An Ideal Husband
Oscar Wilde once said, "Art is the most intense form of individualism that the world has known"(Bolander 20). A man who truly believed in the importance of art and its significance in and reflections on society, Wilde references artists to describe nearly every character in his four-act play An Ideal Husband (Nassaar 123). Wilde uses an artist's stereotypical model to "visually emphasize the values which are paramount to [his characters and] society," as seen through Mrs. Marchmont, Lady Basildon, Lord Caversham, and Sir Robert Chiltern (Eltis 132). However, Wilde relates some of his characters to a more subtle type of artistry or artist, as in the cases with Miss Mabel Chiltern, Mrs. Cheveley, and Lord Goring. Wilde describes the first characters introduced to the audience as very elegant and dainty women; "Watteau would have loved to paint" Mrs. Marchmont and Lady Basildon (Wilde 1.1). Antoine Watteau typically painted women of high fragility and exquisite beauty. The models Watteau painted "[dress] for the part; they...avoid everything gross and uncultivated, displaying their seductions with the greatest delicacy and charm" (Craven 173). Mrs. Marchmont and Lady Basildon set the basis for the typical high-class Engl
Cheveley; he will not sacrifice himself by marrying her, whom he was formerly engaged to, even to save the career of his best friend. "To collect the landscapes of the French painter Corot suggests both taste and wealth," and connected to that, Baron Arnheim provided the means to buy the paintings as well as the "lesson on good taste" (Raby 347). This elegance makes Sir Robert a man Van Dyck would consider worth painting. Wilde nearly took Lord Goring's arrogance to an "almost unbearable" state bringing him to a condition of psychological isolation (Cohen 212):LORD GORING: . Cheveley too cunning, devious, clever, deceitful, and complicated for classification as any unanimated category. son" who leads "an idle life" (Wilde 1. Lord Goring constantly tells his father he "![is] far too young" to have done anything "useful in life" (Wilde 4.
Common topics in this essay:
Lord Goring,
Miss Mabel,
Sir Robert,
Lady Basildon,
LADY MARKBY,
Lord Caversham,
ROBERT CHILTERN,
Wilde Lamia,
Lady Chiltern's,
Blue Books,
lord goring,
sir robert,
miss mabel,
lord caversham,
oscar wilde,
miss mabel chiltern,
london society,
lady basildon,
mabel chiltern,
university press,
ideal husband,
marchmont lady basildon,
sir robert chiltern,
phipps yes lord,
book inc 1986,
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Acceptance Essays
