Summary
Act III opens in "Lord Darlington's rooms" (36) with Lady Windermere. She is distraught, and gives a long monologue as she wonders where Lord Darlington is and whether she should return home to her husband.
Mrs. Erlynne finds her daughter at Lord Darlington’s house and tries to convince her to return to her husband. Mrs. Erlynne reveals to Lady Windermere that she destroyed the note, meaning she can go home without fear that her husband already knows what she had planned. She also tries to convince her daughter that what she is doing is a mistake.
At first, Lady Windermere refuses to listen to Mrs. Erlynne, but when Mrs. Erlynne starts to talk about Lady Windermere’s child, she decides to return home.
The two women are forced to hide when they hear Lord Darlington and other men returning home. Lady Windermere hides behind a curtain and Mrs. Erlynne quickly exits through a door.
Lord Windermere and Lord Arthur are also there. They talk at length about women, especially Mrs. Erlynne. They also talk about the concepts of gossip, marriage, goodness, and cynicism.
When Lord Windermere prepares to leave, he notices a fan belonging to his wife on a table and a quarrel breaks between Lord Windermere and Lord Darlington.
In the commotion, Mrs. Erlynne reveals herself, allowing Lady Windermere to escape unnoticed.
Analysis
Act III of Lady Windermere's Fan is rife with dramatic irony. The audience now fully understands that Mrs. Erlynne is Lady Windermere's mother, and knows exactly which characters (Mrs. Erlynne and Lord Windermere) have this information. Thus, throughout the long conversation between Mrs. Erlynne and Lady Windermere, there is suspense building as to whether Mrs. Erlynne will ever reveal her true identity. Her choice not to do so in Act III leads to even more suspense in Act IV.
The fan, already a symbolic and important prop in the play, takes on even more importance at the end of Act III. The fan is metonymous for Lady Windermere in Lord Windermere's eyes; that is to say, it is so importantly linked to her that its presence in Lord Darlington's rooms makes him instantly believe that she must be there. However, the fan also begins to link Mrs. Erlynne and Lady Windermere once Mrs. Erlynne makes it the focal point of her lie on behalf of Lady Windermere. This link is furthered through the sharing of the fan in Act IV.
Mrs. Erlynne's decision to reveal herself and lie for Lady Windermere could be read as a final act of clearing the slate or repenting for her past actions toward Lady Windermere. Mrs. Erlynne saves the marriage of Lord and Lady Windermere in three ways during this act: destroying Lady Windermere's note, convincing Lady Windermere to return home, and finally lying about the plan. All of Wilde's characters present opportunities to question the idea of a dichotomy of good people and bad people, since, like Mrs. Erlynne, they are often very flawed and yet make amends for these flawed actions in other ways.
Wilde provides a nuanced idea of the role of a proper mother during this act. While Act II included the comedic relief of the Duchess of Berwick's overbearing relationship with her daughter, Mrs. Erlynne makes an impassioned case in this act for not leaving one's child, even in cases of marital problems. It can be surmised that Wilde agreed with this view, and wrote these lines in part to show the audience that the proper relationship between mother and child lies between mere presence and total control.
The dialogue between the men in Lord Darlington's rooms contains some of Wilde's most famous lines. The men have an opportunity to be witty and charming, in contrast to the serious nature of the women's conversation just before. This juxtaposition of men's and women's spaces makes a point about the lives and cares of the different genders in Victorian society.
