the scandal barely affects the man at all.

The BBC Radio drama stars Diana Rigg as Mrs Arbuthnot, Martin Jarvis as Lord Illingworth, Annette Crosbie as Lady Hunstanton and Sir Michael Hordern as Sir Charles Crawford. As might be expected with this cast, it was a treat to listen to these actors. I did regret a few of the cuts that the adaptor made but they were all well chosen in the sense of not disrupting the flow of the talk. Here is one snippet that got cut which as an American I particularly like:

Lady Hunstanton: ... Well, from whatever source her large fortune came, I have a great esteem for Miss Worsley. She dresses exceedingly well. All Americans do dress well. They get their clothes in Paris.

Mrs. Allonby: They say, Lady Hunstanton, that when good Americans die they go to Paris.

Lady H: Indeed? And when bad Americans die, where do they go?

Lord Illingworth: Oh, they go to America. ( )

A small gem of a drama. Oscar Wilde's perfect t use of language makes this play both witty and stinging. A mother maintains her dignity in the face of disgrace, and endears herself to her son while deflating his natural father's haughty condescension. Excellent! ( )