An Ideal Husbandの学習ガイド
by Oscar Wilde · 1899 · 全編を読むのに2時間3分かかります
An Ideal Husband follows Robert as Mrs. Cheveley threatens his public honor to win his political support, forcing him to seek help against her blackmail while Lady Chiltern learns his secret and ultimately forgives him. Its main themes are reputation and blackmail, love and imperfection, forgiveness and punishment, and trust and appearances.
物語のあらすじ
Within a single day, the action moves between two London houses as Mrs. Cheveley threatens Robert's public honor unless he gives her political support. Lady Chiltern insists that he reject the scheme. His secret concerns information given to Baron Arnheim, a deceased speculator. Robert seeks help against the blackmail, but Lady Chiltern learns the truth he fears to tell her.
Lady Chiltern's urgent note makes Lord Goring expect her, but an unexpected visitor disrupts a private meeting. Letters and a stolen bracelet complicate the blackmail, and Mrs. Cheveley uses the note for another threat. She sends the stolen letter to Robert to provoke suspicion. Lady Chiltern explains it and forgives him. When Robert receives a Cabinet offer, Lord Goring persuades her to support his career. Mabel accepts Lord Goring's proposal without demanding a perfect husband. 15分で読める要約を読みます.
3か月間無料でご利用いただけます
理想の夫の要約を最後まで無料で読めます
- 200,000+の古典を電子書籍、オーディオブック、15分で読める要約で楽しめます。紙の本と大活字本は印刷費のみで購入できます。
- ひとつのプランで、ご家庭の最大5人までご利用いただけます
簡潔な回答
What is An Ideal Husband about?
An Ideal Husband follows Robert, whose public honor is threatened when Mrs. Cheveley blackmails him for political support. As he seeks help, Lady Chiltern learns the secret he has hidden, putting their marriage as well as his career at risk.
What is Robert's secret in An Ideal Husband?
Robert's secret concerns information he gave to Baron Arnheim, a speculator who is now dead. Mrs. Cheveley uses this concealed truth to demand political support, while Lady Chiltern insists that Robert reject her scheme.
Where and when is An Ideal Husband set?
The play takes place within a single day, moving between two London houses. Its settings include Grosvenor Square, Curzon Street, a morning room, and a library, where threats to Robert's political standing also put his marriage at risk.
What does Lord Goring do in An Ideal Husband?
Lord Goring protects Robert against the blackmail and persuades Lady Chiltern to support Robert's career when he receives a Cabinet offer. He also proposes to Robert's sister, Mabel, who accepts him without expecting a perfect husband.
How does Mrs. Cheveley use Lady Chiltern's letter in An Ideal Husband?
Mrs. Cheveley turns Lady Chiltern's urgent note into another threat and sends the stolen letter to Robert to provoke suspicion. Lady Chiltern explains the note, showing why Robert needs to hear her account rather than trust the appearance Mrs. Cheveley has arranged.
What are the main themes of An Ideal Husband?
The play explores how blackmail threatens public reputation and private trust, and how appearances can mislead people. It also connects love with accepting imperfection, as Lady Chiltern moves from judgment toward forgiveness and Mabel refuses to demand a perfect husband.
How does An Ideal Husband end?
Lady Chiltern explains her note and forgives Robert, then Lord Goring persuades her to support his career when Robert receives a Cabinet offer. Mabel accepts Lord Goring's marriage proposal without demanding that he be a perfect husband.
登場人物
Robert
Robert holds a government post in foreign affairs, but Mrs. Cheveley's demand for political support places his public honor at risk. His consideration of retirement and receipt of a Cabinet offer show the competing possibilities facing his career.
重要なparts：1, 1, 4, 6
Lady Chiltern
Lady Chiltern insists that Robert reject Mrs. Cheveley's scheme, but learning his concealed truth breaks their marriage. Her forgiveness and abandonment of her demand for retirement show a movement from judgment toward acceptance.
重要なparts：1, 4, 6
Lord Goring
He protects Robert, persuades Lady Chiltern to support Robert's career, and proposes successfully to Mabel.
重要なparts：5, 6
Mrs. Cheveley
She later turns Lady Chiltern's note into another threat and sends the stolen letter to Robert to provoke suspicion.
重要なparts：1, 5, 6
Mabel
Mabel is Robert's sister and receives repeated marriage proposals from Tommy Trafford. She accepts Lord Goring instead, and her refusal to expect a perfect husband suggests an alternative to judging love through an impossible standard.
重要なparts：1, 4, 6
Lord Caversham
Lord Caversham is Lord Goring's father, and he criticizes his son's idle habits while expressing disgust with London society. His announced arrival brings this disapproving family presence back into the action.
