Mrs. Erlynne: “Believe what you choose about me”

What is happening, what every line means, how to perform it, and how to use it in an audition, with the full text.

The Offbook team

Oct 8, 2026

What is happening

Lady Windermere’s Fan was first performed in London in 1892. Lady Windermere turned twenty-one today; she has been married for two years and has a baby son. She believes her husband is having an affair with Mrs. Erlynne, a woman with a scandalous past whom he has been giving money to, and whom he insisted on inviting to her birthday ball. Tonight Lady Windermere left a letter for her husband and went to the rooms of Lord Darlington, who has begged her to leave her husband and says he is leaving England tomorrow.

Mrs. Erlynne found the letter, opened it and read it, and recognized it. Twenty years ago she wrote the same words to her own husband, then left him and their baby daughter for a lover who later abandoned her. Lady Windermere is that daughter. She does not know it: she was told her mother died when she was a baby. Lord Windermere knows, and the money he has been paying is to keep the secret from his wife.

Act 3 takes place in Lord Darlington’s rooms, later that night. Mrs. Erlynne has come to get Lady Windermere home before anyone finds out. Lady Windermere refuses, calls her a liar, and finally says that women like her have no hearts: “You are bought and sold.” This is the answer. It works: Lady Windermere breaks down and asks to be taken home. But the men arrive before they can leave. Lady Windermere hides, her fan is found, and Mrs. Erlynne steps out and says she took it by mistake, giving up her own reputation to save her daughter’s.

Lines: 26
Words: 381
At 150 wpm: 2.5 min
Form: Prose

The speech, beat by beat

The full text in 6 beats. Under each beat: what it means in plain English, and a note for playing it.

Lines 1–4 · Don’t ruin your life for me

1Believe what you choose about me.
I am not worth a moment’s sorrow.
But don’t spoil your beautiful young life on my account!
You don’t know what may be in store for you, unless you leave this house at once.

In plain English Think what you like about me. I am not worth a moment’s sorrow. But don’t spoil your beautiful young life because of me! You have no idea what may be ahead of you unless you leave this house right now.

Acting note She has just been called “bought and sold.” Wilde’s direction: she starts with a gesture of pain, then controls herself, comes over to Lady Windermere and reaches out to her, but does not dare to touch her. Line 1 swallows the insult whole.

Lines 5–7 · The pit

5You don’t know what it is to fall into the pit, to be despised, mocked, abandoned, sneered at—to be an outcast! to find the door shut against one, to have to creep in by hideous byways, afraid every moment lest the mask should be stripped from one’s face, and all the while to hear the laughter, the horrible laughter of the world, a thing more tragic than all the tears the world has ever shed.
You don’t know what it is.
One pays for one’s sin, and then one pays again, and all one’s life one pays.

In plain English You don’t know what it is to fall into the pit: to be despised, mocked, abandoned, sneered at, an outcast; to find doors shut in your face; to have to sneak back in by ugly back ways, afraid every moment that the mask will be torn off; and all the time to hear the laughter of the world, which is more tragic than all the tears ever shed. You don’t know what it is. You pay for your sin, and then you pay again, and you go on paying all your life.

Acting note This is her own life, twenty years of it, and she cannot say so. Line 5 is one long climb to “laughter”; line 6 drops back down; line 7 is a hard, plain truth said by someone who has paid.

Lines 8–8 · A heart, made and broken

8You must never know that.—As for me, if suffering be an expiation, then at this moment I have expiated all my faults, whatever they have been; for tonight you have made a heart in one who had it not, made it and broken it.—But let that pass.── 60-second cut ends here ──

In plain English You must never know that. As for me, if suffering pays for sins, then tonight I have paid for all of mine, whatever they were: you have made a heart in someone who had none, made it and broken it. But never mind that.

Acting note The nearest she comes to the truth. “Tonight you have made a heart in one who had it not” is a mother speaking, and the two dashes in the line show her pulling back twice. “But let that pass” shuts the door.

Lines 9–14 · You couldn’t survive it

9I may have wrecked my own life, but I will not let you wreck yours.
10You—why, you are a mere girl, you would be lost.
You haven’t got the kind of brains that enables a woman to get back.── 90-second cut ends here ──
You have neither the wit nor the courage.
You couldn’t stand dishonour!
No!

In plain English I may have wrecked my own life, but I will not let you wreck yours. You are only a girl; you would be lost. You don’t have the kind of brains a woman needs to fight her way back. You have neither the wit nor the courage. You couldn’t bear disgrace! No!

Acting note A deliberate insult used as a tactic. She knows exactly what it takes to claw back into society, because she has spent twenty years doing it. She is trying to frighten her into going home. “No!” closes the argument.

Lines 15–20 · Your child

15Go back, Lady Windermere, to the husband who loves you, whom you love.
You have a child, Lady Windermere.
Go back to that child who even now, in pain or in joy, may be calling to you.
God gave you that child.
He will require from you that you make his life fine, that you watch over him.
20What answer will you make to God if his life is ruined through you?

In plain English Go back, Lady Windermere, to the husband who loves you and whom you love. You have a child, Lady Windermere. Go back to that child, who even now, in pain or in joy, may be calling for you. God gave you that child. He will expect you to make his life a good one and to watch over him. What answer will you give God if his life is ruined because of you?

Acting note Her strongest weapon, and Wilde shows it landing: Lady Windermere rises after line 17. Every word here is also about the baby Mrs. Erlynne left twenty years ago, and that baby is the woman in front of her.

Lines 21–26 · Stay with your child

21Back to your house, Lady Windermere—your husband loves you!
He has never swerved for a moment from the love he bears you.
But even if he had a thousand loves, you must stay with your child.
If he was harsh to you, you must stay with your child.
25If he ill-treated you, you must stay with your child.
If he abandoned you, your place is with your child.

