About the Play

Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband
Written in late 1893 and early 1894

First production January 3, 1895, at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, London, under the management of Lewis Waller, who produced, directed and starred in the play.

The cast included:
Lewis Waller as Sir Robert Chiltern
Charles H. Hawtrey as Lord Goring
Julia Neilson as Lady Chiltern
Florence West as Mrs. Cheveley
Maude Millett as Mabel Chiltern
and Alfred Bishop as the Earl of Caversham, Lord Goring’s father

In the Indiana University production:

When we read An Ideal Husband or, better yet, see and hear it performed, we must do so with some care. It is a comedy that deals with serious issues: the relationship between men and women, husbands and wives; the ways people acquire political power and how they use it; the lies we sometimes tell one another; and the ethical lines that we sometimes cross.

Although it is a comedy, it may not be a comedy we are used to: There are precious few jokes in the play (although there is a long scene of great seriousness that, at the same time, borders on the farcical). Most of the humor comes from the play’s style and Oscar Wilde’s witty use of the English language. He peppers his dialogue with epigrams, especially, in this play, in the dialogue of Lord Caversham, Mabel Chiltern, Mrs. Marchmont, and Lady Basildon. The other characters either speak somewhat seriously, foolishly, or act as foils for the witty remarks of others.

Wilde is famous for turning an epigram upon itself, taking its hearers to an unexpected conclusion. Here are some examples of Wilde’s remarks, originating from his plays, novels, and his life:

I think that God in creating Man somewhat overestimated his ability.
I can resist anything but temptation.
Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.
The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.
A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction.
All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his.
Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same.
Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.
The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple.
There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.
To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.
Women are never disarmed by compliments. Men always are. That is the difference between the sexes.

An Ideal Husband is a play that pays dividends when we pay attention to it, when we listen closely to the dialogue—that is when we’ll enjoy the wit of Oscar Wilde.

Summary of the action of the play:

Act One takes place in Sir Robert Chiltern’s house in Grosvenor Square in London. Sir Robert, the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and his wife Gertrude (known in the script as Lady Chiltern) are hosting a dinner party with lots of music and dancing. Many guests are present, and more arrive, among them: Mabel Chiltern, Sir Robert’s sister, who is in love with Lord Goring; The Earl of Caversham, the father of Lord Goring;
Lord Goring, on the surface, a wealthy, casual dandy, whose aim in life is to appreciate beauty and speak wittily; beneath the surface, Lord Goring is a close observer of his society and very serious about ethical behavior, life, seemingly trivial matters;
Mrs. Chevely, a schoolmate of Lady Chiltern, now living in Vienna.

During this act, we discover that

• In the past, Sir Robert, eager for advancement in society, became wealthy by selling a state secret to an investment speculator, Baron Arnheim.
• Mrs. Chevely, a former lover of the Baron, knows the disgraceful secret of the origins of Sir Robert’s fortune. Furthermore, she possesses the incriminating letter the young Robert wrote to the Baron, and she uses this letter to blackmail Sir Robert. We also learn that, at one time, briefly, she and Lord Goring were engaged.
• Mrs. Chevely has invested heavily in a fraudulent project, a canal to be built by the British in Argentina. Sir Robert, as the Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs, is about to denounce the canal in a speech before Parliament, but Mrs. Chevely threatens that unless he reverses his position and throws his support behind the Argentine project, she will reveal his past misdeeds and ruin him. Sir Robert, fearing disgrace and loss of power, agrees to Mrs. Chevely’s scheme.
• Lord Goring and Mabel Chiltern discover a diamond brooch that some lady has lost within the cushions of a couch. Lord Goring recognizes it as a gift he had once given someone and pockets the brooch, asking Mabel not to tell anyone of their discovery.
• Later, after the guests have left, Sir Robert’s wife Gerturde, Lady Chiltern, knew Mrs. Chevely at school and, she tells him, it was not a pleasant thing: “She was untruthful, dishonest, an evil influence on everyone whose trust or friendship she could win. I hated, I despised her. She stole things, she was a thief. She was sent away for being a thief. Why do you let her influence you?” Lady Chiltern insists that Sir Robert retract his support of the canal project, and she makes him send a letter to that effect to Mrs. Chevely by messenger. Lady Chiltern views her husband as an exceptional man, noble in principle, someone whom both men and women admire. He is an ideal husband, and, she concludes, incapable of supporting a worthless get-rich-quick ploy like the Argentine Canal scheme. The act ends with Sir Robert, alone in his house, depressed, fearful, and facing ruin.

