'AN IDEAL HUSBAND' CRITICAL INTERPRETATIONS Flashcards
B_____ : (About Lady Chiltern & Mrs Chevely)
- “Are moral opposites, and have contrary __________ but both pose threats (1/4/25 19:21) by…”
Bose : “Are moral opposites, and have contrary motives but both pose threats … by intruding into the traditional male, public, non-domestic sphere and trying to impose their will on it”.
B_____ : (About Lady Chiltern & Mrs Chevely)
- “By the end of the play, their intervention is…”
Bose : “By the end of the play, their intervention is repelled, leaving male authority shaken but unbroken”.
B_____ : (Gender Roles)
- “Affirmation of traditional…”
Bose : “Affirmation of traditional concepts of male and female roles”.
B______ : (Women)
- “Prove by their action that their claims of…”
Bose : “Prove by their action that their claims of authority and self-determination are wholly undeserved”.
- Cohen & others accuse Wilde of misogyny.
B_______ : (Gender Stereotypes)
- “ Wilde recultivated an eroding sexual stereotype of the Victorian era that women are…”
Bose : “ Wilde recultivated an eroding sexual stereotype of the Victorian era that women are intellectually the inferiors of men, unequipped for ambition and action, but well-suited for the homelike virtues of mercy and love”.
M__________ : (‘Real Wife’)
- “Unlike ‘ideal husbands’, which is shown to be a myth, the play legitimises…
Madden : “Unlike ‘ideal husbands’, which is shown to be a myth, the play legitimises the term ‘real wife’”.
M________ : (Gender)
- “Play completes it’s task of creating an open and _____________ set of roles that men can ________ while…”
Madden : “Play completes it’s task of creating an open and malleable set of roles that men can occupy while maintaining a rigid structured definition of the singular role society dictates for women”.
(‘AIH’ being a myth and identifying a ‘real wife’).
Sh______ : (Robert and Gertrude Chiltern)
- “Modern note is struck in RC’s assertion of the individuality and…”
Shaw : “Modern note is struck in RC’s assertion of the individuality and courage of his wrongdoing as against the mechanical idealism of his stupidly good wife”.
KA________ : (Victorian Ideology)
- “Simultaneously supports and…”
Kaneda : “Simultaneously supports and subverts the Victorian ideology”.
B______ : (Hypocrisy)
- “The basic hypocrisy of…”
Bird : “The basic hypocrisy of English society”.
K________ : (Wilde’s Dramas)
- “Oscar Wilde’s dramas reject…”
Kaneda : “Oscar Wilde’s dramas reject a single interpretation”.
In________ : (Happy Ending)
- “By the time these ‘happy endings’ are achieved…”
Innes : “By the time these ‘happy endings’ are achieved, everything they stand for has been discredited.”
Sz_________ : (Mabel Chiltern)
- “Mabel Chiltern is the character through whom Wilde grappled with…”
Szanter : “Mabel Chiltern is the character through whom Wilde grappled with questions of the public versus the private life.”
A_________ : (Sir Robert Chiltern)
- “Sir Robert proves himself one of those gentlemen who can be honest…”
Archer : “Sir Robert proves himself one of those gentlemen who can be honest so long as it is absolutely convenient, and no longer.”
B_______ : (Lady Chiltern’s Morals)
- “Rigidly moral, she finds that each good act carried out by her husband…”
Bose : “Rigidly moral, she finds that each good act carried out by her husband has been devalued and tainted by one bad act”
B_______ : (Mabel & Goring Anchoring)
- “The comic man and the lively girl of melodrama…”
Bose : “The comic man and the lively girl of melodrama keep the play on a level of common sense”
B_______ : (Moral of Play)
- “Is the play telling us that…”
Bose : “Is the play telling us that ideals are not for this world?”
E_______ : (Wilde’s view on Feminism)
- “Can be read of Wilde’s rejection of contemporary…”
(LC being educated by LG & told mens lives are of ‘more value’ than women’s)
Eltis : “Can be read of Wilde’s rejection of contemporary feminist demands for male reform”
E______ : (LOVE)
~ “It is ultimately love that…”
Eltis : “It is ultimately love that separates Sir Robert Chiltern from his blackmailer”.
B_______ : (POWER)
~ “Mrs. Chevely wrongdoing is obvious: she invades…”
Bose : “Mrs. Chevely wrongdoing is obvious: she invades male power. It is note worthy that she is not the only outsider in this social world but the only one utterly rejected”.
B________ : (POWER)
~ “Wilde undercuts customary morality but fears”…
Bose : “Wilde undercuts customary morality but fears self-determining women’s disruptive power”.
KATHYRN H________ : (WOMEN)
~ “The lady of the house became a…”
Hughes : “The lady of the house became a walking billboard for her husband’s success”.
K______ : (Lady Chiltern)
- “Lady Chiltern’s meek acceptance of LG vision of the nature of…”
Kohl : “Lady Chiltern’s meek acceptance of LG vision of the nature of men and women is something of a shock, considering her former role as her husband’s helpmeet and moral arbiter”.
SOS E_______ : (Gender)
- “Characters alternately depend upon and…”
Eltis : “Characters alternately depend upon and subvert traditional stereotypes”.
K________ : (Lady Chiltern)
- “Still more disturbing is her…”
Kohl : “Still more disturbing is her verbatim quotation of Goring’s words, as though her identity is subsumed in his and she is allowed speech only to utter sentiments authorised by him”.”.
Gu_________ : (Mrs Chevely)
- “The woman delights in…”
Guyette : “The woman delights in taunting him”.
- Like ‘W:MS’.
Bl________ : (Sir Robert Chiltern)
- “Machiavellian justification of his own…”
Bloom : “Machiavellian justification of his own reckless ambition for power and wealth”.
m = scheming, cunning.
(ROSSETTI) Dr Simon Avery : “At times she used the Biblical idea…”
Dr Simon Avery : “At times she used the Biblical idea of women’s subordination to man as reason for maintaining the status quo”.
