About the work
Oscar Wilde wrote this society comedy at the request of actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who played the lead role of Lord Illingworth himself. It premiered on 19 April 1893 at the Haymarket Theatre in London and ran for 113 performances until August of that year. The play is the second of Wilde's four society comedies, following Lady Windermere's Fan.
Plot
During a country-house visit at Lady Hunstanton's, young Gerald Arbuthnot is offered the post of private secretary to the charming Lord Illingworth. His mother opposes the appointment, since Illingworth is the man who seduced her twenty years earlier and refused to marry her when she was carrying his child. When Illingworth later makes advances toward Gerald's fiancée Hester, Mrs Arbuthnot publicly rejects him and, despite social pressure, refuses to marry him even now.
Cultural significance
Wilde used the play to expose the double standard of Victorian society, which forgave men's transgressions while permanently ostracising women for the same. Critical response was divided between praise for the wit of the dialogue and reservations about the plot's construction; in retrospect it is regarded as the weakest of Wilde's four society plays.