Search results
While Wilde has a serious plot and message in An Ideal Husband, the play is mostly comic. As such, it is close to a form of dramatic comedy known as the comedy of manners.
As some of the central works of the aesthetic movement, Oscar Wilde’s plays influenced French Symbolist writers like André Gide and satirical British novelists like Evelyn Waugh, who wrote affectionate satires of aesthetic mores.
An Ideal Husband is a four-act play by Oscar Wilde that revolves around blackmail and political corruption, and touches on the themes of public and private honour. It was first produced at the Haymarket Theatre, London in 1895 and ran for 124 performances.
- Oscar Wilde
- 1895
- Carol Dell'amico
- What Do I Read Next?
- Curt Guyette
- Epifanio San Juan Jr.
- Robert Keith Miller
- Donald H. Ericksen
Dell'Amico is an instructor of English literatureand composition. In this essay, Dell'Amico considers Wilde and his play within the context of Irish-British colonial relations. The country in which Oscar Wilde was born was, for many centuries, a territory of the United Kingdom (Britain). Ireland was, then, a colony of Britain, a situation of enforc...
The play The Importance of Being Earnest (1896) is Wilde's comedic masterpiece; it premiered a month after An Ideal Husbandin 1895.The Happy Prince and Other Tales(1888) is Wilde's much admired first book of fairy tales.Translations(1981) is a play by the well-known Irish playwright Brian Friel. It takes place in 1833, dramatizing Britain's project of mapping Ireland and, in the process, substituting English names...The conclusion to The Renaissance(1873) by Walter Pater conveys the aestheticist creed that so impressed Wilde.Guyette, a longtime journalist, received a bachelor's degree in English writing from the University of Pittsburgh. In this essay, Guyette discusses how Wilde uses scathing wit to create a play that, ultimately, espouses tolerance and compassion. In An Ideal Husband, Oscar Wilde stitches together multiple and varied elements to produce a seamless wo...
In the following excerpt, San Juan Jr. explores the themes of the past and social adaptation inAn Ideal Husband. Wilde's least successful play on the stage and his third comedy, An Ideal Husband,was written between October 1893 and March 1894. It was produced at the Haymarket Theatre on January 3, 1895. When Wilde in 1899 corrected the proofs of th...
In the following excerpt, Miller gives an overview of An Ideal Husband, providing deeper analysis of the characters of Sir Robert and Lord Goring and calling the drama much improved over Wilde's earlier ones. An Ideal Husband opened in London on January 3, 1895. Although considerably longer than either Lady Windermere's Fan or A Woman of No Importa...
In the following excerpt, Ericksen views Lord Goring as representing "a significant development in Wilde's treatment of the dandy." An Ideal Husband, according to Frank Harris, was based on a story that he had told Wilde aboutDisraeli's making money by entrusting the Rothschilds with the purchase of Suez Canal shares. Pearson discounts the signific...
Important information about Oscar Wilde's background, historical events that influenced An Ideal Husband, and the main ideas within the work.
This study guide and infographic for Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband offer summary and analysis on themes, symbols, and other literary devices found in the text. Explore Course Hero's library of literature materials, including documents and Q&A pairs.
People also ask
What is the study guide for Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband?
How does Oscar Wilde use scathing wit in an ideal husband?
What is the best biography of Oscar Wilde?
How did Oscar Wilde grow up?
A short summary of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband. This free synopsis covers all the crucial plot points of An Ideal Husband.
