Befitting its central themes—a critical portrayal of London’s performative society life and a tender exploration of love and forgiveness—An Ideal Husband alternates between a light-hearted, whimsical, satirical mood and a heartfelt, earnest mood. The highly stylized banter between its characters fosters much of the humor and wit—and withering satire—of the play, as with this flirtatious exchange between Mabel Chiltern and Lord Goring in Act 1, Part 2:
Mabel Chiltern: What a horrid woman!
Lord Goring: You should go to bed, Miss Mabel.
Mabel Chiltern: Lord Goring!
Lord Goring: My father told me to go to bed an hour ago. I don’t see why I shouldn’t give you the same advice. I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.
Mabel Chiltern: Lord Goring, you are always ordering me out of the room. I think it most courageous of you. Especially as I am not going to bed for hours.
Goring’s goofy, paradoxical remark about the nature of good advice and Mabel’s quick retort are wonderful examples of the more whimsical mood that pervades much of the dialogue in the first few acts of the play.
Toward the end of the play, however, a series of longer speeches and emotional appeals ground the story in a more tender and earnest mood, as with Goring's heartfelt speech to Lady Chiltern in Act 4, Part 2:
Lady Chiltern, allow me. You wrote me a letter last night in which you said you trusted me and wanted my help. Now is the moment when you really want my help, now is the time when you have got to trust me, to trust in my counsel and judgement. You love Robert. Do you want to kill his love for you? What sort of existence will he have if you rob him of the fruits of his ambition, if you take him from the splendour of a great political career, if you close the doors of public life against him, if you condemn him to sterile failure, he who was made for triumph and success?
These two dominant moods reflect the underlying tension that Wilde explores between the practiced artifice and performativity of society life and the power of authentic emotion—and love.
Befitting its central themes—a critical portrayal of London’s performative society life and a tender exploration of love and forgiveness—An Ideal Husband alternates between a light-hearted, whimsical, satirical mood and a heartfelt, earnest mood. The highly stylized banter between its characters fosters much of the humor and wit—and withering satire—of the play, as with this flirtatious exchange between Mabel Chiltern and Lord Goring in Act 1, Part 2:
Mabel Chiltern: What a horrid woman!
Lord Goring: You should go to bed, Miss Mabel.
Mabel Chiltern: Lord Goring!
Lord Goring: My father told me to go to bed an hour ago. I don’t see why I shouldn’t give you the same advice. I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.
Mabel Chiltern: Lord Goring, you are always ordering me out of the room. I think it most courageous of you. Especially as I am not going to bed for hours.
Goring’s goofy, paradoxical remark about the nature of good advice and Mabel’s quick retort are wonderful examples of the more whimsical mood that pervades much of the dialogue in the first few acts of the play.
Toward the end of the play, however, a series of longer speeches and emotional appeals ground the story in a more tender and earnest mood, as with Goring's heartfelt speech to Lady Chiltern in Act 4, Part 2:
Lady Chiltern, allow me. You wrote me a letter last night in which you said you trusted me and wanted my help. Now is the moment when you really want my help, now is the time when you have got to trust me, to trust in my counsel and judgement. You love Robert. Do you want to kill his love for you? What sort of existence will he have if you rob him of the fruits of his ambition, if you take him from the splendour of a great political career, if you close the doors of public life against him, if you condemn him to sterile failure, he who was made for triumph and success?
These two dominant moods reflect the underlying tension that Wilde explores between the practiced artifice and performativity of society life and the power of authentic emotion—and love.
