Lord Arthur Savile's Crime

OSCAR WILDE

LORD ARTHUR SAVILE’S CRIME

About the Author

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was a famous writer from Ireland. He is known for his plays, poems, and stories. He became very famous in the late 1800s.

Early Life and Family

Oscar Wilde was born on 16th October 1854 in Dublin, Ireland. His father, William, was a famous doctor, and his mother, Jane Francesca, was good at languages and wrote poetry. They had three children, Willie, Oscar and Isola Francesca. Oscar’s sister died when she was ten years old and Oscar was twelve.

Studies

After finishing school, Oscar studied at Trinity College, Dublin, and then at Oxford University. Here he became interested in the Aesthetic Movement. This was an artistic movement in the late 1800s, also known as “art for art’s sake”. For these people, the most important thing was that art was beautiful and that it didn’t need an important meaning behind it.

Travelling and Love

After university, Oscar went to live in London. He wrote a book of poetry called Poems (1881) and people started to think of him as a good writer. That same year he met Constance Lloyd for the first time in London. Then Oscar decided to go to the United States to talk about art and beauty in the universities there. He stayed for nine months. Then he came back to Great Britain and in 1884, Oscar became Constance Lloyd’s husband. They had two children, Cyril (1885) and Vyvyan (1886), but after Vyvyan was born, Oscar and Constance weren’t as happy as before. Oscar began to prefer men to women. This was a problem in Victorian England because homosexuality was against the law.

His Writings

After writing for many magazines, Oscar became editor of The Lady’s World magazine in 1888. This was a very good moment for Oscar. He became famous for writing The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888). Then in 1891, he wrote another collection of children’s stories called A House of Pomegranates That same year, he wrote his one and only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. He wrote funny plays for the theatre too. The most famous is The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).

Later Life

Wilde liked to be different and was popular because of his ideas and story-telling words, but in 1895, he went to prison for his homosexuality He spent two very difficult years in prison. When he came out, he went to France and stayed with friends or in cheap hotels. He wrote a poem, The Ballad of Reading Gaol, about his time in prison. Oscar died on 30 November 1900 at the age of 46 and was buried in Paris.

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Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime by Oscar Wilde

Adaptation and activities by Silvana Sardi

Illustrated by Sara Cristofori

Bookmarks

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Oscar

Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime

About the Story

This short story about Lord Arthur Savile, a rich, young man, is set in London during the Victorian period (18371901). Lord Arthur is happy and in love with Sybil. She will soon become his wife. Then one evening at a party, a cheiromantist ‘reads’ Lord Arthur’s hand. He tells him that he will kill someone in the future, and Lord Arthur believes him. Here, Wilde shows us how rich people believed in cheiromantists and other strange things.

Lord Arthur is rich and doesn’t have to work, so he spends all his time worrying about what the cheiromantist said. He doesn’t want Sybil to become his wife until after the ‘crime’. This is a funny and crazy idea. Wilde shows us that rich people at that time often worried about silly things and about looking good for others instead of real problems. Lord Arthur tries to kill people, but things don’t go as planned. This is what makes the story so funny to read and shows that his idea is wrong. Wilde uses these situations to make us think about the Victorians and their strange ‘values’.

Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime, first published in 1887 in the British literary magazine The Court and Society Review, talks about ‘fate’, love, and choosing what to do in your life. Later, this story and others by Wilde, like The Canterville Ghost, became part of a collection called Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and Other Stories, published in 1891.

Main Characters

Lord Arthur Savile

The protagonist and title character of the story.

Lady Gladys Windermere

She loves life and having parties.

Sybil Merton

Sybil loves Lord Arthur very much and wants to become his wife as soon as possible.

Mr Septimus Podgers

He ‘reads’ the lines on people’s hands to tell them about their future.

The Dean of Chichester

The Dean, Lord Arthur’s uncle, loves clocks.

Count Rouvaloff

One of Lord Arthur Savile’s friends, he’s a Russian with revolutionary ideas.

Lady Clementina Beauchamp

Lady Clem is Lord Arthur’s cousin.

Herr Winckelkopf

He’s good at making all kinds of things.

Chapter 1 Lady Windermere’s Party

Every important person in London was at Lady Gladys Windermere’s last party before summer. Lady Gladys was now forty years old with no children. After three husbands but always only one lover, she loved parties and all the good things of life.

There were all kinds of people at the party. There were men of the world of business and important women in beautiful dresses. There was even Princess Sophia of Carlsruhe, with her little black eyes and her big expensive hat. The party was very good, and Princess Sophia stayed until about 11.30 p.m. After she left, Lady Windermere went to talk to the Duchess of Paisley. She looked about the room and said, ‘Where’s my cheiromantist*?’

‘Your what, Gladys?’ said the Duchess. Was it the same as a cheiropodist*? she asked herself.

‘My cheiromantist, Duchess. He tells me what to do. He comes to see my hand every week, on Tuesdays and on Fridays,’ said Lady Gladys. ‘Come and meet him!’

‘Oh! Is he here?’ The Duchess of Paisley didn’t want to meet him… not at a party. After all, he was a kind

Windermere’s Party

of cheiropodist, only Gladys’s cheiromantist did hands, not feet. She never saw her cheiropodist at parties!

‘Of course he’s here! I only have parties when he can come,’ said Gladys. ‘He tells me about my future!’

