Lord Goring, he is thirty-four years old but always says he is younger, He is clever but always likes to be misunderstood. He is a complete dandy but always be in harmony with world. He is romantic but does not like others say so; He is idlest in London but actually not; He values feeling and loyalty but few people know. He is a complicated man, honesty but also keep secret for friends. Personally I think he is more ideal than any other men in this book. Still, the author gives him an inevitable defect in character.
Let us get a close look at Lord Goring’s social circle. He is a sociable person and on absolutely good terms with people around him. I will analyze him from his close relationships among parent and friends.
Lord Goring is filial and respectful towards his father, and the father-son relationship is very harmony though sometimes they have disagreements. Every time when Lord Caversham comes across his son, he always asks Arthur if he is wasting his time：“Well, sir, what are you doing here? Wasting your time as usual, I suppose?”-P116. This common conversation reveals that his father does have some misunderstanding about him, but he never correct his father that he is actually doing something essential for his friends the Chiliterns. He is fond of hiding himself from others, even his own father. Also, he does not care what others would think about him because there’s someone understand him truly. It is very interesting that these two always say each other is heartless. It makes me feel a sense of humor. “Lord Caversham: he is very heartless, very heartless.” -P121. “Lord Caversham: You are heartless, sir, quite heartless.” –P88. “Lord Goring: It is very heartless of him, very heartless indeed” -P132. Probably it is kind of the interaction between father and son. He does not live with his family and this shows he is not so bound to family. It is also not queer that he is still a bachelor. He says: “To love oneself is the beginning of a long romance.” –P84. No wonder people always regard him as a dandy, playing with the world. His father, however, hopes he could set up a real family like Sir Robert Chilitern. Lord Caversham considers Sir Robert Chilitern has married a successful woman and of course Robert Chilitern himself is successful too. Lord Caversham wants his son get married as soon as possible. I think his father must ask him so long that he finally compromise with his father, and there also are other reasons that change Lord Goring’ mind. Before that, Goring always thinks he is much younger than he really is, and probably he thinks he is too young to get married. He has been witnessed other people’s marriage and he has been seen the weakness and fragility of marriages. Yet he still cannot prevent himself from the common sense. He proposes to a lady and she agrees, sounds like another romantic story. Somehow, his changes make everybody happy, at least his father, Lady Mabel Chilitern. In the end, the “good for nothing” son satisfies his family and compromise to the common sense.
As a friend, he is loyal to his friends and has a sense of righteousness. He first appears at Sir Robert Chilitern’s house and this is where the Mrs. Cheveley began her trick. This all shows the unusual role that Lord Goring plays a part in this story. He is the first one that is sensitive about Mrs. Cheveley’s unexpected coming because he once engaged with her and thus he knows her personality very well. Later it turns out that Mrs. Cheveley threatens and allures Sir Robert Chilitern, his close friend to make a speech stating the possibilities in the Argentine scheme which is actually a swindle. Sir Robert Chilitern, along Lady Chilitern is an ideal couple in political society. If Robert Chilitern does what Mrs. Cheveley asks, he would be dishonest and dishonored to himself; if he does not, Mrs. Cheveley would revenge him by make his secret in young age public and Robert Chilitern’s political career, fame and prestige along with the love of his wife, will all gone. Robert Chilitern turns Lord Goring for help and indeed Lord Goring tries as best as he can to save his friend out of a massive scandal. It is all a friend can do in such a complicated situation. Besides, I find something particular in the changes of Goring’s character when Sir Robert Chilitern confesses his unspeakable past to Goring. Usually Lord Goring is cynical towards surroundings, but at this particular time he becomes serious, sober and clever. He suggests Sir Robert Chilitern not to conceal any secrets to his wife and this shows his earnest and honesty. “Secrets from other people’s wives are a necessary luxury in modern life, but no man should have a secret from his own wife.” -P47. “I am bound to say that I think you should have told her years ago.” -P48. When Sir Robert Chilitern is underestimating himself, he encourages Robert by saying “you underrate youorself, Robert, believe me, without wealth you could have succeeded just as well.”“Well, you certainly have had your success while you are still young. No one in our day has had such a brilliant success.” -P50. Lord Goring listens to his friend’s confession carefully and patiently. Goring helps Sir Robert Chilitern make up his mind to fight things out. Moreover, the way he deals with Mrs. Cheveley’s dirty trick is clever. This shows a different Lord Goring, who has an extraordinary wise. In front of Mrs. Cheveley he defends his friend “What you know about him is not his real character. It was an act of folly done in his youth, dishonorable, I admit, shameful, I admit, unworthy of him, I admit, and therefore… not his true character” -P107. The repeats of his words “admit” imply that he does admit Sir Robert Chilitern’s defects but he still trusts Robert’s true character. And his conversation with Mrs. Cheveley is also intelligent. “Mrs. Cheveley: How you men stand up for each other! Lord Goring: How you women war against each other!” -P107. “Mrs. Cheveley: Oh! Don’t use big words. They mean so little. It’s a commercial transaction”-P108. “Lord Goring: Oh! Don’t use big words. They mean so little.” Reusing the other’s words can generalize a dramatic effect and also hints the position of these two persons begins to change. Lord Goring catches Mrs. Cheveley’s napping and finally saves Sir Robert’s fame and prestige.
To be honest, Lord Goring is my favorite character in this book and I think he is not idle but ideal men. Intelligence, dandy, romance, loyalty and earnestness are outstanding personalities of him. For all this, he regards women as men’s belongs. “A woman who can keep a man’s love, and love him in return, has done all the world wants of women, or should want of them.” -P136. For which I could not approve.