Language
Language becomes a symbol of the inner person in the play. Lord Darlington’s shift in character from phoniness to sincerity can be tracked by the changes in his manners of discourse. His initial person as a self-conscious dandy is symbolized by his attempts to force display of wit through the use of epigrams and polished flattery. Only when he is sincerely trying to romance Lady Windermere does his speech become less ornate and more familiar with a less oppressively calculated diction and syntax. Likewise, the sincerity of Lord Windermere is never in doubt as a result of the symbolic nature of his plainspoken forthrightness.
The Roses
The roses are very distinctive colored. They are either white or red. No shading, no hues, no commingling to create pinks. They might as well be black and white because they represent the clearly delineated and unambiguous way that Lady Windermere wants to view her world. The dependability of knowing is one of the defining characteristics of the woman and is represented quite well by the roses.
The Fan
The fan wouldn’t be in the title of the player if it wasn’t invested with great symbolic meaning. The problem with whittling that meaning down is it that takes on several meanings at various points and depends upon who it is important to at the moment. The fan at its most basic level symbolizes the trust that Lady Windermere puts in her view of the world as a place of moral absolutes. At the same time, the fan takes on irony when that view causes her to see someone as good when the audience is aware that person is not. The fan also goes through a reversal in which it momentarily becomes the central metaphor for the sudden failure of trust.
Mrs. Erlynne
That Lady Windermere never learns the truth that Mrs. Erlynne is her mother indicates that she is a character intended to be symbolic in nature. The symbolism of the central character—the title character and one the audience is encouraged to identify with most closely—never learning the true identity of this woman situates her as the collective symbol representing all the various other characters who hide their true self behind a carefully constructed persona.
Duchess of Berwick and Lady Agatha
The Duchess of Berwick and her daughter Lady Agatha represent and satirize a type of parent/child relationship present in Victorian England in which the parent exerts total control over the child's life. This was especially true for young women, who were treated as objects to be groomed and situated for marriage. Wilde contrasts this type of relationship and the reserved, docile character of Agatha with Lady Windermere, who is bright and witty and emotional, perhaps in part because she was not raised by an overbearing mother.
