Lady Lancing

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Lady Lancing was the working title of Oscar Wilde's masterpiece, The Importance of Being Earnest. Lancing is near Shoreham-by-Sea on the Sussex coast. The town was a popular seaside resort in the mid-19th century, gaining favour from the gentry of the time for its secluded atmosphere. Wilde was said to have accompanied newspaper seller Alphonse Conway on a walk to Lancing from Brighton, whereupon familiarities took place between the two men. Wilde in no uncertain terms denied the allegations in the witness box.

However, regarding the title, it appears from trial evidence that Wilde's associations with young men, at times dressed in women's clothes, or engaged in the pretence of being a woman while sat upon his lap, may reflect the injoke of pet-names.

Respectability was a comic battlegound for Wilde. The common or garden laws that separate the sexes are constantly blurred in his largely matriarchal plays. In Earnest Lady Bracknell wields the full power of the family as Lady Caroline holds sway over the mollycuddled Sir John in A Woman of No Importance. The frisson of the free speaking, all-knowing dandy constantly energises Wilde's work. Several conclusions can be drawn here, most involve an autobiographical motive.