'An Ideal Husband' - OBH Quotations Flashcards
“Oh! A genius in the daytime…
…and a beauty at night”
- Lord Goring, possibly suggesting her alluring qualities
“Let us call things…
…by their proper names”
- Robert Chiltern
- Comes back to haunt him
“damned nobodies…
…talking about nothing”
- Lord Caversham
“(leaning back on the sofa)”
Mrs Chevely
- Power dynamic, control over Robert
“I am talking to a man…
…who laid the foundation of his fortune by selling a Stock Exchange speculator a cabinet secret”
“Telling the Baron…
…to buy Suez Canal shares”
“game of life”
Mrs Chevely
- she has power over Robert and can destroy his life and reputation
“Even you are not…
…rich enough, Sir Robert, to buy back your past”
- Chevely
“Lady Chiltern… has a…
…very enobling effect on life”
- Lady Markby
“It is extraordinary what…
…astounding mistakes clever women make”
- Lord Goring, proleptic irony
“untruthful, dishonest…
…an evil influence”
- Lady Chiltern on Chevely
“no-one can be entirely judged…
…by their past”
- Sir Robert
- Foreshadowing
“One’s past…
…is what one is”
- Chiltern, believes we are not able to change and be forgiven
“They should both represent man at his highest”
- Lady Chiltern
- Public & Private life should represent ideals
“Circumstances…
…should never alter principles”
- Lady Chiltern
“To the world, as to myself,…
…you have been an ideal always”
- Lady Chiltern
- Reflects her high standards
“The sins…
…of one’s youth”
- Sir Robert
- “the sins of the father” (Exodus)
“What this century worships…
…is wealth”
- Sir Robert
“At all costs…
…one must have wealth”
- Sir Robert
- Wealth is the God of the century
“I bought success…
…at a great price”
- Sir Robert
- ref. to Chevely “you have your price”
“Wealth has given me…
…enormous power”
- Sir Robert, corruption
“I received from the Baron…
…£110,000”
“When the God’s wish to punish us…
…they answer our prayers”
- Sir Robert
- Had a successful life and is waiting to be punished
“It would kill her love…
…for me”
“There is some flaw…
…in each of us”
- Goring
“The truth has always…
…stifled me”
- Sir Robert
“In every nature…
…there are elements of weakness”
- Goring
“Robert is as incapable of doing a foolish thing…
…as he is of doing a wrong thing”
- Lady Chiltern
- Dramatic irony
“a person who has once been guilty of a dishonest & dishonourable action…
…may be guilty of it a second time, and should be shamed”
- Lady Chiltern
- Dramatic irony
“He and I are closer than friends…
…We are enemies linked together. The same sin binds us.”
- Chevely
“as thought she was seeing him…
…for the first time” (S.D)
- information has changed Gertrude’s perspective on her husband
“the ideal of my life!”
Lady Chiltern
- Melodramatic
“Love should forgive”
Sir Robert
- Melodramatic
- Reference to Exodus
“I am a ship without a rudder…
…in a night without a star”
- Sir Robert
- Melodramatic, self-pity
“I am ignoble in her eyes”
Sir Robert
“Pitiless in her perfection”
Sir Robert about his wife
“Sinners talk to Saints”
Comparing him talking to Gertrude
“I only war against one woman…
…against Gertrude Chiltern”
- Chevely
- Motivated by her hatred & possible jealousy
“Then I cannot forgive you…
…there can be no forgiveness”
- Lord Goring about Chevely
- In a play about forgiveness, she is irredeemable - no chance at redemption
“You can forget, men easily forget…
…and I forgive”
- G to R
“At all costs…
…one must have wealth”
“What a mask…
…you’ve been wearing all these years”
“I know the real origin…
…of your wealth and career”
