Christa Giles

Lord Darlington: Ah, don’t say that, Lady
Windermere.
Lady Windermere: Why do you talk so
trivially about life, then?
Lord Darlington: Because I think that life is
far too important a thing
ever to talk seriously about
it. 155
The idea that there is a discrepancy between the mask and
face, and that in fact a sense of despair has been
instrumental in the creation of the mask is encapsulated by
lord Illingworth’s words in A Woman of No Importance:
the world has always laughed at its own
tragedies, that being the only way in which it
has been able to bear them. And that,
consequently, whatever the world has treated
seriously belongs to the comedy side of
things. 156
The dandy uses language as a kind of mask: it is both a
weapon and a shield. In his desire to shock he invariably
says the opposite of what is expected of him. This is
perceived by the undiscerning as triviality, but in actual
fact it is quite consistent with the dandy’s ironic vision. For
the language of the dandy is that of paradox, and the
˝apparent contradiction˝ is a means of expressing a truth.
55