Lord Arthur Savile's Crime

Superstition plays an important role in “Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime.” Without Lord Arthur’s irrational belief in the validity of the palm reading prediction, the events of the story would not have occurred. Lord Arthur has several opportunities to reconsider his faith in the prophecy: after hearing it for the first time, after the accidental death of Lady Clementina, and after the failed attempt on the life of the Dean of Chichester. However, he never once doubts that his fate is already planned out for him, and that Mr. Podgers has correctly deciphered the message on Lord Arthur’s palm. The absurdity of Lord Arthur’s superstition draws attentions to other social rituals and performances that are also attempts to assert control over uncertainty, from the highly curated soirees at Lady Windermere’s to the complex system of aristocratic privilege that establishes an individual’s worth with no regard to their character.

Marriage occupies an ambiguous space in the story. The narrator briefly hints at Lady Windermere’s romantic history in Chapter 1, noting that she has had three husbands but only one lover and, as a result, is able to hold herself beyond reproach. In other words, her social status does not depend in any simple way on her marital status; she is wise enough to know better.