Princess Ida was premiered on 5 January 1884 in the Savoy Theatre, London. It ran for 246 performances. Gilbert's image of womanhood was of a fragile, lovely and utterly helpless creature. His forces in this opera attacked the new "blue stockings"  in their cloistered colleges, who were coming to the fore in the nineteenth century. The prejudices of the author creep into light and brilliant lyrics, but on occasion sharply barbed. Their only three act opera and the only one in blank verse.