An Ideal Husband Context Flashcards
Oscar Wilde was alive
1854-1890
Wilde’s parents’ jobs
Mother - poet
Father - surgeon
Wilde was born in
Dublin, Ireland
Wilde went to
Oxford and won prizes for poetry
Whilst at Oxford Wilde was influenced by
aestheticists (John Ruskin and Walter Pater)
Wilde was key part of the
aestheticism movement (art for art’s sake)
Wilde had a reputation among the London elite as
witty, a dandy and glamorous
Wilde married and had
2 sons
In 1887 Wilde took the post of
editor at Women’s World magazine, commissioning articles on female involvement in politics
The Picture of Dorian Grey came out in
1891 and shocked audiences with its homoeroticism
Wilde’s plays (eg The Importance of Being Earnest, AIH, Lady Windemere’s fan) were
hugely successful
An Ideal Husband debuted in
1895
Wilde had a homosexual affair with
Lord Alfred Douglas (aka Bosie)
in 1895 Lord Alfred Douglas’ father left a card at Wilde’s club
addressed “to Oscar Wilde, posing as a sodomite”
Wilde sued his affair’s father for
libel
Wilde was convicted of homosexual practices
in 1895 and was sentenced to 2 years hard labour in Reading jail
After leaving prison
Wilde spent the rest of his life sick and poor, wandering Europe and addicted to drugs
Wilde died in
1900 from cerebral meningitis in a hotel in Paris
the 1890s were known as
the “yellow” or the “naughty nineties”
AIH was written during
industrialisation, imperial expansion and a time of rigid social norms and morals
AIH uses techniques and character types from
the french well-made play, originating from Sardou and Scribe, emphasising craftsmenship over context
(a type of melodrama)
French well-made plays use
stock characters eg virtuous wife, the “other woman”,
and end in a reaffirmation of pure and happy love
1890s famous divorce case and politician involved
- irish politician Charles Parnell
- named in a divorce case in the 1890s as he had an affair with the wife
- scandal with led to the downfall of his political career