Act Two also takes place the next morning in Sir Robert’s house, this time in the morning room. Here’s what happens:

• A restless and worried Sir Robert has confided in his most trusted friend, Lord Goring, who has no immediate advice for solving the problem of Mrs. Cheveley’s blackmail, but he does advise Sir Robert to confess his past to his wife, a suggestion that Sir Robert is unable to take because, he says, it would cause Gertrude to leave him: “It would have made a life-long separation between us, and I would have lost the love of the one woman in the world I worship...”
• Later, Lord Goring tries to discuss Sir Robert’s problems with Lady Chiltern, but her idealistic (and unrealistic) feelings for her husband make such a discussion impossible. About all Lord Chiltern can do is to make clear to Lady Chiltern that he is available to assist her in case she ever requires any help, for any reason.
• Mrs. Chevely calls on Lady Chiltern, seeking a diamond brooch she may have lost at the party. During their conversation, and just as Sir Robert is entering the room, Mrs. Chevely reveals Sir Robert’s terrible secret to Lady Chiltern. The revelation destroys Lady Chiltern and crushes her idealistic dream about her husband: “You sold a Cabinet secret for money!” she exclaims. “Don’t come near me. Don’t touch me. I feel as if you had soiled me for ever.”
• Sir Robert leaves his home. His wife collapses in sobs on her sofa.

Act Three takes place later that evening in the library of Lord Goring’s house. It is late in the evening. It is almost ten o’clock. This act is full of melodramatic complications, which can be both dangerous and (sometimes) farcical.

• Lord Goring is dressing for the evening, preparing to go out. He is assisted by his manservant Phipps.
• Lord Goring notices a letter in a pink envelope in the afternoon’s mail, and discovers that it is from Lady Chiltern. “I want you,” it reads. “I trust you. I am coming to you. Gertrude.” Lady Chiltern has obviously taken Lord Goring up on his offer to help her whenever she might need it. To ensure their privacy, Goring plans to tell Phipps that he “is not in to anyone else,” that is, that any visitors other than Lady Chiltern need to be told that Lord Goring is not at home.
• No sooner does he speak these words, than Phipps annonces the arrival of Lord Goring’s father, Lord Caversham, who demands to speak to his son about settling down and getting married. Lord Caversham resists all of his son’s attempts to make him leave, to put off this discussion, but finally Lord Goring persuades his father to take the discussion into the smoking room (yes, Victorian homes had a room set aside for men to smoke cigars and cigarettes), which is adjacent to the library.
• As his father goes into the room, Lord Goring instructs Phipps that he is expecting a visit from “a lady” (he does not use Lady Chiltern’s name, probably to protect her reputation) and that when she arrives, Phipps is “to show her into the drawing room.”
• The bell then rings, Lord Goring, believing it to be Lady Chiltern at the front door, has to go into the smoking room where Lord Caversham awaits, but Phipps goes to the door and brings on stage not Lady Chiltern but Mrs. Chevely. While Phipps prepares the drawing room, which is also adjacent to the library, Mrs. Chevely looks around the room and discovers, on the desk, Lady Chiltern’s letter, which she reads. Mrs. Chevely’s interprets the note (“I want you. I trust you. I’m coming to you. Gertrude”) to be a love letter and suspects that Lady Chiltern is coming to Lord Goring’s for a romantic encounter. She is about to steal the note, but is stopped when Phipps enters to escort her into the drawing room. She leaves the note on the desk.
• Lord Goring, having finished a heated discussion about marriage with Lord Caversham, shows his father out, only to be met at the front door by Sir Robert Chiltern, who returns to the library with Lord Goring, who believes Lady Chiltern is in the next room. As they discuss Gertrude and how deeply Sir Robert loves and misses her, Lord Goring has an idea: “I’ll give her a lecture through the door” about how much Sir Robert loves her. It’s an awkward plan, but Lord Goring is up to it.
• The discussion between the two men starts to explore the Chilterns’ marriage and the roles each partner plays. It is personally revealing for Sir Robert, who then begins to discuss the decision he has come to about the Argentine canal scheme, which he plans to discuss that very night in Parliament.
• A chair falls in the next room.
• Sir Robert becomes aware that someone has been listening in on their conversation, and, despite Lord Goring’s denials, enters the drawing room (off stage). Lord Goring leaps to the defense of Lady Chiltern, whom he believes is now face to face with her husband. Of course Sir Robert is staring at the woman who would destroy him, were he not to do her bidding.
• Sir Robert returns, and the two men argue at cross purposes. Here is where the serious dialogue can be sent into the realm of farce):

