Lord Arthur Savile's Crime; The Portrait of Mr. W.H., and Other Stories

The story opens at a glittering soirée in a London townhouse, where aristocrats, politicians, and artists mingle amid laughter and clinking glasses. Amid the chatter, Lady Windermere summons her trusted cheiromantist, a palm‑reader who claims to see the future written in the lines of her hand. His unsettling prediction—that someone close to her will be compelled to commit murder—sets a nervous ripple through the fashionable crowd.

When the news reaches the charming and unsuspecting Lord Arthur Savile, he is both horrified and intrigued by the notion of a preordained crime. Determined to fulfill his supposed destiny before it can ruin his reputation, he embarks on a series of ill‑fated schemes, each more absurd than the last, while trying to preserve his genteel standing. Wilde’s razor‑sharp wit and satirical eye turn this moral dilemma into a sparkling comedy of manners, probing the clash between societal expectations and the whims of fate.