MRS. CHEVELEY: Ah! The strength of women comes from the fact that psychology cannot explain us. Men can be analyzed, women merely adored.

SIR ROBERT: You think science cannot grapple with the problem of women?

MRS. CHEVELEY: Science can never grapple with the irrational. That is why it has no future before it, in this world.

SIR ROBERT: And women represent the irrational.

MRS. CHEVELEY: Well-dressed women do.

This quotation takes place at the beginning of the play in Act I just before Mrs.Cheveley blackmails Sir Robert (how to play starts out and what it is about). This quote shows one the the major themes of the play "womanliness" and "feminitity" because this play is set in the Victorian Era and between the "richer" people. 

LORD CAVERSHAM: And if you don't make this lady an ideal husband, I'll cut you off without a shilling.

MABEL CHILTERN: An ideal husband! Oh, I don't think I should like that. It sounds like something in the next world.

LORD CAVERSHAM: He can be what he chooses. All I want is to be to be oh, a real wife to him.

LORD CAVERSHAM: Upon my word, there is a good deal of common sense in that, Lady Chiltern.

This quotes is at the very end of the play of act IV. It is said in the play as a sort of joke or ironically. At this time, Mabel and Lord Goring have announced their engagement and that is why this quotes came up. Mabel protests that there isn't such  thing of "an ideal husband" and that is belongs only in heaven. On the other hand, Goring can be whatever he wants while she wants to be hid "real" wife.

Author: Oscar Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. He was born in 1854 and died in 1900. He was not just a writer of drama but also many other different kinds of writing and throughout his life he changed his types of writing. He became most popular for playwriting, like An Ideal Husband, in the 1880's . He became London's most popular playwritist on the 1890's. 
After studying University, where he studied first in Dublin then at Oxford, he proved himself to be a very good classicist. He was firstly very involved in philosophy of aestheticism. Then he became involved in different literary activites - first he published  book of poems. They got all the way to the United States and to Canada; they were bout English Renaissance in Art. After this, he came back to London to be a journalist. 
In the 1890's he finally started writing novels- his first novel was The Picture of Dorian Grey, which became very successful. The opportunity to construct aesthetic details precisely, and combine them with larger social themes, drew Wilde to write drama (wikipedia). So then, he started writing drama's like An Ideal Husband. An Ideal Husband wasn't just one society drama that he wrote, but there were many more. He liked to observe the English society and in more detail, social classes, so he wrote about them and made them into drama's. Oscar Wilde published four society comedies in the 1890's which made him one of the most successful playwriters of the Victorian London. 


What is the primary motivation of the protagonist and antagonist?  How do they play off of each other?
Protagonist: Sir Robert Chiltern
Antagonist: Mrs. Cheveley


In this case, the protagonist is under a lot of pressure by the antagonist because there is a lot of blackmail going around. Mrs. Cheveley came to town just to tell Sir Chiltern that she knows something that he hoped would never get out to his wife and other people in his surrounding. With this information, she has the power to get him to do anything that he wants. The make a deal, and with this deal, Mrs. Cheveley promises that his secret will never get out if he does what she wants. The only problem is that Sir Chiltern's wife, Lady Chiltern, is a very caring wife not only at home, but in his career, and wants to know everything that is going on. When she suspects something is going on she starts to ask him and investigate what the situation is. Of course, Sir Chiltern is very afraid that this whole situation is going to blow because he does not want his wife to find out his dirty secret about his past that Mrs. Cheveley is blackmailing him about. 
Another big problem is that Mrs.Cheveley is a pretty, well dressed, sophisticated woman that threatens other woman by her success and beauty. Not only this, but Lady Chiltern and Mrs. Cheveley know each other  for a very long time because they went to school together. They didn't like each other back then, and they don't like each other now. So when Lady Chiltern sees her husband and her enemy talking in private she suspects something right at that moment. The question is how long can it go on?

Themes: As the title might hint, An Ideal Husband's main theme is marriage. The other themes of this play are: loyalty, sacrifice, undying love, forgiveness and devotion.
Marriage is the main theme in this play, it is all about how Lady Chiltern would do anything for her husband to help his career and supports him every step of the way. She completely idolizes and loves her husband - what she doesn't really know is that he hasn't been telling her even half of the truth. She thinks that the marriage is ideal and in this sense, the theme kind of mocks the point, because it is only "ideal" from Lady Chilterns side apparently. Sir Chiltern loves his wife but hasn't had the courage to tell her the truth about his past, which is ironic, because Lady Chiltern idolizes how manly he is. Lady Chiltern is loyal, loving, devoted, and forgiving. 