Sir Robert: What explanation have you to give me for the presence of that woman here?
Lord Goring: Robert, I swear to you on my honour that that lady is stainless and guiltless of all offence towards you.
Sir Robert: She is a vile, an infamous thing!
Lord Goring: Don’t say that, Robert! It was for your sake she came here. It was to try and save you she came here. She loves you and no one else.
Sir Robert: You are mad. What have I to do with her intrigues with you? Let her remain your mistress! You are well suited to each other. She, corrupt and shameful—you, false as a friend, treacherous as an enemy even—

• Sir Robert storms out of the house, and Mrs. Chevely calmly enters the room, much to the shock of Lord Goring.
• It turns out that Mrs. Chevely, uncertain if her power over Sir Robert is as strong as it needs to be, has come to Lord Goring with another proposition. She will surrender Sir Robert’s incriminating letter to Lord Goring on the day that they wed.
  • Mrs. Chevely argues that they once felt love for one another (until Lord Goring saw her kissing another man after they were engaged), and perhaps they might find it again. A marriage to Lord Goring would allow Mrs. Chevely to return to England and live well among the aristocracy. She might even set up a salon in her home, where the leading artists, intellectuals, and eminent men and women of society would meet for lively conversation and gossip.
• Lord Goring refuses, and in the ensuing dialogue, discovers that Mrs. Chevely was the person who had lost the diamond brooch at the previous evening’s party.
• Lord Goring presents the brooch to Mrs. Chevely and shows that it may also be worn as a bracelet.
  • He fastens the bracelet around Mrs. Chevely’s wrist.
  • Mrs. Chevely is surprised that she cannot remove the bracelet (she does not know where the hidden spring is located that unlocks the mechanism).
  • She is also horrified to learn that Lord Goring has recognized the bracelet because it had been his gift to his cousin, from whom it had been stolen ten years ago.
  • And when she learns that Goring plans to have her arrested for theft and prosecuted, Mrs. Chevely finds herself bitterly at his mercy.
• Lord Goring demands that she hand over Sir Robert’s letter; she does, and he burns it.
• Mrs. Chevely, however, rushes to the desk and steals Lady Chiltern’s note to Lord Goring, promising to send it to Sir Robert, who will, no doubt interpret it as she, as a love not from Gertrude to Lord Goring.
• Mrs. Chevely leaves the house. She is gleeful. Lord Goring is not. The act ends.

Act Four again takes place in the morning room at the Chilterns’ home the next morning. Through a lovely series of mistaken interpretations, happy circumstances, and,  occasionally, honesty, all the pieces of the story fall together in a relatively happy ending: Sir Robert has bravely spoken out against the canal project and, in this act, is offered a position in the Cabinet of the Prime Minister. The note Mrs. Chevely has sent to Sir Robert is received, but its destructive power over the Chilterns’ marriage is very very weak. Lord Goring and Sir Robert’s sister, Mabel, admit their love for one another and become engaged, causing much happiness for them, the Chiltern’s and Lord Caversham. Wilde gathers up any loose ends and ties up the plot of his play in a nice, neat fashion.

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