Critics / Theatre Reviews A05 Flashcards
(10 cards)
What did Catherine Angerson (2018) suggest about Wilde’s ‘surface of frivolity and witty exchanges’ ?
‘Underneath a surface of frivolity and witty exchanges, Wilde explores the serious question of the relationship between political power and personal morality.’
What did Catherine Angerson (2018) say about Wilde and AIH being a ‘well made play’ ?
‘Wilde manipulates the form of the well made play and borrows heavily from melodrama (both conservative art forms) but inverts and disrupts these genres to critique a society he saw as deeply flawed.’
What did Catherine Angerson (2018) suggest about Wilde’s socialism in AIH?
‘Wilde’s socialism is carefully written into a comedy that exposes the terrible hypocrisy of the elite classes who seem blind to their own greed, malice and prejudice.’
What did Catherine Angerson (2018) suggest AIH is a critique of and what does Wilde portray?
‘An Ideal Husband is a critique of a profit-oriented, consumerist society. Wilde is keen to portray the dangers of consumerism.’
What did Catherine Angerson (2018) suggest about AIH, being ‘one of the most serious social comedies that Oscar Wilde published’?
‘It contains bold political tinges, ironically and pessimistically looking at the current political background.’
What did Catherine Angerson (2018) suggest Wilde proposes in AIH?
‘Proposes that the more a culture upholds stringent moral values, the more likely it is that publicly prominent people will crumble under charges of impropriety.’
What is the eroding sexual stereotype that Kerry Powel argues Wilde Recultivated ?
‘Recultivated an eroding sexual stereotype of The Victorian Era that women are intellectually the inferiors to men, unequipped for ambition and action, but well-suited for the home-like virtues of mercy and love’
What was the quote regarding dichotomy/ contradiction that Pitlochry company regarded in AIH?
‘It is a dichotomy that fuels the play’s dramatic tension and one in which we can presume Wilde had a particular interest’
What did the Pitlochry Company state regarding what AIH may appear to be?
‘ It is easy to mistake An ideal Husband for a pay about vacuous posh people in pretty flocks.’
What is the quote that the Pitlochry Company stated regarding perfection, (from family/politics) and what is the example they used in Chiltern?
‘ The question of how reasonable it is to expect perfection from loved ones and political representatives will always stay with us. On the one hand, Chiltern has built his wealth on a criminal act; on the other, he has behaved with integrity ever since.’