In plain English Back to your house, Lady Windermere: your husband loves you! He has never wavered for a moment in his love for you. But even if he had a thousand lovers, you must stay with your child. If he was harsh to you, you must stay with your child. If he treated you badly, you must stay with your child. If he left you, your place is with your child.

Acting note A list that hammers one phrase, each “if” worse than the last. The final line changes the refrain from “you must stay” to “your place is,” and it is a verdict on her own life. In the play, Lady Windermere bursts into tears here; this page stops just before Mrs. Erlynne rushes to her.

Hard words

Word	Line	Meaning
the pit	5	disgrace and ruin, socially and morally
creep in by hideous byways	5	sneak back into society by shameful back routes
lest	5	for fear that, in case
expiation	8	making amends; paying the price for a sin
expiated	8	paid for, atoned for
dishonour	13	disgrace, loss of reputation
require from you	19	demand of you; hold you responsible for
swerved	22	wavered, strayed

How to perform it

Play the objective. Mrs. Erlynne must get Lady Windermere out of this house and home to her husband before she is ruined, without ever saying who she is. Every tactic in the speech serves that aim: humility, warning, half-confession, insult, and finally the child.
Let the secret drive it. Every line about the pit, the price of sin, and a child calling for its mother is about her own life. The audience already knows (alone with the letter in Act 2, she asks herself, “How can I save my child?”), so let them see what it costs her not to say “I am your mother.” Line 8 is the closest she comes.
This is not Wilde’s wit. In the rest of the play Mrs. Erlynne is poised, worldly and funny. Here the poise cracks. Keep a trace of her control, because she is still managing the situation, so that the cracks show against it.
Shape the prose. Line 5 is one long sentence built from a list; climb through it to “the horrible laughter of the world” and land on “tears.” The last section is a pattern of “if he … you must stay with your child.” Make each one heavier than the last, and give the changed final phrase its full weight.
Keep the distance. Wilde has her reach toward Lady Windermere without daring to touch her. Hold that gap; it is the gap between a mother and a daughter who cannot know each other. In an audition, place Lady Windermere seated just below your eye line, and let her rise after line 17.
Common mistakes: weeping through it (she is fighting not to cry, because she has to win); playing lines 10 to 13 as plain cruelty rather than a calculated push; and rushing the child section, which is the reason the speech exists.

Using it in an audition

A serious, emotional speech from a comedy, for an actor who can play a woman with a grown-up daughter (she says she has never admitted to more than twenty-nine, or thirty at the most, but the play implies she is in her late thirties), so it suits actors from their mid-thirties up. In the play the speech ends with a cry of “Lady Windermere!” after Lady Windermere breaks down; this page stops one line earlier, on “your place is with your child,” which is the stronger ending when there is no partner. Even so, it runs about two and a half minutes at a conversational pace, the upper limit for most slots. The 60-second cut marked in the text ends at line 8, “But let that pass,” a quiet, self-contained confession. The 90-second mark falls at line 11, in the middle of the insults; it is better to run on to “No!” at line 14, about a minute and forty seconds. For a version of about two minutes, cut lines 10 to 14 and lines 21 to 22: that keeps the warning, the hidden confession, and the child. Pair it with something light and quick to show the wit she has elsewhere in the play.

Mrs. Erlynne, Lady Windermere’s Fan, Act 3. Oscar Wilde. Public domain text.

How long it runs

Pace	Words a minute	Run time
Deliberate	130	2.9 minutes
Conversational	150	2.5 minutes
Brisk	170	2.2 minutes

These are speech times before pauses. To time your own run, paste the text into the monologue timer. The cut marks in the text stop at a full sentence near 60 seconds (line 8) and 90 seconds (line 11).

Practice it: first-letter version

Each word is cut to its first letter. Say the whole line from the letters, then check the text. Make cues from any script with the first-letter memorizer.

B w y c a m.

I a n w a m s.

B d s y b y l o m a!

Y d k w m b i s f y, u y l t h a o.

Y d k w i i t f i t p, t b d, m, a, s a—t b a o! t f t d s a o, t h t c i b h b, a e m l t m s b s f o f, a a t w t h t l, t h l o t w, a t m t t a t t t w h e s.

Y d k w i i.

O p f o s, a t o p a, a a o l o p.

Y m n k t.—A f m, i s b a e, t a t m I h e a m f, w t h b; f t y h m a h i o w h i n, m i a b i.—B l t p.

I m h w m o l, b I w n l y w y.

Y—w, y a a m g, y w b l.

Y h g t k o b t e a w t g b.

Y h n t w n t c.

Y c s d!

G b, L W, t t h w l y, w y l.

Y h a c, L W.

G b t t c w e n, i p o i j, m b c t y.

G g y t c.

H w r f y t y m h l f, t y w o h.

W a w y m t G i h l i r t y?

B t y h, L W—y h l y!

H h n s f a m f t l h b y.

B e i h h a t l, y m s w y c.

I h w h t y, y m s w y c.

I h i-t y, y m s w y c.

I h a y, y p i w y c.

More lists: Monologues for women, Comedic monologues, Monologues from modern classics.

Sources

Questions actors ask

How long is Mrs. Erlynne’s Believe what you choose about me speech?

26 lines and 381 words. At 150 words a minute it runs about 2.5 minutes; a slower, more deliberate delivery at 130 takes about 2.9 minutes. Pauses add time, so time a full run out loud.

Is it a good audition monologue?

What is the fastest way to memorize it?

Learn it in sense units, not line by line: say each thought out loud until you can do it without looking, then add the next. The first-letter version below keeps the shape of every line in view while you test yourself.