Plays
Wilde wrote nine plays in all between 1879 and 1894. His fame as a dramatist rests on four comedies – Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, The Importance of Being Earnest –, and the tragedy Salomé. His plays continue to dazzle audiences even a century after his death.
All his plays are freely available on this site:
All his plays are freely available on this site:
- A Florentine Tragedy »
A story of a wealthy merchant who, finding his wife in the arms of a local prince, strangles his rival. (7 pages)
- A Woman of No Importance »
Satiric play about hypocrisy and double standards of the Victorian upper classes. Wilde's take on dark comedy. (39 pages)
- An Ideal Husband »
Witty social satire filled with poignant humor as well as romance, intrigue, and scandal. Criticism of Victorian society. (54 pages)
- La Sainte Courtisane »
A play portraying Myrrhina, beautiful and wealthy noblewoman, and a Christian hermit, Honorius. (4 pages)
- Lady Windermere's Fan »
A witty four act satire on the relationships and gender double-standards of the upper-class Victorian society. (38 pages)
- Salomé »
Tragic story of Salomé, the step-daughter of King Herod and the beheader of John the Baptist. (21 pages)
- The Duchess of Padua »
Five-act melodramatic tragedy set in Padua. A story of love, treachery, and redemption. (39 pages)
- The Importance of Being Earnest »
Classic romantic comedy about love, deception, and mistaken identity. Whimsical satire of Victorian society. (38 pages)
- Vera, or the Nihilists »
Melodramatic tragedy based on the story of Vera Zasulich, Russian Marxist writer and revolutionary. (34 pages)