Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband Oscar Wilde (1845-1903) lived an outrageous and controversial life which was well publicized and condemned, as his life defied the strict social mores of the time. He was put into this public position due to the success of his plays which challenged Victorian earnestness while being hilariously funny. His plays, in particular An Ideal Husband, 1895 portray Victorian society as viciously hypocritical at it's worst and laughably pretentious
Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband focuses on the timeless issue of public perception of public figures, the tendency to idealize those in the public eye, and to turn on those who make mistakes. Much of the plot could conceivably occur within modern American politics. Like those of Wilde’s 1890s London, modern politicians must contend with pitfalls associated with morality, corruption, and invasive media coverage. The American public holds politicians to a higher moral standard than they hold themselves
An Ideal Husband, Oscar Wilde - Lord Goring and Lady Chiltern ‘Discuss how Wilde influences the audience to like or dislike characters’ In my paper, I will discuss two entirely different people, both of whom have entirely different personalities but are both the characters in the play, ‘An Ideal husband’- Lord Goring and Mrs. Chiltern. I will also mention the reasons and ways in which Oscar Wilde has managed to make them liked and disliked by the audience. Lord Goring Background
An Ideal Woman in An Ideal Husband In the 1999 adaption of An Ideal Husband, set in Victorian London, the roles of two very different female characters predict the coming of historical and ideological changes. The Victorian Era and the early Edwardian Era are symbolized by two characters: Lady Markby and Lady Chiltern. The two often quarrel about the role of women in society, creating a deliberate juxtaposition to illustrate the differences in Victorian and Edwardian views of women. The characters
Lady Gertrude Chiltern Correspondingly, Wilde utilises Aestheticism to characterise Lady Gertrude Chiltern dissimilar to Lord Goring and Mrs Cheveley and as “a touchstone of moral stability” (Bose, 1999) to indicate her restraints towards the model upper-class standards. Hence, Wilde undermines the Victorian English notions, particularly of marriage, as exaggeratingly hypocritical and non-naturalistic (Hornychová, 2010) as it led to Lady Chiltern’s disillusion and disappointment from her morally
Oscar Wilde’s play An Ideal Husband (1893) is of a genre that is unlikely to ever fade out; the dramatic comedy. Wilde utilises melodramatic language to explore several heavy subjects such as compassion and empathy but there is no doubting that the play is of the romantic comedy genre. And this is concreted by the fact that this is a play that not only comments on society but makes comedy of people’s faults and bad habits via the employment of the comedic conventions satire. Oscar Wilde effectively
respective nations—highlight the hypocrisy of the corruption and rampant capitalism of the time. Twain satirized the American industrial greats like Rockefeller and Carnegie and their vast wealth against the backdrop of the laborers and farmers. In An Ideal Husband, Wilde satirizes stand-ins for English industrialists and goes a step further to criticize his own society through a somewhat bitter lens (the only sort of lens to reap such
or play by your own set of rules... and success doesn't count unless you earn it fair and square.” (Michelle Obama). The ability to earn respect, power, and money by honest means is an important but difficult trait. Oscar Wilde in his play, An Ideal Husband, displays that lying in order to protect someone causes vulnerability and instability in relationships. Through the use of tropology and the Feminist theory it is evident that unnecessary problems and hardships result from justifying dishonesty
are broad. One function of comedy however has remained the same - to hold up a mirror to the society of the time but through pleasure, inviting audiences to reflect and also providing amusement. Set in the late nineteenth century, the play An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde (1895) epitomises comedy, as both a literary and dramatic genre. Wilde was masterful in his ability to combine aspects of evolved comedic traditions and dramatic conventions to critique Victorian society. Drawing on characteristics
to change people and relationships, for better or for worse, and these changes fascinate playwrights. Both William Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde discuss marriage by exploring the roles of forgiveness and idealization in their works Othello and An Ideal Husband, respectively. Othello’s idealization of his wife Desdemona leads him down a destructive and unforgiving path, and the Chilterns’ belief that the other can do no wrong forces them to rethink their values when past transgressions come to light.