Context to History: This play was written in 1895 in a decade known as the Naught Nineties or the Yellow Nineties, which were the good and twilight  years of Englands Victorian Era. This era was when England had big industrial growth and increasing conservatism in social mores. This all influenced the play An Ideal Husband. Also, there was a bad system of mores like involving notions of familial devotion, propriety, and duty both public and personal which all lead up to the play. Oscar Wilde rebelled against Victorian sensibilities and wanted a world judged by beauty of its artifice. Now the play is not relevant to today's life and social norms in the United Kingdom. 


Major Events so far: In the play, there are basically 3 main characters so far. There is Sir Robert Chiltern which the whole story is actually about. Then, there is his wife, Lady Chiltern, who is a nice, loving, and supportive wife. Then there is the evil protagonist, Mrs. Cheveley, who is somewhat evil, but mainly very clever and knows a lot of Sir Chiltern's bad past. So far, the story started with Sir Chiltern and Lady Chiltern at a ball at their lovely home, where everything was going great until Mrs. Cheveley showed up. At first, everybody was wondering what she was doing in town because she now lives in Vienna, but then Sir Chiltern found out what her aim of her visit truly was. She knows a dark secret which nobody could find out about him, especially not his wife and co-workers, it would ruin his political career and marriage. Mrs. Cheveley is a witty, pretty, well dressed woman who knows how to get what she wants, so, of course, she blackmails Sir Chiltern to into supporting a fraudulent scheme to build a canal in Argentina, because if he doesn't, she has a very secret letter that Sir Chiltern wants nobody to see. Many years ago, Sir Robert Chiltern was convinced into selling a Cabinet secret which said he should buy stocks in the Suez Canal three days before the British government announced its purchase. Sir Robert Chiltern made his fortune with this money and Mrs. Cheveley has the letter to prove it. Robert Chiltern is scared that he would lose everything he has, especially his wife, so he goes along with Mrs. Cheveley's wishes.
Lady Chiltern sees Mrs. Cheveley and Sir Chiltern talking in private and wonders what is happening, because she knows Mrs. Cheveley very well and knows she is crazy and manipulative. Her husband, Sir Chiltern, lies to her and says that nothing is going on because he doesn't want to lose her but Lady Chiltern is not stupid and suspects that something is going on.

Characters: 

Sir Robert Chiltern - Is the plays main character who is a successful politician with a loving wife and might lose it all because of a misdeed. 

-> Sir Robert Chiltern is an accomplished politician, he is considered as an ideal husband and great politician to everyone in his surroundings. Sir Robert is very wealthy and a powerful man in London at that time and the only person who can take him down is Mrs. Cheveley who has a letter of his crime.Sir Robert doesn't want to reveal his past from his wife. Lady Chiltern's loves and worships his perfect image; Sir Robert is so desperate to remain with her that he will even agree to resign from government. Torn between his true and ideal selves, Sir Robert suffers from a nervous temperament throughout the play.

Lady Gertrude Chiltern - Is a beautiful Greek twenty-seven year old woman who loves his husband and think he is the "ideal husband". She is active in his career and would do anything for him.

-> Lady Chiltern is the play's heroine. She is very supportive of her husband's political career and a loving wife. Lady Chiltern certainly embodied these characteristics, and unlike Sir Robert, Lady Chiltern is not self-divided. She is a poised, charming, and an ideal society wife, but Lady Chiltern is naïve when it comes to the rumors around her and her husband. She is so blinded by her love for Sir Chiltern that she doesn't believe anybody else but him. She is Mrs. Cheveley's ready victim. They have known each other for years and have hated each other since early years in school. So, when she sees Mrs. Cheveley back in town and talking secretly to her husband, she is not happy. Toward the end of Act I, she delivers a speech to Sir Robert that introduces the idea of the "ideal husband" and how much she cares for him. As a woman, Lady Chiltern loves in the worship of an ideal man, a man who is a rolemodel for both her and society. 

Mrs. Cheveley - She is a well dressed "villan" in the play. She values wealth and power above all. She is the manipulative lady who gets what she wants because she blackmails Sir Chiltern. 

Lord Goring - He is a very clever philosopher who tries to help Lady Chiltern.

Mabel Chiltern -  An exemplar of English prettiness, Mabel, Sir Robert's younger sister,

Lord Caversham - He is Lord Goring's father. He is a serious, stuffy but respectable gentleman and wants the best for his son but he is old fashion opposed to his which likes modern living.

Lady Markby - She is a popular woman with grey hair and always visits Lady Chiltern. 

Basic Information: An Ideal Husband is a play by Oscar Wilde from 1895. It is about blackmail and political corruption and overall is about public and private honor. It is set in London and takes place over 24 hours with different acts. 


Plot:This drama is about a young man (politician) who is desperate to hide a secret that cannot be revealed infront of his family, friends, co-workers and especially wife. Sir Robert Chiltern is a successful minister with a loving wife. Although, when Mrs. Chevelely comes to town, everything is threatened because she has evidence of his misdeed. 

Here you can see a bit of what the play is about!