An Ideal Husband - Context

Question 1

What is Lord Goring

Answer 1

He is the rasonner:
Upholds social movement (Varty, 2019)

Question 2

Aestheticism

Answer 2

“Art for art’s sake” - Oscar Wilde

Question 3

Attitudes towards education:

Answer 3

Most lower class children went to work to provide for their families rather than going to school

Question 4

Social class

Answer 4

Social classes were important as it determined how people lived and where treated

Question 5

“Wilde attacks the institution of marriage”

Answer 5

(Varty, 2019)
He critiques marriage through ‘An Ideal Husband’
- He questions what is an ideal?

Question 6

Wilde’s critique of idealism

Answer 6

(Varty, 2019)
Advocating for social change
- Mismatch between the real and the ideal
- Wilde wants to bring about the idea of moral relativism rather than moral absolutism

Question 7

Sir Robert Chiltern’s past

Answer 7

(Varty, 2019)
Structured as a “man with a past”
- Turnaround for Wilde as traditionally it is the women who has the past

Question 8

Archer (1895)

Answer 8

Review from when the play when it first came out
He didn’t see any change in Robert or Gertrude’s Chiltern’s behaviour

Question 9

Were women expected to marry

Answer 9

Yes and they were also expected to be ladylike and perform tasks in the household

Question 10

Purpose of ‘An Ideal Husband’

Answer 10

A well-made play
Very didactic –> meant to teach the audience

Question 11

Role of the Dandy

Answer 11

• Common in 19th and early 20th-Century Europe
• Men who were known for their commitment to (usually extravagant) fashion
• Wilde was considered a Dandy
• Lord Goring is the Dandy as he applies joy and humour to the pursuit of truth whilst consistently using wit

Question 12

Gender Roles

Answer 12

• Men and Women inhabited ‘separate spheres’
  –> Clearly defined with very little overlap
• Men were expected to be formally educated and to work in the public sphere
• Women were not expected to be formally educated and their focus was more on the domestic, private sphere
• Society expected women to marry and serve as moral guidance in the home for both their children and husband – publicly their main role was to serve as a hostess for social gatherings

Question 13

Mrs Chevely - Gender Roles

Answer 13

Women were supposed to seek good marriages and never admit sexual desire but Chevely goes against this when she says she knew Baron Arnheim “intimately”
–> Women were not supposed to cast morality aside completely but she does to pursue amoral self-interest and sexual pleasure

Question 14

Mrs Chevely - Etiquette

Answer 14

Mrs Cheveley breaks the “Victorian rules of etiquette” by threatening to expose Robert’s past.