“An ideal husband” is a comedic stage play by Oscar Wilde Which revolves around politics, blackmail and love. The hero, Sir Robert Chiltern, is a “perfect” person who has high position in politics and has ideal marriage in the play. Lady Chiltern is Robert’s loving and brilliant wife. In her eyes, her husband is pure, noble, honest and successful. In the play, she says “To the world, as to myself, you have been an ideal. Always.”
However, everything is changed with Mrs.Cheveley’s appearance and blackmail. She has a letter to show that Robert is not a perfect person because he leaked highly confidential and valuable information for a large sum of money, which is the origin of his later wealth and career when he was young, and she uses this letter to extort Robert to support Argentine scheme. So, both Robert’s career and marriage are under threat. But luckily, he has a best friend, Lord Goring, to help him save his career and marriage.
In this play, my favorite character is Lord Goring who is not hero, but I think he is a key and vital character in this play. He is Robert’s and Lady Chiltern’s best friend, and likes Robert’s sister, Miss Mabel Chiltern. Also, he was engaged to Mrs. Cheveley. He knows almost everyone’s secret and misunderstanding. I was impressed by his some classic words, his humorous character, and his attitude towards his friends and marriage.
First of all, Lord Goring’s classic words give me some feelings. “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.” Love yourself is very important in life. Sometimes, we all expect and desire others to love us, so we do many things that we do not want to do to cater others and hope they can do the same things to express their love to us. However, in this process, we just want others can love us while ignore a fact that we can love ourselves. For one person, how can you make someone love you if you don’t love yourself? So, learning love yourself is the key to begin your romantic life.
“Love cannot be bought. It can only be given.” At the beginning of this play , I think Lord Goring is an romantic dandy, because he always flirting with women. But, when I saw this words, it completely changed my impression of him.
Besides, I really appreciate his attitudes to friends, sincere and helpful. Firstly, When Robert told Lord Goring about his mistake, Lord Goring advised Robert should confess rather than cover his mistake. He said “But no man should have a secret from his own wife. She invariably finds it out.” He took highly of the emotion between Robert and his wife and took women’s rights into consideration. And then, when Robert not dared to tell the mistake to his wife, Lord Goring promised he would talk with Lady Chiltern about his mistake. I think Lord Goring is the truly friend, because he encourage his friend to do right thing and help friend to solve problems.
Secondly, when his friend’s marriage appeared a crack, Lord Goring tried his best to save his friends’ marriage. He said “Whenever you are in trouble, come at once to me.” I think he didn't know how to tell her the truth just because he really care his friend and don’t want her hurt. Even if she knew the truth one day, he can give her comfort and ease. From this we can see that he is a considerate and patient guide. Thirdly, in order to got the letter that record Robert’s mistake, Lord Goring bet with Mrs. Cheveley that if Robert stands by his principles in question, Mrs. Cheveley will give Lord Goring the letter, if not, Lord Goring will marry her. Through this part, we can know that Lord Goring is very familiar with Robert and has great belief in him. And the results proved that Robert is a reliable man. Lastly, when he found Mrs. Cheveley stole the letter of Lady Chiltern, he quickly told Lady Chiltern about it, mediated the misunderstanding, and helped her solve the crisis. So, to sum up, Lord Goring is a sincere, helpful and clever man that can tactful help his friends solve problems.
What’s more, I think Lord Goring is very serious to love. “Love cannot be bought. It can only be given.” When I saw this words, I can hardly believe this is what Lord Goring said. At the beginning of this play, I think he is a romantic dandy and an idler. Because he always flirting with women, and he was engaged to Mrs. Cheveley. His father said he go to the party just wasting time as usual. This can indicates he is a idle man. However, when Mrs. Cheveley said that if he promised to marry her, she will give the letter to him, he refused to marry the sophisticated woman who knows nothing about pure love. I think his behavior show his serious attitude towards marriage. He completely changed my impression of him.
What’s more, a small detail also can show his serious attitude to marriage is when he faced Miss Mabel Chiltern, he was very nervous and shy, and he was nothing like a romantic dandy.
In conclusion, as far as I am concern, Lord Goring may be a idler, but he is not a romantic dandy. I think he just wears a mask to hide his real personality, and only those who really know and familiar with him can find that he is a sincere, clever and helpful friend.