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Oscar Wilde's play An Ideal Husband, informs and reflects upon events that were going on in his personal life. He uses the play to communicate his feelings and express his disdain about everything from anti-imperialism, religion, moral values, Victorian ideals, family and sexuality. It may not be clear to the average reader or playgoer, but after explicating the text we are able to clearly see the parallel between his life and his literature. In order to engage all of the elements in the play that is erected from Wilde's psychology and personal experiences, we must familiarize ourselves with the details of his life. After we become acquainted with his vim and vigor, we are able apprehend the palpable links between his personal experiences and those in represented in An Ideal Husband. Oscar Wilde was born on October16, 1854, to William Wide and Lady Jane Francesca Wilde in Dublin. They also had another son, Willie, who was 2 when Oscar was born. His father was a leading eye and ear surgeon who wrote books about his medical practice, in addition to poems, memoirs and travel guides. His mother was a major activist for the "Green Movement", which stood for Irish Independence. She too, was a writer and went by the pen name of Speranza. In addition to writing political pieces for Irish Independence, she penned poems, criticisms and pieces that promoted women's liberation. She was a brilliant woman with acute cleverness and wit. Oscar certainly inherited those traits; "He later exhibited her preference for rising in the afternoon, would affect an aversion to the sun, harbor a passion for classical verse, and show skill in entertaining the literati by exaggerating truth and myth alike to produce remarkable and endless stories" ("The Picture of Oscar Wilde: A Brief Life"). The parents' notoriety and interests provided Oscar with a fascinating home arena and nurtured his intellect and craft. When Wilde was 9 years old he began attending the Portora Royal School. This school was known for providing an education that was on the liberal side; rich with the classics. The head master of the school was William Steele, who aimed "to develop a school that would not only be the best in Ireland, but which could compete with the best schools in England" (Coakley 79). Around the same time, William Wilde acquired a pastoral estate around Cong, which according to Coakley "moved his family from the ranks of 'loyal professional people' into the ranks of 'country gentry', with the attendant social advantages" (94). This move threw Oscar into a new environment, where he experienced the pressure of Victorian social classes. Aristocracy was an obsession that resulted in people lacking any individuality, as they all strictly adhered to Victorian ideals. Oscar's parents stressed the oppression that England cultivated, as Ireland was a colony of the United Kingdom, "enforcing dependence that most Irish deeply resented" (Dell'Amico). They made sure to keep their past alive by familiarizing Oscar with Irish myths, legends and supernatural. This "cultivation of mystique worked, and through a combination of strange behavior, entertaining storytelling, and effortless academic prowess-all of which attributes were somewhat gained by his uniqueness as an Irishman steeped in domestic myth and tradition-Wilde was a star before he had really published anything at all" ("The Picture of Oscar Wilde: A Brief Life"). In 1871 Wilde went on to Trinity College Dublin where he received numerous awards and acclimates. He obtained a scholarship in 1874 to attend Magdalen College, Oxford. He became very close to John Ruskin and Walter Pater, who were his tutors. Ruskin shared his love for the Middle Ages and Pater shared his passion for the Renaissance. "At Oxford, Wilde was also introduced to the joys of combining Mahaffey's Greek ideal with homosexuality-the University's young men, according to several biographers, expressed delight in each other's beauty and brilliance, and Wilde later wrote of the pleasures of strolling through the grounds observing his pleasant peers" ("The Picture of Oscar Wilde: A Brief Life"). While attending Oxford, Wilde received the Newdigate Prize for his poem "Ravenna." Things on his family front were not going as smoothly. His father William "fell from grace as one of Dublin's most prominent men, financially and (to a degree) socially ruined by scandal, illness, and mental breakdown" ("The Picture of Oscar Wilde: A Brief Life"). After his death, the Wilde family was plagued by debt and public scrutiny. His mother relocated to London for a fresh start. Oscar had personal drama as well, when his girlfriend Florence Balcombe broke off their relationship and married Bram Stroker. He found this time to be the perfect opportunity to visit the United States. In 1882 Wilde met Constance Lloyd, who he married in May of 1884. Many questioned their compatibility. She was a sweet and beautiful woman who adored Oscar but lacked the wit and intellect that Oscar's mother possessed. Her uncomplicated demeanor may have been what originally attracted Oscar to her "or perhaps Wilde just grew tired for a moment and decided to settle down with the first available love. At any rate, the two had a quite horrible marriage and two children whom Wilde largely ignored" ("The Picture of Oscar Wilde: A Brief Life"). Oscar escaped domestic life by putting all of his time and energy into his writing. He published several books and essays, along the plays, The Importance of BeingEarnest, An Ideal Husband, Lady Windermere's Fan, and A Woman of No Importance. His ensuing fame resulted in the public's interest of all of his affairs, including the ones that took place outside of his marriage. He led a secret life, unbeknownst to his wife and developed an intimate relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas. Around the time he was writing An Ideal Husband,Lord Alfred loaned a suit to his friend James Wood. Wood found a love letter from Wilde in the pocket and attempted to blackmail Wilde. Lord Douglas was also at odds with his father, Lord Queensberry, who made it his mission to bring Oscar down. Wilde fought back on Queensberry's claims and filed a suit against him. Around this time, love letters that he had written to Lord Alfred were made public. Wilde finished writing the play and said to his peer, Charles Ricketts, "It was written for ridiculous puppets to play and the critics will say 'Ah, here is Oscar unlike himself!