‘Oh, I see!’ said the Duchess, happier now. ‘Does he tell you lots of nice things?’

‘Good and bad,’ answered Lady Windermere. ‘For example, next year, the sea isn’t safe for me, so I won’t go on any boats. It’s all here to see on my hand. I think it’s a good idea for everyone to have a meeting with a cheiromantist two or three times a month. Then you know what not to do. Now, where is Mr Podgers?’

‘I’ll go and look for him, Lady Windermere,’ said a tall, good-looking young man near them.

‘Thanks so much, Lord Arthur, but I don’t think you’ll find him.’

‘But Lady Windermere, you say he’s wonderful*! I’ll find him no problem.’

‘You don’t understand. There’s nothing wonderful about him. He’s a little fat man with no hair on his head. He wears big glasses… Ah, here he is! Now, Mr Podgers, please read the Duchess of Paisley’s hand.’

‘Dear Gladys, I really don’t think it’s right,’ said the Duchess, but she took off the glove of her right hand.

‘Nothing interesting ever is,’ said Lady Windermere. ‘So, Mr Podgers, what can you see?’

Mr Podgers looked at the Duchess’s little fat hand and said, ‘You’ll live a long life, Duchess, and you’ll be very happy….’

Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime

‘Oh, Mr Podgers! Tell us something more… interesting!’ said Lady Windermere.

‘I’m sorry, but there’s nothing more to tell. The Duchess has got lots of love in her life. She lives a good life because she knows very well what’s right and wrong.’

‘Oh! What a wonderful man!’ said the Duchess. ‘Please tell me more, Mr Podgers.’

‘I see that you love new things,’ said Mr Podgers. Lady Windermere laughed*.

‘When I became Paisley’s wife,’ said the Duchess, ‘he had eleven castles* in Scotland but not one house that I could live in.’

‘And now he has got twelve houses and not one castle,’ laughed Lady Windermere.

‘Well, my dear,’ said the Duchess, ‘I like –’ ‘Nice things,’ said Mr Podgers. ‘Things like hot water in every bedroom. Your Grace is right. Life is easier with nice things.’

Next, there was Lady Flora, the Duchess of Paisley’s daughter. She was a tall Scottish girl with light brown hair. Mr Podgers took her long, slim hand in his to read.

‘Ah, I can see this lady plays the piano!’ said Mr Podgers. ‘Yes, she’s a wonderful pianist, but she doesn’t really understand music very well. I also see that she’s honest*, so she doesn’t say much, and she loves animals.’

‘That’s right!’ said the Duchess to Lady Windermere. ‘Flora has twenty-four dogs at one of our houses in the country. She’d like to bring them to our house in town too, but her father always says no.’

Lady Windermere’s Party

‘Well, I like lions* better than dogs,’ said Lady Windermere, laughing. ‘They usually come to my house on a Thursday evening!’

Sir Thomas, an old man with white hair, was next. He was very happy with Mr Podgers’ words. He wanted Mr Podgers to read his second wife’s hand, but she didn’t like the idea. She wasn’t the only one. The Russian Ambassador didn’t even take his glove off! Other people didn’t like the idea of getting their hand read after Mr Podgers said to Lady Fermor, ‘I see that you don’t like music, but you’re very fond of* musicians!

Lord Arthur Savile didn’t know anything about Lady Fermor’s story, and he really wanted Mr Podgers to read his hand. He went over to Lady Windermere and, a little red in the face, asked, ‘Can Mr Podgers read my hand?’

‘Of course!’ said Lady Windermere. ‘That’s what he’s here for. All my lions do what I say, Lord Arthur, but remember I’ll tell Sybil everything. I’m seeing her for lunch tomorrow to talk about hats.’

Lord Arthur smiled. ‘I’m not worried,’ he answered. ‘Sybil knows everything about me, and I know everything about her.’

‘Oh, how boring!’ said Lady Windermere. ‘Now, Mr Podgers, Lord Arthur Savile wants you to read his hand. Don’t tell us that he’ll get married* to Sybil, one of the most beautiful girls in London. That was in the newspapers a month ago.’

Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime

Mr Podgers smiled, took Lord Arthur’s right hand, and looked at it. Then he stopped smiling and said nothing. Lord Arthur saw that something was wrong and said, ‘I am waiting, Mr Podgers.’

Mr Podgers said nothing, but he took Lord Arthur’s left hand and looked at it too. His face became white, and he looked very worried. Then he remembered where he was.

‘Hmm... You will be very happy,’ said Mr Podgers quickly. He didn’t look at Lord Arthur in the face.

Lord Arthur wasn’t happy. Something was very, very strange*. Lady Windermere was bored. She told everyone to follow her into the next room for something to eat. Lord Arthur stopped Mr Podgers and said, ‘Mr Podgers, be honest with me.’

Mr Podgers looked around. Then he said, ‘I saw something bad in your future.’

‘How bad?’ asked Lord Arthur.

‘Very…you... you will murder* someone,’ said Mr Podgers.

Lord Arthur stood there with his mouth open. ‘Murder? Me? No! I’m not that kind of person! I’m nice!’ he cried*.

‘I know,’ said Mr Podgers. ‘But I saw it in your future. You can’t change it. You’ll commit a crime*, and it will be murder.’

Lord Arthur ran out of the house into the cold night air. He walked and walked. He couldn’t believe it! I can’t get married to my dear Sybil and then murder someone,