A Woman of No Importance

[tiny e.a]

At the end of Oscar Wilde's play of this title Lord Illingworth says to Mrs Arbuthnot

'...It's been a very amusing experience to have met amongst people of one's own rank, and treated quite seriously too, one's mistress and ones -'

Before he finishes the sentence Mrs Arbuthnot slaps him across the face and when he has left she falls to the sofa sobbing and says

'He would have said it. He would have said it.'

Could anyone who knows the play tell me if he's referring to her as his mistress or was he talking about another member of the party? And more importantly, what was he going to say when she stopped him by slapping him?

I may well be being completely dense but I just can't work it out!

[Clanad]

There are two clues that may explain the phrase left unsaid by George Harford. (Ultimately, the interpretation is up to the individual viewer).

Early in the play, he says "...I don't believe in the existence of Puritan women..." I think he's become so used to his position in life and his decadence that he sees all others, including (and especially) Rachel that her protestations to the contrary, as well as her refusal to let her (and his) son become his secretary that she must be just as base as he views the rest of the world.
The second is in the first draft of Wilde's scene... In that draft George reacts sharply to Rachel's slap and states "... You are the woman whom I did the honor of asking to be my wife. How foolish the wisest of us are at times. But some day your son may call you by a worse name. He has my blood in his veins as well as yours..." (My emphasis).

In the final version of the play this rather hateful set of lines is excised and Lord Illingworth simply shrugs of the slap.

I think it plausible that Wilde intended for George to finish the line with "...and his wh0re..." or some such derogatory remark. He is clearly frustrated at not getting what he wants from Rachel and he's certainly not used to that possibility due to his station in life. Others are more sympathetic an finish the phrase with "wife", but I don't believe that was within Illingworth nor Wilde, for that matter...
Interesting question... thanks!

[tiny e.a]

I interpreted it as '*****' but thought perhaps I was misreading it and it was my own experiences rather than the views of a nineteenth century audience which made me think it was that!

I didn't know about the lines in an original draft but now you've told me about them I agree with your interpretation. Interesting too because in the first act, when he's talking with Mrs Allbony about kissing Hester, she suggests Hester would either marry him or slap him across the face, to which he replys that should it be the latter he would probably fall in love wit her. And then it ends with Mrs Arbuthnot rejecting his proposal and slapping him across the face.

Thanks so much for your reply, I didn't really hold out much hope of getting one on the subject and I was dying for someone elses opinion! You've now put my mind at rest.

[jno]

my guess would be that the word wh0re certainly couldn't have been spoken on the stage at the time - the Lord Chancellor, who licensed plays, would have had conniptions, and even now AB is censoring it, I see. Any other word with the same meaning would probably have faced the same problem. So I suspect Wilde simply omitted the word altogether and let the audience read it how they liked.

[jno]

sorry, that's Lord Chamberlain, not Lord Chancellor.

[tiny e.a]

Yes, I expect you're right jno. I suppose to guess at what his implications were you have to look at what he didn't say and why he wouldn't have it. Thanks for your answer!