-'though in reality I became engrossed in writing it and it contains a great deal of the real Oscar" (Ellman 410). A vigilant reading of his play corroborates his remark. Unfortunately, Wilde was soon brought up on sodomy charges and remained in jail until 1898. Following his release he moved to France. Low on income, and cast off from the public, he died on November 30, 1900, in a Paris hotel, from cerebral meningitis. One of Wilde's most famous critics, Rodney Shewan, asserted that the predicament of the Chiltern's is "identical to the plight of the Wilde's on Tite Street" (Shewan). Tite Street is in the Chelsea district of London where, he lived with wife Constance Lloyd until his ruinous trial and succeeding incarceration. The Chilterns are a political family that are concerned with the public's perception of them and will do anything to maintain their pristine image. Politicians and their scandals were a popular theme for plays at this time (the Yellow Nineties). Typically the accused politician would quit their job to pacify the public's ethics. It's interesting to note that in An Ideal Husband, Robert Chiltern opts to keep his position and preserve his wife's affection towards him. Wilde, like Chiltren, led a double life with his sexual deviances and still maintained a somewhat cordial relationship with Constance. Debate concerning the diverse principles of manner between men and women was ongoing. A woman's worth was attributed with her "virtue" whereas men were ranked according to their money and power. Man's public and private life were often brought to the forefront to address these double standards. Biographer Kerry Powell attends to this in his book, Oscar Wilde and the Theatre of the 1890s. Powell states "Wilde was not only making an ironic comment on public morality but also offering a psychologically acute observation on the necessity of moral compromise from the standpoint of a man who had long to perform a similar balancing act in his own life. In this context even the play's title carries ironic implications, for the perfect husband is not humanly possible. Wilde extends the note of irony to the name of his main character: traditionally the term "taking the Chiltern Hundreds" meant a politician had decided to resign" (Powell 204-205). Oscar, like Sir Robert Chiltern, was married to an honest and reputable woman. Chiltern's past indiscretions come back to haunt him as does Wilde's homosexual relationships. If Chitern had resigned from the Cabinet, he would have suffered financially. This theme mirrors Wilde's financial instability, as Lord Alfred Douglas led an excessive lifestyle with his family's fortunes. When his father found out about his relationship with Wilde, he put a tight leash on Douglas' finances. Oscar suffered, as he had come to rely on him for monetary stability. Mrs. Cheveley threatens to blackmail him (Wilde was blackmailed as well) if he doesn't support the Argentinean Canal sham. If her knowledge of his past misdeed became public, he would not only find himself in the midst of scandal, but could possibly loose Gertrude's love and fail at being "an ideal husband." Chiltern committed his offense prior to marrying his wife, as opposed to Wilde whom executed his while married. Wilde's wife and sons suffered from his indecencies, where the Chiltern's avoided public humiliation. "The problems the Chiltern's face are thus a simplified stylized version of the real life dilemma Wilde was grappling with- a theoretical model, so to speak, which allowed Wilde to express his feelings and attitudes concerning trust in marriage"(Schnitzer). Throughout the play, the characters voice opinions about Victorian society and its principles, along with the standards of civic morality. When Mrs. Cheveley tells Chiltern that she will expose him if he doesn't comply with her scheme she says something that illustrates the significance of standards of communal morality of the time, "Remember to what a point your Puritism in England has brought you...Scandals used to lend charm, or at least interest, to a man; now they crush him. And yours is a very nasty scandal. You couldn't survive it...Sooner or later we all have to pay for what we do" (495-496). This statement foreshadows what happened to Wilde after his indiscretions were made public. He could only hide his secret life for so long. After the public became privy to his wrongdoings he was shunned by others and put in jail. His secret was extremely scandalous, as that of Chiltern's. In Act 2 Chiltern explains the situation involving his past offense to Lord Goring. He depicts his encounter with Baron Arnheim in an appealing way, speaking more about the lure of the Baron's lifestyle and possessions that drove him to sin. "I remember so well how, with a strange smile on his pale, curved lips, he led me through his wonderful picture gallery, showed me his tapestries, his enamels, his jewels, his carved ivories, made me wonder at the strange loveliness of the luxury in which he lived; and then told me that luxury was nothing but a background, a painted scene in a play, and that power, power over other men, power over the world, was the one thing worth having, the one supreme pleasure worth knowing, the one joy one never tired of, and that in our century only the rich possessed it" (505). Chiltern is enticed by the Baron's power and assets. His description is filled with sentiment and sounds like a seduction of sorts. Critic Carol Shnitzer attends to this in her essay A husband's tragedy: the relationship between art and life in Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband. "The