To put it briefly, the dramatist must formally
_assume_ ignorance in his audience, though he must not practically _rely
upon_ it. Therefore it becomes a point of real importance to determine
how long a secret may be kept from an audience, assumed to have no
outside knowledge, and at what point it ought to be revealed.
When _Lady Windermere's Fan_ was first produced, no hint was given in
the first act of the fact that Mrs. Erlynne was Lady Windermere's
mother; so that Lord Windermere's insistence on inviting her to his
wife's birthday reception remained wholly unexplained. But after a few
nights the author made Lord Windermere exclaim, just as the curtain
fell, "My God! What shall I do? I dare not tell her who this woman
really is. The shame would kill her." It was, of course, said that this
change had been made in deference to newspaper criticism; and Oscar
Wilde, in a characteristic letter to the _St. James's Gazette_, promptly
repelled this calumny. At a first-night supper-party, he said--
"All of my friends without exception were of the opinion that the
psychological interest of the second act would be greatly increased
by the disclosure of the actual relationship existing between Lady
Windermere and Mrs.
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