His plays Flashcards
The Importance of Being Earnest
- an ironic mirror to the aristocracy while displaying virtuosic mastery of wit and paradoxical wisdom
An Ideal Husband, Act I
- a political party
- secondary text provides more detailed information about the outward appearance of the characters
- different characters converse about different kinds of topics, e.g. what it takes for a husband to be a desirable one: Lady Basilton and Mrs. Marchmont, in the beginning of the act complain about their husbands being too good - at the same time, Lady Childern complains about Lord Goring’s life as a bachelor
“We have married perfect husbands, and we are well punished for it” - Mrs Cheveley enters the party: She is described in the secondary text as a “work of art”, she is interested in politics, dislikes London, and has married a second time: she seems to be a “new woman”
- Her and Lady Chiltern know each other from the past
- Lady Cheveley’s purpose to attend this party is to make political arrangements with Lady Chiltern’s husband, Robert Chiltern
- when he arrives, she asks him to publicly support the Argentine scheme of a canal, because she has invested money in it and wants to make a fortune through Robert
- he refuses but she threatens to do it, or else she will publish a letter which proves that Robert has buyed his career and ruin him
- in the meantime, Mabel Chiltern finds a diamond brooch
- Lady Chiltern and Robert talk about the favor that Mrs Cheveley has asked Robert and Lady Chiltern warns Robert to not follow her favor because she is an evil person, that she knows from their joint past
- Lady Chiltern furthermore compliments her husband’s idealness and goodness without knowing that it is exactly this which is at stake
Mrs Cheveley (An Ideal Husband)
(to Robert, Act I): “Remember to what a point your Puritanism in England has brought you. In old days, nobody pretended to be better than his neighbor. In fact, it was considered vulgar and as middle class. Nowadays, with our modern mania for morality, everyone has to pose as a paragon of purity. (…). Scandals used to lend charm, and interest to a man, now they crush him.”
- Lady Chiltern about Mrs. Ceveley: dishonest, evil, distrustful, had an evil influence on everyone
- she loves scandals, she can’t get enough of them (Goring)
- on morality: “morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike”
- very strong and powerful woman, she has the power to frighten the hell out of Robert, although her threat cannot be taken seriously
An Ideal Husband, Act II
- Robert wants to find out information about Mrs. Cheveley, he is determined to fight her
- he tells Lord Goring what has happened, who makes some interesting remarks about life
- the audience gets to know that Goring knows Mrs. Chaveley from the past, they’ve been engaged for three days, but he does not tell Robert why they broke up
- they converse about modern life and Robert says “what this century worships is wealth. The God of this century is wealth” - reason why he bought his career dishonestly
- Lady Chiltern is suspicious about her husband and asks Lord Goring if there is anything she should know
- Lady Markby enters and tells Lady Chiltern that Mrs Cheveley is coming to see her right now
- Mrs Cheveley enters and tells Lady Chiltern, whose husband has broken Cheveley’s promise sending the letter yesterday night, that she should make him keep his promise and sets a new deadline, until tomorrow morning, later changes it to tomorrow noon
- Finally, Mrs Cheveley reveals the truth about Lady Chiltern’s husband
Lord Goring (An Ideal Husband)
amoral aesthetic character
- believes that everything is dangerous, and this makes life worth living
- has a great admiration for stupidity
- he always says what he truly thinks, and that always is what she shouldn’t say
- a dandy
Lady Chiltern
- member of the woman’s liberal association
- fin de siecle feminist supporting the campaign for social purity for both, men and women
- tries to be an advocate for the social purity campaign
- “I never change”
- “I believe that a person who has been guilty once of a dishonest action may be guilty of it a second time and should be shunned”
Mrs. Cheveley tells Lady Chiltern the truth about her impure husband
Mrs Cheveley is a personified provokation of the puritan life and the idea of purity that Lady Chiltern supports.
- Mrs Cheveley tries to make Lady Chiltern aware of the fact that she is mistaken and does not know her own husband, that it is unreasonable of her to shun her, when she is married to a man who is not a bit better or more pure than Mrs Cheveley
- Lady Chiltern will have to make a compromise of her beliefs in order to save her marriage - she’s endangered in her own purity that she claims to have
- Lady Chiltern finds herself in a conflict when she hears the shocking news: (to Robert): “you were to me somthing apart from common life, a thing pure”, “and now, that i think i made of a man like you my ideal, the ideal of my life!”
- Robert’s response: “there was your mistake. why can’t you women love us, faults and all?” (…) “Let women make no more ideals of men! let them not put them on alters and bow before them, or they may ruin other lives, as completely as you have ruined mine”
An Ideal Husband, Act III
In the third act, set in Lord Goring’s home, Goring receives a pink letter from Lady Chiltern asking for his help, a letter that might be read as a compromising love note. Just as Goring receives this note, however, his father, Lord Caversham, drops in and demands to know when his son will marry. A visit from Sir Robert, who seeks further counsel from Goring, follows. Meanwhile, Mrs. Cheveley arrives unexpectedly and, misrecognised by the butler as the woman Goring awaits, is ushered into Lord Goring’s drawing room. While she waits, she finds Lady Chiltern’s letter. Ultimately, Sir Robert discovers Mrs. Cheveley in the drawing room and, convinced of an affair between these two former lovers, angrily storms out of the house.
When she and Lord Goring confront each other, Mrs. Cheveley makes a proposal. Claiming to still love Goring from their early days of courtship, she offers to exchange Sir Robert’s letter for her old beau’s hand in marriage. Lord Goring declines, accusing her of defiling love by reducing courtship to a vulgar transaction and ruining the Chilterns’ marriage. He then springs his trap. Removing the diamond brooch from his desk drawer, he binds it to Cheveley’s wrist with a hidden lock. Goring then reveals how the item came into her possession. Apparently Mrs. Cheveley stole it from his cousin, Mary Berkshire, years ago. To avoid arrest, Cheveley must trade the incriminating letter for her release from the bejewelled handcuff. After Goring obtains and burns the letter, however, Mrs. Cheveley steals Lady Chiltern’s note from his desk. Vengefully she plans to send it to Sir Robert misconstrued as a love letter addressed to Goring. Mrs. Cheveley exits the house in triumph.
Act IV, an ideal husband
The final act, which returns to Grosvenor Square, resolves the many plot complications sketched above with a decidedly happy ending. Lord Goring proposes to and is accepted by Mabel. Lord Caversham informs his son that Sir Robert has denounced the Argentine canal scheme before the House. Lady Chiltern then appears, and Lord Goring informs her that Sir Robert’s letter has been destroyed but that Mrs. Cheveley has stolen her note and plans to use it to destroy her marriage. At that moment, Sir Robert enters while reading Lady Chiltern’s letter, but as the letter does not have the name of the addressee, he assumes it is meant for him, and reads it as a letter of forgiveness. The two reconcile. Lady Chiltern initially agrees to support Sir Robert’s decision to renounce his career in politics, but Lord Goring dissuades her from allowing her husband to resign. When Sir Robert refuses Lord Goring his sister’s hand in marriage, still believing he has taken up with Mrs. Cheveley, Lady Chiltern is forced to explain last night’s events and the true nature of the letter. Sir Robert relents, and Lord Goring and Mabel are permitted to wed.
