'AN IDEAL HUSBAND' CRITICAL INTERPRETATIONS Flashcards
(28 cards)
________ : (About Lady Chiltern & Mrs Chevely)
- “Are moral opposites, and…”
Bose : “Are moral opposites, and have contrary motives but both pose threats … by intruding into the traditional male, public, non-domestic sphere and trying to impose their will on it”.
________ : (About Lady Chiltern & Mrs Chevely)
- “By the end of the play, their intervention is…”
Bose : “By the end of the play, their intervention is repelled, leaving male authority shaken but unbroken”.
________ : (Gender Roles)
- “Affirmation of traditional…”
Bose : “Affirmation of traditional concepts of male and female roles”.
________ : (Women)
- “Prove by their action that their claims of…”
Bose : “Prove by their action that their claims of authority and self-determination are wholly undeserved”.
- Cohen & others accuse Wilde of misogyny.
B_______ : (Gender Stereotypes)
- “ Wilde recultivated an eroding sexual stereotype of the Victorian era that women are…”
Bose : “ Wilde recultivated an eroding sexual stereotype of the Victorian era that women are intellectually the inferiors of men, unequipped for ambition and action, but well-suited for the homelike virtues of mercy and love”.
____________ : (‘Real Wife’)
- “Unlike ‘ideal husbands’…
Madden : “Unlike ‘ideal husbands’, which is shown to be a myth, the play legitimises the term ‘real wife’”.
____________ : (Gender)
- “Play completes it’s task of…”
Madden : “Play completes it’s task of creating an open and malleable set of roles that men can occupy while maintaining a rigid structured definition of the singular role society dictates for women”.
(‘AIH’ being a myth and identifying a ‘real wife’).
__________ : (Robert and Gertrude Chiltern)
- “Modern note is struck in RC’s assertion of the individuality and…”
Shaw : “Modern note is struck in RC’s assertion of the individuality and courage of his wrongdoing as against the mechanical idealism of his stupidly good wife”.
____________ : (Victorian Ideology)
- “Simultaneously supports and…”
Kaneda : “Simultaneously supports and subverts the Victorian ideology”.
_______ : (Hypocrisy)
- “The basic hypocrisy of…”
Bird : “The basic hypocrisy of English society”.
___________ : (Wilde’s Dramas)
- “Oscar Wilde’s dramas reject…”
Kaneda : “Oscar Wilde’s dramas reject a single interpretation”.
___________ : (Happy Ending)
- “By the time these ‘happy endings’ are achieved…”
Innes : “By the time these ‘happy endings’ are achieved, everything they stand for has been discredited.”
_____________ : (Mabel Chiltern)
- “Mabel Chiltern is the character through whom Wilde grappled with…”
Szanter : “Mabel Chiltern is the character through whom Wilde grappled with questions of the public versus the private life.”
_____________ : (Sir Robert Chiltern)
- “Sir Robert proves himself one of those gentlemen who can be honest…”
Archer : “Sir Robert proves himself one of those gentlemen who can be honest so long as it is absolutely convenient, and no longer.”
_________ : (Lady Chiltern’s Morals)
- “Rigidly moral, she finds that …”
Bose : “Rigidly moral, she finds that each good act carried out by her husband has been devalued and tainted by one bad act”
_________ : (Mabel & Goring Anchoring)
- “The comic man and the lively girl of melodrama…”
Bose : “The comic man and the lively girl of melodrama keep the play on a level of common sense”
_________ : (Moral of Play)
- “Is the play telling us that…”
Bose : “Is the play telling us that ideals are not for this world?”
E_______ : (Wilde’s view on Feminism)
- “Can be read of Wilde’s rejection of contemporary…”
(LC being educated by LG & told mens lives are of ‘more value’ than women’s)
Eltis : “Can be read of Wilde’s rejection of contemporary feminist demands for male reform”
________ : (LOVE)
~ “It is ultimately love that…”
Eltis : “It is ultimately love that separates Sir Robert Chiltern from his blackmailer”.
__________ : (POWER)
~ “Mrs. Chevely wrongdoing is obvious: she invades…”
Bose : “Mrs. Chevely wrongdoing is obvious: she invades male power. It is note worthy that she is not the only outsider in this social world but the only one utterly rejected”.
__________ : (POWER)
~ “Wilde undercuts customary morality but fears”…
Bose : “Wilde undercuts customary morality but fears self-determining women’s disruptive power”.
__________ : (WOMEN)
~ “The lady of the house became a…”
Kathyrn Hughes : “The lady of the house became a walking billboard for her husband’s success”.
_________ : (Lady Chiltern)
- “Lady Chiltern’s meek acceptance of LG vision of the nature of…”
Kohl : “Lady Chiltern’s meek acceptance of LG vision of the nature of men and women is something of a shock, considering her former role as her husband’s helpmeet and moral arbiter”.
_________ : (Gender)
- “Characters alternately depend upon and…”
Eltis : “Characters alternately depend upon and subvert traditional stereotypes”.
