3 h 30 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the mistake you hide could cost you both your marriage and your public honour?
At a party in Sir Robert Chiltern’s London home, an unwelcome guest threatens his spotless name. Mrs Cheveley knows the secret behind the respected politician’s success. She wants his support for a fraudulent canal project. In Oscar Wilde’s four-act comedy, a polished evening becomes a test of what Robert will risk to protect his career and his wife’s love.
Lady Gertrude Chiltern sees her husband as a model of honour. Robert turns for help to Lord Goring, an idle-seeming bachelor with a sharp mind. Meanwhile, Mabel Chiltern matches Goring’s wit with her own. Between tense meetings and sparkling exchanges, An Ideal Husband asks whether love can leave room for human failure—and whether perfect ideals can become cruel demands.
What you’ll discover
- A party under pressure Enter elegant London rooms where a private secret threatens a public reputation.
- A formidable unwelcome guest Meet Mrs Cheveley, whose clever demands put Robert’s marriage and principles under pressure.
- Wit with a purpose Follow Lord Goring as his easy manner conceals a mind ready to help.
- A lively comic courtship Enjoy Mabel Chiltern’s outspoken humour as she spars with the elusive Lord Goring.
- The burden of perfection Consider what happens when firm moral ideals leave little space for mercy.
Who will love it
For anyone who enjoys witty dialogue, social comedy and a good moral puzzle, and for students meeting Wilde for the first time.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A perfect marriage and a party
- A stranger arrives with a demand
- Robert seeks help from a dandy
- Love, pressure and a widening trap
- What the play says about ideals and mercy
- How Wilde builds the comedy and the plot
Who’s who
- Sir Robert ChilternA respected Under-Secretary of State whose spotless name hides one old act, and who wants above all to keep his career and his wife's love.
- Lady Gertrude ChilternRobert's wife, a woman of firm moral principles who sees her husband as a model of honour and expects him to stay one.
- Lord GoringA witty, idle-seeming bachelor and Robert's close friend, who hides a sharp mind and wants to help the Chilterns.
- Mrs CheveleyA clever, elegant schemer from Vienna who knows Robert's secret and wants his help for a fraudulent canal project.
- Mabel ChilternRobert's lively young sister, who speaks her mind, mocks the conventions of society and has her eye on Lord Goring.
- Lord CavershamLord Goring's gruff father, who wants his son to marry and take life seriously, and who rarely understands his jokes.
Formats and delivery
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- Audiobook
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 9 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
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Un mari idéal
by Oscar Wilde · 1899
A politician's secret gives a blackmailer power over his career and his wife's love.
Medium level2–5 hours to read25 languages
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In short
An Ideal Husband is a comedy in four acts by Oscar Wilde. It was first staged in London in January 1895, in the same year as The Importance of Being Earnest.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A perfect marriage and a party
The play opens at the London home of Sir Robert Chiltern in Grosvenor Square. Sir Robert is Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, a rising politician with a name for spotless integrity. His wife, Lady Chiltern, is a woman of strict principles who admires him without reservation. To her he is not merely a husband. He is a hero, a man who has never stooped to anything low.
Their party is full of the talkative upper class. Lady Markby chats about the changing times, and Mrs Marchmont and Lady Basildon compare notes on their husbands with careless wit. Robert's young sister, Mabel Chiltern, is the liveliest voice in the room. She is clever, teasing and tired of being told what a young woman should do. Her banter sets the light, bright tone that Wilde will keep up even as the plot darkens.
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What is An Ideal Husband about?
It follows Sir Robert Chiltern, a respected politician whose past mistake is used against him by Mrs Cheveley. His marriage, career and friendships are all put at risk, while Lord Goring tries to help him.
When was An Ideal Husband written and first performed?
Oscar Wilde wrote it in the mid 1890s, and it opened in London in January 1895. It is a work of fiction, though it draws on real worries about corruption and reputation in Victorian public life.
Who is Lord Goring in An Ideal Husband?
Lord Goring is Robert Chiltern's close friend, a stylish bachelor who seems idle and flippant. Behind his epigrams he is wise and loyal, and he becomes the key helper in the plot.
The author
Oscar Wilde
1854–1900 · Irish playwright and poet
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) was an Irish poet, playwright, and novelist born in Dublin. He lived in London and later in France, where he died in Paris. He published The Picture of Dorian Gray in 1890. His play The Importance of Being Earnest was first performed in 1895.
More by Oscar Wilde
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