Previous
Cecil Graham
Dumby is another young gentleman who attends the party. He’s first introduced as an example of how empty and performative language can be in social settings. He makes a number of contradictory statements in conversations with different guests, and seems perfectly comfortable doing so. It’s also implied that Dumby is Lady Plymdale’s lover and possibly Mrs. Erlynne’s as well; he initially tells Lady Plymdale that he doesn’t know who Mrs. Erlynne is, only to have Mrs. Erlynne reveal that he visits her often. In the third act, Dumby is a comedic foil to Cecil Graham and Augustus, behaving in a carefree, cheerfully naïve way that the other men sometimes mock.
Dumby Quotes in Lady Windermere’s Fan
The Lady Windermere’s Fan quotes below are all either spoken by Dumby or refer to Dumby . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act II
Quotes
DUMBY: What a mystery you are!
LADY PLYMDALE: (looking at him) I wish you were!
DUMBY: I am—to myself. I am the only person in the world I should like to know thoroughly; but I don’t see any chance of it just at present.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act III
Quotes
LORD AUGUSTUS: You want to make her out a wicked woman. She is not!
CECIL GRAHAM: Oh! Wicked women bother one. Good women bore one. That is the only difference between them.
LORD AUGUSTUS: (puffing a cigar) Mrs. Erlynne has a future before her.
DUMBY: Mrs. Erlynne has a past before her.
LORD AUGUSTUS: I prefer women with a past. They’re always so demmed amusing to talk to.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
CECIL GRAHAM: That is a great error. Experience is a question of instinct about life. I have got it. Tuppy hasn’t. Experience is the name Tuppy gives to his mistakes. That is all. (Lord Augustus looks around indignantly)
DUMBY: Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.
CECIL GRAHAM: (standing with his back to the fireplace) One shouldn’t commit any.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Lady Windermere’s Fan LitChart as a printable PDF.
Dumby Quotes in Lady Windermere’s Fan
The Lady Windermere’s Fan quotes below are all either spoken by Dumby or refer to Dumby . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act II
Quotes
DUMBY: What a mystery you are!
LADY PLYMDALE: (looking at him) I wish you were!
DUMBY: I am—to myself. I am the only person in the world I should like to know thoroughly; but I don’t see any chance of it just at present.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act III
Quotes
LORD AUGUSTUS: You want to make her out a wicked woman. She is not!
CECIL GRAHAM: Oh! Wicked women bother one. Good women bore one. That is the only difference between them.
LORD AUGUSTUS: (puffing a cigar) Mrs. Erlynne has a future before her.
DUMBY: Mrs. Erlynne has a past before her.
LORD AUGUSTUS: I prefer women with a past. They’re always so demmed amusing to talk to.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
CECIL GRAHAM: That is a great error. Experience is a question of instinct about life. I have got it. Tuppy hasn’t. Experience is the name Tuppy gives to his mistakes. That is all. (Lord Augustus looks around indignantly)
DUMBY: Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.
CECIL GRAHAM: (standing with his back to the fireplace) One shouldn’t commit any.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
