At the time of writing An Ideal Husband Flashcards
Why did biographers suggest private events foreshadowing Wilde’s downfall may inform An Ideal Husband?
Lord Alfred had given a suit to his friend, Alfred Wood, who disproved a love letter from Wilde carelessly in its pocket.
What did Wood do to Wilde (2 things)
He confronted Wilde with intentions of blackmail, the unconcerned author was able to appease the would-be extortionist over dinner.
He also had given a copy of the letter to two thugs, who approached Wilde with demands of payment.
How did Wilde react to the thugs and what did he tell them?
He nonchalantly dismissed them as well, but had told them that he found the idea of such a price being proposed for a piece of his writing quite the compliment.
What was the decade An Ideal Husband was written in?
The ‘Yellow,’ the twilight years of England’s Victorian Era.
What does the ‘Yellow’ decade involve in schematic terms?
It was distinguished by England’s growth as an industrial and imperial giant, and increasingly conservatism in social behaviour.
What are the 6 ( 3 of which follow the 3rd) things that provide the backdrop of An Ideal Husband?
Imperial Expansion,
Foreign Speculation,
The Period’s rigid system of mores, involving
— notions of familial devotion
—propriety
— duty both public and personal.
How did Wilde rebel against Victorian sensibilities?
As a primary propagator of aestheticism, he called for a world judged by the beauty of its artifice rather than its moral value.
What are the three things the aesthete, Wilde, opted to forgo his dreary duties to society in the name of?
Individual freedom, social theatricality, pleasures of style and affectation.
How does An Ideal Husband dramatise the clash between beauty of artifice and moral value?
It does it rather explicitly with continually posing the figure of the dandy — thinly veiled double of Wilde himself — against a set of more respectable, “ideal” characters.
