Love, Morality, and Forgiveness Theme Analysis

Mrs. Cheveley, the ‘heartless’ dandy of the play, thinks that goodness and morality are poses with nothing behind them: she complains that “every one has to pose as a paragon of purity, incorruptibility, and all the other seven deadly virtues.” But Lord Goring, the dandy philosopher, knows that morality can be both a pose and a true condition of inner life. He tries to teach Lady Chiltern to love and forgive her husband, because he believes that love and forgiveness are fundamental to a good, happy life. But he would never say so at a party.

Lord Goring’s earnest efforts to reunite the Chilterns, and his own happy entrance into domestic life with Mabel, show that dandyism and aestheticism do not set themselves against love, kindness, and ordinary happiness – on the contrary, dandyism’s charms and tricks serve to elevate that happiness. Dandyism sets itself against the empty rituals of family morals in defense of real joy.

From beginning to end, Mrs. Cheveley remains the amoral villain of the play, and Lord Goring its sublimely moral hero. The only characters who truly develop in this respect are Sir Robert and Lady Chiltern. In the beginning of the play, both husband and wife see themselves as impeccably moral, because they follow a certain set of socially dictated rules – a mixture of diluted religion and exaggerated propriety. When Robert’s predicament tests their faith in these rules, they become quite confused and helpless: they find that the rules are of no use in an actual crisis. But with Lord Goring’s help, they begin to build a true moral base grounded in complex experience and deep mutual sympathy.