How Wilde Challenges The Traditional Ideals Of Marriage And Relationships In An Ideal Husband
In An Ideal Husband Oscar Wilde presents two men Lord Goring and Sir Robert as two men who are ready to do everything it takes to save their love and satisfy the demands of their lovers. However, their separate lives meet at different points in the play. Chiltern and Goring have their particularities and disparities. Sir Robert having had his success in politics however he does have some hidden truths from his past. Sir Robert is a self-divided person with a discrete past which he tries to hide from his wife throughout the play this is so his wife does not misunderstand him. This hiding of a secret is already an example of challenges of marriage, with Sir Robert in this case not able to tell his wife his past because he feels it would put his marriage in jeopardy. Although Sir Robert was a successful well known and honourable politician. With Sir Robert we have Lord Goring who was an honourable person in the society, he was a romantic man.
Wilde presents Sir Robert and Lord Goring as ideal husbands. Mrs Cheverly and Lady Gertrude are also very important characters in the play. In the play Lord Goring and sir Robert both play important roles of making the title of this play come to light. Sir Robert is a much respected person and he becomes the most important person in his wife’s life. The love and respect was noticeable throughout the play, which also emphasises the title of this play. Lord Goring and Sir Robert are two people that share great ambitions and the desire to take care, and their vision for the future.
To begin with Sir Robert, government official who owes the success and fortune to a secret scandal, was a successful and extremely ambitious politician. he devoted his life to success, following the great Baron Arnheim. He is one of the major characters in the play and he could easily be considered as an ideal husband because of his loving attitude towards his wife, which was noticeable to the audience throughout the play. He was a very motivated man and had a concealed past which he tried to hide from his wife. Keeping this kind of secret concealed from his wife could be seen as another attribute of being an ‘an ideal husband’ simply because he doesn’t want to cause any hurt to his wife’s feelings. This shows he tried to lead his relationship in the right direction.
Sir Robert’s behaviour is especially noticeable when Mrs Cheverly was trying to black mail him about his secret past. She had with her an incriminating letter which proves Sir Robert’s involvement in an insider trading in the Suez canal scheme, in order to benefit from investment. Sir Robert was nervous because he did not want his wife to find out about his secret. This kind of behaviour shows how serious he is about his relationship, this proves he is an ideal suitor to be an ideal husband.
Then the audience get to know Sir Robert’s personality which is somewhat close to perfection. Always conciliating and ready to help, he was among the people who presented themselves best they could. He represented Robert as a lucky person by giving him honour, money, a greater lover of his wife, these things are more than enough ideals to overcome the challenges of a relationship. He was looked at as a model politician someone of great credentials, always gracefully romantic towards women. Along with these attributes he was successful in his social life. These attributes are exactly what a woman looks for in a man, the character of Sir Robert is clearly what Oscar Wilde would portray as ‘an ideal husband’.
When he was black mailed by Mrs Cheverly he was afraid to tell his wife Lady Gertrude Chiltern, because he thought that a well educated lady of her attributes would not like the way he kept his secrets from her. He thought that she would never forgive him. However, when he is asked of his secret, he denies any wrong doings which does not portray ‘an ideal husband’, this again shows the challenges faces between men and women. In this case the challenge is for Sir Robert to make his decision on either to tell lady Chiltern of his wrong doings and accept that it could put his marriage in jeopardy, or he can deny his involvement in the Suez Canal and lie to her. As we know Robert decides to deny his wrong doings which is why it shows the readers not only this is not what ‘an ideal husband’ would do but also the challenge faced by men and women in their relationships.
On the other hand if we try to analyse his situations, we can think that he was right about what he was doing. This could be because he was scared, and he didn’t want to lose the respect he had from his wife, he would not want to let her down because of how proud she is of him. As he loves her he would want to make her proud about him. Therefore he hides his secret from her and tries to forget about his past.
Not only do we have the relationships between Sir Robert and Lady Chiltern and lord Goring and Mabel, we also have the relationship between Sir Robert and lord Goring. Both men show the audience of a friendship relationship and how it can be tough for one and other to maintain their social status while keeping their social success as good as it can be. Although lord Goring shows the audience of a real relationship showing that he would drop his honour to serve it. The fact that Goring was able to turn Mrs Cheverly’s blackmails against Robert into a positive outcome. Therefore, to save his friendship with Robert was a good thing.
Sir Roberts relationship with lady Chiltern does hit a rough patch when Lady Chiltern decides she has had enough of not knowing his secret. This is when Oscar Wilde shows the importance of a strong relationship being Robert and Goring again. In this case it shows Goring trying to help resolve the misunderstanding between lady Chiltern and sir Robert.
The challenges faced by men and women in their relationships in ‘an ideal husband’ is portrayed in a realistic fashion by Oscar Wilde. Not only because of the challenges faced by the characters but also in the manner that they are shown to solve their issues in the play.
