An Ideal Husband

by

Oscar Wilde

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Themes and Colors
The Natural and the Artificial Theme Icon
Romance, Boredom, and Delight Theme Icon
The Trivial and the Serious Theme Icon
Wit, Charm, and Contrariness Theme Icon
Love, Morality, and Forgiveness Theme Icon
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in An Ideal Husband, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Romance, Boredom, and Delight Theme Icon

If life is a form of art, and art’s purpose is to delight and occasionally to instruct, then boredom – which withers delight and inhibits learning – is to be avoided at all costs. For this reason, boredom is a significant preoccupation for the dandyish characters of the play. Characters assert at various times that obligations are boring (“Well, my duty is a thing I never do, on principle. It always depresses me”), goodness is boring, common sense is boring, earnestness is boring, perfection is boring (“We have married perfect husbands, and we are well punished for it”), and romance is boring (“Englishmen always get romantic after a meal, and that bores me dreadfully”). Romance, especially, is boring because it is a mixture of goodness, obligation, and earnestness. Like the other items on the list, it is too heavy a feeling to be delightful; delight is nimble, spontaneous, and changeable.

Yet, as the play’s ending demonstrates, when life comes to a crisis – the crisis of the Chilterns’ marriage, and the crisis of Robert’s reputation – one must move beyond the distinction between the boring and the amusing. The distinction is useful only to a certain point; it is important to the artifice of social life, but less so at times when human nature is more exposed. In moments of crisis, it is the distinction between empathy and egotism, between goodness and heartlessness, which guides the play’s heroes and heroines.

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Romance, Boredom, and Delight ThemeTracker

The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Romance, Boredom, and Delight appears in each scene of An Ideal Husband. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
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Romance, Boredom, and Delight Quotes in An Ideal Husband

Below you will find the important quotes in An Ideal Husband related to the theme of Romance, Boredom, and Delight.
Act 1, Part 1 Quotes

Oh, I love London Society! I think it has immensely improved. It is entirely composed now of beautiful idiots and brilliant lunatics. Just what Society should be.

Related Characters: Mabel Chiltern (speaker)
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 3
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 1, Part 2 Quotes

Oh! I am not at all romantic. I am not old enough. I leave romance to my seniors.

Related Characters: Lord Arthur Goring (speaker)
Page Number: 8
Explanation and Analysis:

I love talking about nothing, father. It is the only thing I know anything about.

Related Characters: Lord Arthur Goring (speaker)
Page Number: 9
Explanation and Analysis:

LORD CAVERSHAM
You seem to me to be living entirely for pleasure.

LORD GORING
What else is there to live for, father? Nothing ages like happiness.

Related Characters: Lord Arthur Goring (speaker), Lord Caversham (speaker)
Page Number: 9
Explanation and Analysis:

I like looking at geniuses, and listening to beautiful people.

Related Characters: Mrs. Marchmont and Lady Basildon (speaker)
Page Number: 11
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2, Part 2 Quotes

When Tommy wants to be romantic he talks to one just like a doctor.

Related Characters: Mabel Chiltern (speaker), Tommy Trafford
Page Number: 35
Explanation and Analysis:

The art of living. The only really Fine Art we have produced in modern times.

Related Characters: Mrs. Cheveley (speaker)
Page Number: 40
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 3, Part 1 Quotes

But women who have common sense are so curiously plain, father, aren’t they?

Related Characters: Lord Arthur Goring (speaker), Lord Caversham
Page Number: 51
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 4, Part 1 Quotes

Youth isn’t an affectation. Youth is an art.

Related Characters: Lord Arthur Goring (speaker)
Page Number: 65
Explanation and Analysis:

Well, my duty is a thing I never do, on principle. It always depresses me.

Related Characters: Mabel Chiltern (speaker)
Page Number: 67
Explanation and Analysis: