The Miniature Symbol Analysis

The miniature is a small figurine of her mother that Lady Windermere treasures and kisses when she says her prayers each night. Though Lady Windermere believes that her mother is dead, the audience knows that Mrs. Erlynne is actually her mother. The miniature symbolizes the way that Lady Windermere idealizes her mother, and the way that the real Mrs. Erlynne would never be able to live up to that perfect, false version of herself. Lady Windermere’s continued love of the figurine—and of her ideals—shows again that she’s still tempted by unambiguous morality, even though she knows by the end of the play that morality is not black-and-white but exists in shades of gray.

Additionally, the miniature (along with the photograph of Lady Windermere that Mrs. Erlynne keeps) highlights how wordless connections with other individuals are sometimes more powerful than anything language can create. In the end, Mrs. Erlynne and Lady Windermere both choose silence over language: Mrs. Erlynne doesn’t tell Lady Windermere her true identity, and Lady Windermere doesn’t tell Lord Windermere about almost leaving him. Instead, the two women opt for simple, visual representations of the truth that they can happily treasure and enjoy, without confronting the unnecessary complications that speaking up would cause. This ending suggests that in some cases, literal truth as depicted by language is less valuable than consciously deciding to view reality in a positive way.