Dramatic History. Flashcards
In terms of dramatic history, what should An Ideal Husband be situated in?
In the tension with the popular melodramas and farces that dominated the Anglophone stage of Wilde’s day.
Where do the melodramas of Wilde’s time find their roots?
In the tradition of the “well-made play,” a French model of theatre that emphasised craftsmanship over content.
As the name suggests, what characters and storylines would audiences expect the melodrama’s to offer them?
Stock characters, i.e the “other woman,” the virtuous wife and the husband with a secret past.
Stock storylines would culminate in the reaffirmation of pure and undying love — the side called “ happy ending “
What does An Ideal Husband’s genius lay in?
The religion of the melodramatic formula to ironic ends, one that thoroughly subverts what the melodrama would accomplish through its games of Wildean Witt.
