Special Sub-Topic: An Ideal Husband Click Here To Play: An Ideal Husband

Where does the First Act take place?

Octagon room in Sir Robert Chiltern's house. Lady Chiltern stands at the top of the staircase, ready to receive her evening guests.

Why does Lady Basildon call the man who took her in to dinner trivial?

Because he talked about his wife the whole time. Mrs Marchmont and Lady Basildon are two of Lady Chiltern's guests. They belong to the London society.

Whom does Lord Caversham blame for leading an idle life?

Lord Goring. He calls him his good-for-nothing young son, but Miss Mabel defends him.

Whom does Oscar Wilde describe as "a work of art, on the whole, but showing the influence of too many schools"?

Mrs Cheveley. Mrs Cheveley has Venetian red hair and grey-green eyes. She is in heliotrope, with diamonds. She's extremely graceful, but turns out to be the villain of the play.

Which description fits Lord Goring?

Flawless dandy who lies about his age. Lord Goring is thirty-four, but he says he's thirty-two. He is clever, but would not like to be thought so.

Complete the following quote by Mrs Cheveley: "In modern life nothing produces such an effect ____."

As a good platitude. Mrs Cheveley wants Sir Robert to defend the fraudulent scheme of the Argentine Canal Company in the House of Commons. "A few ordinary platitudes will do."

What secret did Sir Robert keep from his wife?

He sold a Cabinet secret to a stockbroker. He laid the foundation of his fortune by selling a Cabinet secret to Baron Arnheim, a Stock Exchange speculator. He wrote a letter to the Baron telling him to buy Suez Canal shares, three days before the Government announced its own purchase. Mrs Cheveley tries to blackmail him with this letter.

What does Mrs Cheveley want from Sir Robert?

His public support of the Argentine Canal scheme. She offers him the letter he wrote to Baron Arnheim in exchange for his support of the Argentine Canal scheme, because she has invested very largely in it.

What has Mrs Cheveley dropped in Sir Robert's house?

Diamond brooch. This brooch can also be used as a bracelet. Lord Goring knows that Mrs Cheveley stole it from his cousin Mary Berkshire. At the end of the third act he clasps it on her arm, and she can't get it off, because she doesn't know where the spring is.

Complete this quote by Lady Chiltern: "We women ____ when we love."

worship. It's towards the end of the First Act: "Robert, men can love what is beneath them - things unworthy, stained, dishonoured. We women worship when we love; and when we lose our worship, we lose everything."

What does Sir Robert call the god of this century?

Wealth. In the beginning of the Second Act he explains to Lord Goring that he sold the Government secret because he wanted to have success while he was still young.

What would be very unbecoming to Lord Goring according to Miss Mabel Chiltern?

Seriousness. In the Second Act Lord Goring starts talking about Pessimism in German Philosophy. Lady Chiltern likes it when he's serious, but Miss Mabel doesn't.

What is Tommy Trafford doing too often?

Proposing to Miss Mabel. He doesn't appear in the play himself, but he's talked about several times. Mabel would like Lady Chiltern to tell Tommy that proposing once a week is quite often enough.

How does Lady Chiltern find out about her husband's secret?

Mrs Cheveley tells her. Mrs Cheveley tells her towards the end of the Second Act that her husband has sold a Cabinet secret. When Lady Chiltern asks her husband if this is true, he admits everything.

Who is hiding in Lord Goring's drawing room during the Third Act?

Mrs Cheveley. Lord Goring thinks it's Lady Chiltern, but it's actually Mrs Cheveley.

When will Mrs Cheveley give Sir Robert's letter to Lord Goring?

When he promises to marry her. She wants to come back to live in London again. She tells Lord Goring he's the only person she ever cared for, if she ever cared for anybody, but Lord Goring can't forgive her for trying to kill Lady Chiltern's love for her husband.

"I want you. I trust you. I am coming to you." Who writes this to whom?

Lady Chiltern to Lord Goring. She writes this to Lord Goring because she needs his help. Mrs Cheveley steals it from Lord Goring's drawing room, and sends it to Sir Robert, hoping he will think it's a love letter.

What's the name of Lord Goring's butler?

Phipps. Wilde describes him as a mask with a manner. "Of his intellectual or emotional life, history knows nothing."

Why does Sir Robert initially oppose a marriage between Lord Goring and his sister Mabel?

He thinks Lord Goring is having an affair with Mrs Cheveley. He thinks this because he saw Mrs Cheveley hiding in Lord Goring's drawing room.

Mabel would like Lord Goring to make her an ideal husband.

f. She wouldn't like him to make her an ideal husband, because it sounds like something in the next world. All she wants is to be a real wife to him.