Oscar Wilde

Russell Jackson

'I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to one's self.' An Ideal Husband is a comic drama of political and personal deceit. Sir Robert Chiltern is the 'ideal husband' of the play's title, a brilliant young politician, whose eloquence and high principles have set him on the path to high office. His wife, Lady Chiltern, shares his ideals and is a great society beauty. They have the 'ideal' social and political partnership, but Sir Robert has a secret: in order to finance his entry into politics, he once sold confidential information to a sinister international profiteer. Threatened with the revelation of this secret by the glamorous adventuress Mrs Cheveley, Sir Robert turns to his best friend Lord Goring for advice - and thanks to the wit and resourcefulness of this wit and dandy, he has every prospect of being rescued from the revelations that would destroy his social and political career. Wilde's play was first performed in January 1895, the year of his own disgrace and imprisonment. This student edition contains a fully annotated version of the playtext. The introduction includes an account of Wilde's life and a detailed analysis of An Ideal Husband as well as of its stage history. Russell Jackson is Allardyce Nicoll Professor of Drama at the University of Birmingham. He has published widely on theatre history, including Shakespearean performance, and especially Shakespeare in the cinema. His books include Shakespeare Films in the Making, The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Film and The Oxford Illustrated History of Shakespeare on Stage (with Jonathan Bate).

An Ideal Husband

Although Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) created a wide range of poetry, essays, and fairy tales (and one novel) in his brief, tragic life, he is perhaps best known as a dramatist. His witty, clever drama, populated by brilliant talkers skilled in the art of riposte and paradox, are still staples of the theatrical repertoire. An Ideal Husband revolves around a blackmail scheme that forces a married couple to reexamine their moral standards — providing, along the way, a wry commentary on the rarity of politicians who can claim to be ethically pure. A supporting cast of young lovers, society matrons, an overbearing father, and a formidable femme fatale continually exchange sparkling repartee, keeping the play moving at a lively pace. ike most of Wilde's plays, this scintillating drawing-room comedy is wise, well-constructed, and deeply satisfying. An instant success at its 1895 debut, the play continues to delight audiences over one hundred years later. An Ideal Husband is a must-read for Wilde fans, students of English literature, and anyone delighted by wit, urbanity, and timeless sophistication.

Diana Wotton

Mercy K

** spoiler alert **
           read for school
wasn't excited because a lot of the books this year were boring, but i definitely liked it more than i had expected :)

Sarah Ryan

Very enjoyable with some great lines, as one would expect from Oscar Wilde ... “I always pass on good advice, it is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.”

I didn't enjoy it as much as 'The Importance of Being Earnest', but it was a great play.

Maryam Hasan

yerin

I loved the play, it was absolutely fantastic and witty and well-written! My favourite character was, of course, Lord Goring, who had all the best and funniest lines, and was overall a really great character. I also loved the characters of Mabel and Gertrude, Mabel was really witty and a bit similar to me and Gertrude was really progressive for the age she lived in, and I really liked that about her. Laura Cheveley was absolutely devious and I strongly disliked her character, but Robert was a great character as well. I really liked that he cared so much about his wife. Also Phipps was very witty and seemed like a great butler. 
I thinks this is a great book for anyone looking for some fun and romance, with a strong message underneath.

“An Ideal Husband” is a play in four acts by Oscar Wilde. The narrative revolves around a Government minister named Sir Robert Chiltern whose successful career and happy marriage life are put under threat with the arrival into London society of Mrs. Cheveley, who appears to have in her possession evidence of Chiltern's past transgressions. Panicking, Chiltern turns to his friend the scandalous Lord Goring, who is familiar with Mrs. Cheveley and her own misdeeds. As with many of Wilde's plays, “An Ideal Husband” deals with such themes as aristocratic hypocrisy, the position of women, and public and private honour. The play was first performed in 1895, and in April of the same year Wilde was arrested for "gross indecency"—leading to his name being publicly removed from the play. Concentrating heavily on the idea of being forgiven for sins of the past, many believe that Wilde was speaking in fact from personal experience and his fear of repercussions for his own controversial private life. Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (1854–1900) was an Irish poet and playwright who became one of the most popular in London during the 1880s and 1890s. Well-known for his sharp wit and extravagant attire, Wilde was a proponent of aestheticism and wrote in a variety of forms including poetry, fiction, and drama. He was famously imprisoned for homosexual acts from 1895 to 1897 and died at the age of 46, just three years after his release. Other notable works by this author include: “Picture of Dorian Gray” (1890), “Salome” (1891), and “The Importance of Being Earnest” (1895). Read & Co. Classics is proudly republishing this classic play now in a new edition complete with a specially-commissioned new biography of Oscar Wilde.

An Ideal Husband

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