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An Ideal Husband
Oscar Wilde
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An Ideal Husband
Oscar Wilde
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About This Book
On the surface, Sir Robert Chiltern is an ideal husbandâhe has an impressive role as a member of the House of Commons and is always respectable in public and in private. His wife, Lady Chiltern, is proud of their privileged life. What she does not know is that Sir Robert's initial rise to power was founded in slightly shady circumstances, and over the course of twenty-four hours, these past indiscretions threaten to come to light, and the fate of the Chiltern's marriage is soon at stake.
One of Oscar Wilde's most popular plays, An Ideal Husband originally ran for more than one hundred performances. Well received by critics for its wit, humor, and excellent characters, An Ideal Husband solidified Oscar Wilde's position as one of the most talented dramatists of the Victorian period.
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Topic
LetteraturaSubtopic
ClassiciAct I
Scene
The octagon room at Sir Robert Chilternâs house in Grosvenor Square.
[The room is brilliantly lighted and full of guests. At the top of the staircase stands LADY CHILTERN, a woman of grave Greek beauty, about twenty-seven years of age. She receives the guests as they come up. Over the well of the staircase hangs a great chandelier with wax lights, which illumine a large eighteenth-century French tapestryârepresenting the Triumph of Love, from a design by Boucherâthat is stretched on the staircase wall. On the right is the entrance to the music room. The sound of a string quartette is faintly heard. The entrance on the left leads to other reception rooms. MRS. MARCHMONT and LADY BASILDON, two very pretty women, are seated together on a Louis Seize sofa. They are types of exquisite fragility. Their affectation of manner has a delicate charm. Watteau would have loved to paint them.]
MRS. MARCHMONT
Going on to the Hartlocksâ tonight, Margaret?
LADY BASILDON
I suppose so. Are you?
MRS. MARCHMONT
Yes. Horribly tedious parties they give, donât they?
LADY BASILDON
Horribly tedious! Never know why I go. Never know why I go anywhere.
MRS. MARCHMONT
I come here to be educated.
LADY BASILDON
Ah! I hate being educated!
MRS. MARCHMONT
So do I. It puts one almost on a level with the commercial classes, doesnât it? But dear Gertrude Chiltern is always telling me that I should have some serious purpose in life. So I come here to try to find one.
LADY BASILDON
[Looking round through her lorgnette.] I donât see anybody here tonight whom one could possibly call a serious purpose. The man who took me in to dinner talked to me about his wife the whole time.
MRS. MARCHMONT
How very trivial of him!
LADY BASILDON
Terribly trivial! What did your man talk about?
MRS. MARCHMONT
About myself.
LADY BASILDON
[Languidly.] And were you interested?
MRS. MARCHMONT
[Shaking her head.] Not in the smallest degree.
LADY BASILDON
What martyrs we are, dear Margaret!
MRS. MARCHMONT
[Rising.] And how well it becomes us, Olivia!
[They rise and go towards the music room. The VICOMTE DE NANJAC, a young attachĂŠ known for his neckties and his Anglomania, approaches with a low bow, and enters into conversation.]
MASON
[Announcing guests from the top of the staircase.] Mr. and Lady Jane Barford. Lord Caversham.
[Enter LORD CAVERSHAM, an old gentleman of seventy, wearing the riband and star of the Garter. A fine Whig type. Rather like a portrait by Lawrence.]
LORD CAVERSHAM
Good evening, Lady Chiltern! Has my good-for-nothing young son been here?
LADY CHILTERN
[Smiling.] I donât think Lord Goring has arrived yet.
MABEL CHILTERN
[Coming up to LORD CAVERSHAM] Why do you call Lord Goring good-for-nothing?
[MABEL CHILTERN is a perfect example of the English type of prettiness, the apple-blossom type. She has all the fragrance and freedom of a flower. There is ripple after ripple of sunlight in her hair, and the little mouth, with its parted lips, is expectant, like the mouth of a child. She has the fascinating tyranny of youth, and the astonishing courage of innocence. To sane people she is not reminiscent of any work of art. But she is really like a Tanagra statuette, and would be rather annoyed if she were told so.]
