[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/windermere_fan.png]]

''Lady Windermere's Fan: A Play About a Good Woman'' is a 1892 comedy by Creator/OscarWilde. The play is a comedic satire. It has been made into numerous films, including [[Film/LadyWindermeresFan a 1925 film]] that was directed by Creator/ErnstLubitsch, a 1949 film directed by Creator/OttoPreminger titled ''The Fan'', and a 2004 adaptation that was renamed ''A Good Woman'', {{set|tingUpdate}} it to 1930s Italy, and starring Creator/HelenHunt as Erlynne and Creator/ScarlettJohansson as Windermere.

Lady Windermere suspects her husband may be having an affair, based on the gossip of neighbours and her discovery that he has been paying large sums to a Mrs. Erlynne. Having had enough, she finally leaves him in anger after he invites Mrs. Erlynne to her birthday ball. Mrs. Erlynne follows her to the house of the man who propositioned her, Lord Darlington, who is absent. The two women have a heart-to-heart, and all is not as it seems. Suddenly, a group of men, including Lord Windermere, arrive, forcing the two women to hide. Unfortunately, Lady Windermere has left her fan on the table for her husband to find...

!!''Lady Windermere's Fan'' contains examples of the following tropes:

* AuthorAvatar: Lord Darlington.
* BlackAndWhiteInsanity: Lady Windermere starts out with this.
* {{Blackmail}}: [[spoiler:Mrs Erlynne has been blackmailing Lord Windermere]].
* CurtainCamouflage: Both women do this in Lord Darlington's house.
* DespairEventHorizon: Lady Windermere teeters on this for some time when she thinks her husband is having an affair.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The following could describe either this play or ''{{Theatre/Othello}}'': the titular character [[spoiler:wrongly]] suspects their spouse of infidelity, which is made worse by the spouse pleading to them for favor on behalf of the suspected paramour - and the situation is made even more compromising by the sight of a recognizable personal token that was dropped in someone's private chambers.
* GenerationXerox: Defied; Mrs Erlynne manages to save [[spoiler:her daughter]] from repeating her own mistakes of 20 years earlier.
* GentlemanSnarker: Lord Darlington and Cecil Graham.
* GutFeeling: Mrs Erlynne's saves the day, when she decides to open [[spoiler:Lady Windermere's letter.]]
* HistoryRepeats: Mrs Erlynne lampshades and ultimately [[spoiler:averts]] this trope.
* IrrevocableMessage: Fortunately averted; Lady Windermere's letter is intercepted by [[spoiler:Mrs Erlynne.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Mrs Erlynne.
* KangaroosRepresentAustralia: The Duchess of Berwick invokes this in her conversations with Australian gentleman Mr Hopper.
* LukeIAmYourFather: Subverted. Mrs Erlynne is [[spoiler:Lady Windermere's mother]], but never ends up telling her.
* MacGuffinTitle:
* MistakenForCheating: Lord Windermere.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Mrs Erlynne, upon reading Lady Windermere's letter to her husband, saying [[spoiler:she is leaving him. She concluded he was having an affair when she discovered that he had been paying Mrs Erlynne large sums of money, while the real reason for the payments was blackmail.]]
* MysteriousParent
* OneSteveLimit: Averted. Lady Windermere and Mrs Erlynne share the name of Margaret, lampshaded when the former gives the latter her fan, which has the name inscribed.
* OneWordVocabulary: The only phrase Lady Agatha ever says is "Yes, Mamma".
* ParentalAbandonment: Mrs Erlynne's mistake, which Lady Windermere nearly makes too.
* PerspectiveReversal: Lady Windermere thinks Mrs Erlynne is a wicked woman; her husband, however, thinks there is good in her, allows her to [[spoiler:blackmail him]] because he thinks she deserves another chance, and has her at the house as a guest against his wife's wishes. Mrs Erlynne's act of [[spoiler:saving Lady Windermere from disgrace at the cost of her own second chance in society]] reverses the situation: Lady Windermere is deeply grateful to her, and is forced to dispense with her previous black-and-white worldview; her husband, having witnessed Mrs Erlynne [[spoiler:in a gentleman's chambers at night]] after all he's done for her, considers her beyond the MoralEventHorizon. [[spoiler:He comes around, though.]]
* RedemptionEqualsAffliction: After having [[spoiler:blackmailed]] Lord Windermere, Mrs. Erlynne exposed herself to [[spoiler:scandal]] in order to explain the presence of [[spoiler:Lady Windermere's fan and let her escape unseen.]]
* SecondActBreakup: Literally. The second act ends with Lady Windermere deciding to leave her husband.
* SecretKeeper: Lord and Lady Windermere each keep an important secret from the other in order to save their happy loving marriage. [[spoiler:He never tells her that Mrs Erlynne is her mother, and she never tells him that she went to Lord Darlington's chambers and was rescued by Mrs Erlynne.]] Mrs Erlynne keeps both secrets too.
* SexForSolace: Lady Windermere temporarily resolves to go to Lord Darlington for this.
* SignatureItemClue: Lady Windermere goes to her other admirer's dwellings in a moment of weakness. He isn't there, but Mrs Erlynne arrives there and sets her straight. Both women hide when a group of men including Lord Windermere arrive unexpectedly, but Lady Windermere's fan is discovered on the table, recognised by her husband. [[spoiler:Fortunately Mrs Erlynne gives herself up, allowing Lady Windermere to escape unseen.]]
* SilentScapegoat: Mrs Erlynne becomes one in the last act.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Zigzagged. At first Lady Windermere appears to be a WideEyedIdealist in a world of intrigue and lies, but later, the play moves toward the idealistic side.
* TwistEnding
* WhiteAndGreyMorality: Despite evil being discussed numerous times, especially by Lord and Lady Windermere, there are no wicked characters in this play.
* ZeroApprovalGambit: Mrs Erlynne pulls a spur-of-the-moment one in order to save [[spoiler:Lady Windermere's reputation and her marriage.]]
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