An Ideal Husband

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1895

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Summary

Background

Act Summaries & Analyses

Act I

Act II

Act III

Act IV

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

The Triumph of Love Tapestry

The Chilterns’ Triumph of Love tapestry is based on a painting by François Boucher—possibly his 1740 Triumph of Venus. It hangs behind Lady Chiltern at the beginning of the play, returns at the end of Act I after Sir Robert is found out, and also features in Act III. The title and subject matter suggest that love conquers all, but Wilde’s use of the tapestry is often ironic, highlighting the characters’ failures to love one another—e.g., Lady Chiltern’s remark that she can only love a husband whom she can also worship—and thus developing the theme of Fashionable Morality Versus Authentic Marriage.

Mabel references the painting again later when she mentions that she’ll be performing a tableau at Lady Basildon’s. Tableaus were recreations of famous paintings done by real actors and were quite popular in the late 19th century. Mabel, however, is dismissive of her participation and can’t even remember the painting’s name, saying, “You remember we are having tableaux, don’t you? The Triumph of something, I don’t know what” (254). Her forgetfulness satirically suggests Victorian society’s disinterest in actual love (though Mabel herself proves an exception).

The Diamond Brooch

The diamond brooch that Mrs. Cheveley steals and that eventually becomes her downfall represents the duplicitous nature of Victorian society and its standards. Diamonds, which are beautiful and even represent love, are in this case perverted—first by Mrs. Cheveley’s theft of the brooch (from a bride) and then by Lord Goring using the diamond to ensnare her. The latter is particularly revealing, as it represents a “perversion” of the diamond that actually serves the cause of justice and love. The diamond therefore functions much like wit and humor; the irreverent ways in which characters use it expose societal absurdities and thus paradoxically assert that certain things—love, beauty, etc.—actually do matter.

As this is more or less the function of approaching Life as Art, the brooch also operates as a symbol for Lord Goring’s wisdom, which no one else in the play possesses and which he frequently uses to his advantage. He tells Mrs. Cheveley that “[t]he drawback of stealing a thing, Mrs. Cheveley, is that one never knows how wonderful the thing that one steals is” (291). In this instance, Lord Goring resolves Sir Robert’s troubles and captures Mrs. Cheveley.

Marriage Proposals

Multiple marriage proposals are a motif that supports the theme of marriage and fashionable morality. Sir Robert’s secretary, Tommy Trafford, proposes to Mabel regularly according to a seasonal schedule. The repeated proposals satirize marriage, critiquing the tendency to reduce what ought to be a question of love to mere fashion.

Another significant proposal comes from Mrs. Cheveley, who, in an effort to settle down, attempts to blackmail Lord Goring into marriage with her. This scene reveals the differences between the two characters. Though both superficially seem to treat life as a game, their reasons for doing so differ; Mrs. Cheveley acts on the presumption that nothing (except perhaps her own power) matters, whereas Lord Goring treats “serious” matters lightly because he views them as trivializing what does matter. Their union would make a mockery of marriage, which Lord Goring only mocks because it so often lacks love.