The Importance of Being Nameless in Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan

초록

By using Jacques Lacan’s theory of language, this paper discusses the importance of being nameless in Victorian male-dominated society. According to Lacan, having a name, more specifically a father’s name, means the subject’s entrance into the “symbolic,” thereby being accepted to Victorian society. Although Lady Windermere was a nameless figure, she earns the name of Lord Windermere, who functions as a symbolic father. In doing so, she finally succeeds in becoming a typical and good Victorian woman. However, Mrs. Erlynne, who mocks and tries to destabilize Victorian society, is willing to be a nameless figure and eventually leaves Victorian society. Through Mrs. Erlynne, Wilde reveals the absurdity of this male-dominated society.

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