LORD CAVERSHAM
Because he leads such an idle life.
MABEL CHILTERN
How can you say such a thing? Why, he rides in the Row at ten oâclock in the morning, goes to the Opera three times a week, changes his clothes at least five times a day, and dines out every night of the season. You donât call that leading an idle life, do you?
LORD CAVERSHAM
[Looking at her with a kindly twinkle in his eyes.] You are a very charming young lady!
MABEL CHILTERN
How sweet of you to say that, Lord Caversham! Do come to us more often. You know we are always at home on Wednesdays, and you look so well with your star!
LORD CAVERSHAM
Never go anywhere now. Sick of London Society. Shouldnât mind being introduced to my own tailor; he always votes on the right side. But object strongly to being sent down to dinner with my wifeâs milliner. Never could stand Lady Cavershamâs bonnets.
MABEL CHILTERN
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.
LORD CAVERSHAM
Hum! Which is Goring? Beautiful idiot, or the other thing?
MABEL CHILTERN
[Gravely.] I have been obliged for the present to put Lord Goring into a class quite by himself. But he is developing charmingly!
LORD CAVERSHAM
Into what?
MABEL CHILTERN
[With a little curtsey.] I hope to let you know very soon, Lord Caversham!
MASON
[Announcing guests.] Lady Markby. Mrs. Cheveley.
[Enter LADY MARKBY and MRS. CHEVELEY. LADY MARKBY is a pleasant, kindly, popular woman, with gray hair Ă la marquise and good lace. MRS. CHEVELEY, who accompanies her, is tall and rather slight. Lips very thin and highly-coloured, a line of scarlet on a pallid face. Venetian red hair, aquiline nose, and long throat. Rouge accentuates the natural paleness of her complexion. Gray-green eyes that move restlessly. She is in heliotrope, with diamonds. She looks rather like an orchid, and makes great demands on oneâs curiosity. In all her movements she is extremely graceful. A work of art, on the whole, but showing the influence of too many schools.]
LADY MARKBY
Good evening, dear Gertrude! So kind of you to let me bring my friend, Mrs. Cheveley. Two such charming women should know each other!
LADY CHILTERN
[Advances towards MRS. CHEVELEY with a sweet smile. Then suddenly stops, and bows rather distantly.] I think Mrs. Cheveley and I have met before. I did not know she had married a second time.
LADY MARKBY
[Genially.] Ah, nowadays people marry as often as they can, donât they? It is most fashionable. [To DUCHESS OF MARYBOROUGH.] Dear Duchess, and how is the Duke? Brain still weak, I suppose? Well, that is only to be expected, is it not? His good father was just the same. There is nothing like race, is there?
MRS. CHEVELEY
[Playing with her fan.] But have we really met before, Lady Chiltern? I canât remember where. I have been out of England for so long.
LADY CHILTERN
We were at school together, Mrs. Cheveley.
MRS. CHEVELEY
[Superciliously.] Indeed? I have forgotten all about my schooldays. I have a vague impression that they were detestable.
LADY CHILTERN
[Coldly.] I am not surprised!
MRS. CHEVELEY
[In her sweetest manner.] Do you know, I am quite looking forward to meeting your clever husband, Lady Chiltern. Since he has been at the Foreign Office, he has been so much talked of in Vienna. They actually succeed in spelling his name right in the newspapers. That in itself is fame, on the continent.
LADY CHILTERN
I hardly think there will be much in common between you and my husband, Mrs. Cheveley! [Moves away.]
VICOMTE DE NANJAC
Ah! chère Madame, quelle surprise! I have not seen you since Berlin!
MRS. CHEVELEY
Not since Berlin, Vicomte. Five years ago!
VICOMTE DE NANJAC
And you are younger and more ...