young, naive Chiltern was initiated into forbidden pleasures by the older, more knowledgeable one, a process that made his eventual capitulation to the Baron's request for information inevitable. It is perhaps relevant at this point to note that in late-Victorian England the word strange, used twice by Wilde in the foregoing passage to describe the Baron and his way of life, often had homosexual overtones. Thus initiated by the Baron, Chiltern in his turn can enjoy the privileges that only money and rank can buy, privileges that Wilde in his own private life tried to buy with the literary fame and success he had craved--as he bought boys with silver watches and cigarette cases--learning too late that immunity from public judgment was reserved only for those born to privilege. Through Chiltern, Wilde unconsciously anticipates his experience." Again we see Wilde reflecting on his own life and experiences by placing his characters in situations that involve temptation and sin. His multiple use of the word strange is unlikely coincidence alone. Lord Goring advises Chiltern to come clean to his wife, explaining that women have great instincts, though "they can discover everything except the obvious" (503). Goring's quote allows us to reflect further upon the parallelisms between Chiltern's fictional situation and Wilde's real ones. Wilde's wife had to have some idea that her husband was cheating. Their relationship was deteriorating and he was becoming less and less present and rational. In 1893 when Wilde began writing An Ideal Husband, his marriage was already on the line. Biographer, Richard Ellman describes a particular incident between Wilde and his wife at that time; "he and Constance had grown so far apart that one day when she arrived at the hotel where he was staying with Douglas (in a room with one double bed) to give him his mail and to ask him when he was coming home, he pretended to have forgotten the house number (Ellman 394). Wilde may have been so upset over letting his wife down, that it was easier to simply ignore her and the situation that he put her in. Similarly, after Chiltern has an argument with his wife over his misdeed, he tells Lord Goring, "I was brutal to her this evening. But I suppose when sinners talk to saints they are brutal always" (529). This quote addresses Chiltern's guilt in addition to the remorse that Wilde felt. Wilde's wife was described as a simple and honest woman who was loyal to him, even after he was arrested and put in jail. Perhaps Wilde uses Chiltern's words to express his apologies to his wife, as it was easier to convey them in a fictional dialogue as opposed to face to face. E. H Mikhail writes about how Wilde responded to critics in his essay; Self-Revelation in An Ideal Husband. "When asked in an interview which point in the play he thought the critics had missed, he identified it as "the difference in the way in which a man loves a woman from that in which a woman loves a man"--that is, the ideal a wife has of her husband contrasted with "the weakness of a man who dares not show his imperfections to the thing he loves" (Mikhail 182). This illustrates that Wilde cared for his wife, to the point where he wanted to protect her from the "real" him. Towards the end of the second act, Chiltern begs for Gertrude's understanding and forgiveness. He asks if it is possible for her to still love him, knowing that he has faults and is not perfect. Chiltern adds, "You made your false idol of me, and I had not the courage to come down, show you my wounds, tell you my weaknesses" (521). Wilde is relaying his own internal conflict and tackling the ever present debate over male virtue. "It is here that the irony of the play's title is underlined: like Chiltern, Wilde had to play the role in his public and family life of a person who in fact did not really exist, hiding his true self" (Mikhail 185-186). Again we see Wilde communicating his feelings through the character's dialogues. Chiltern lives in a male dominated society and he would be considered less of a man if his faults were made public. The fear of loosing power and being ridiculed by society is overwhelming to him. He is afraid that others (Gertrude in particular) will not understand why he did what he did in the past. Wilde had the same fear and hesitancies, though for different reasons. Chiltern comes clean to his wife, exposing his true self, faults and all at the end of the play. Lady Chiltern chooses to accept the real him and love him despite his imperfections. This outcome may be the one that Wilde wished for; when all of his indiscretions were exposed; not only forgiveness followed, but more importantly acceptance of him as the man that he was. We can see the myriad of details and ideas that Wilde used in An Ideal Husband and how they parallel his personal life and experiences. Familiarizing ourselves with his psychology and environment grants us additional admittance to the depth of the play. Although Wilde may have chosen not to tackle or address every issue in his life head on, he answers questions and exposes truths in his writing. Bibliography Coakley, Davis. Oscar Wilde: The Importance of Being Irish. Dublin: Town House, 1995. Dell'Amico, Carol. Critical Essay on An Ideal Husband, in Drama for Students, Vol. 21, Thomson Gale, 2005. Ellmann, Richard. Oscar Wilde. New York: Knopf, 1988. Mikhail, E. H. "Self-Revelation in An Ideal Husband." Modern Drama 11 (168): 180- 186. Powell, Kerry. Oscar Wilde and the theatre of the 1890s. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Schnitzer, Carol. "A husband's tragedy: the relationship between art and life in Oscar." Victorian Newsletter Spring 2006, v109 (2006) 25(5). Shewan, Rodney. Oscar Wilde: Art and Egotism. 1. London: The MacMillan Press, 1977. Terpening, William, "The Picture of Oscar Wilde: A Brief Life." The Victorian Web. 1998. 19 Nov 2007 . The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde. New York: Harper and Row, 1989. |
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