重要なparts：1, 6
Lady Markby
Lady Markby brings Mrs. Cheveley to the reception and praises the Chilterns without knowing about the blackmail. Mrs. Cheveley's later use of her as a witness suggests how innocent social connections can become useful within a threat.
重要なparts：1, 5
テーマ
Reputation and blackmail
Mrs. Cheveley's threat to Robert's public honor shows how reputation can make a person vulnerable to pressure. Her later use of Lady Chiltern's stolen letter suggests that the same method can attack private trust as well as public standing.
登場する箇所：parts 1, 6
Love and imperfection
Robert's claim that imperfect people need love challenges the idea that affection must depend on faultlessness. Mabel's acceptance of Lord Goring without demanding a perfect husband suggests a form of commitment that leaves room for human limitations.
登場する箇所：parts 4, 6
Forgiveness and punishment
Lady Chiltern's forgiveness and withdrawal of her demand for retirement suggest that acknowledging a wrong need not mean making punishment the final purpose of love.
登場する箇所：parts 4, 6
Trust and appearances
The use of Lady Chiltern's urgent note as threatening material shows how a private message can become evidence against its writer. Her explanation suggests that trust depends on hearing a person's account rather than accepting the appearance arranged by someone else.
登場する箇所：parts 5, 6
象徴
Robert's letter
Its recurrence during the blackmail struggle suggests how a written record can keep an earlier action present.
Parts 1, 4
Pink letter
Its use to provoke suspicion suggests how the meaning of a message can be distorted by the person presenting it.
Parts 5, 6
Pedestals
The pedestal image suggests the distance between loving someone and treating that person as faultless. Lady Chiltern's admission shows her recognition that an elevated ideal can distort a marriage.
Parts 4, 6
有名な一節を解説します
Mrs. Cheveley, Part 1. Mrs. Cheveley speaks while demanding Robert's political support.
Sir Robert Chiltern, Part 4. Robert speaks in the act where Lady Chiltern learns his secret. His appeal suggests that love matters especially when a person's failings become visible.
Lord Goring, Part 5. Lord Goring speaks during the struggle involving letters and blackmail. His distinction suggests that knowing a damaging fact does not necessarily mean understanding the whole person.
Lady Chiltern, Part 6. Lady Chiltern speaks as forgiveness replaces her earlier judgment of Robert. The pedestal image shows her recognition that expecting perfection can prevent a more accepting kind of love.
Literary devices
Dramatic irony
Method: Wilde lets the audience understand the hidden visitor and the intended recipient of Gertrude’s note while characters reach mistaken conclusions. Effect: The gap between audience knowledge and character belief creates suspense while showing how easily appearances can damage trust.
Where: Part 5, Part 6
Satire
Method: Wilde uses fashionable guests, political bargaining, and witty exchanges to expose the vanity and double standards of respectable London society. Effect: Readers are encouraged to question a society that rewards outward respectability while overlooking the dishonest foundations of wealth and power.
Where: Part 3, Part 4, Part 6
Symbolism
Method: Wilde makes Robert’s incriminating letter and Gertrude’s personal note physical objects through which reputation, trust, and power change hands. Effect: These vulnerable pieces of paper make the characters’ dependence on secrecy concrete and show how written words can acquire unexpected meanings.
Where: Part 5, Part 6
Foil
Method: Wilde contrasts Goring’s apparently idle manner and practical compassion with Robert’s public seriousness and anxious dependence on his wife’s approval. Effect: The contrast challenges readers to judge moral worth by conduct rather than reputation, fashionable manners, or displays of seriousness.
Where: Part 3, Part 4, Part 6
Epigram
Method: Wilde gives his society characters brief, polished remarks that turn familiar assumptions about marriage, politics, and good behavior upside down. Effect: The verbal wit entertains readers while prompting them to reconsider conventional beliefs that might otherwise pass without serious examination.
Where: Part 3, Part 4, Part 6
Situational irony
Method: Wilde turns Gertrude’s stolen appeal for Goring’s help into apparent reassurance for Robert, reversing Mrs. Cheveley’s intended use of it. Effect: The unexpected reversal brings comic relief and reveals that the same evidence can either threaten a marriage or help restore it.
Where: Part 6
時代・場所
The four acts take place within a single day, moving between two London houses, with settings including Grosvenor Square, Curzon Street, a morning room, and a library. These domestic spaces hold a conflict that threatens both Robert's public honor and his marriage, suggesting how closely political and private life connect.
Context
The author
Oscar Wilde was an Irish playwright, poet and novelist who made his career in London. He wrote An Ideal Husband in England in the early 1890s, when his social comedies were winning theatre audiences. His position within fashionable society, combined with his outsider’s eye, helped him turn elegant conversation into criticism of wealth, reputation and moral certainty.
The times
The play draws on Victorian links between political power and private wealth. The British government’s purchase of Suez Canal shares in 1875 made canal finance a recognizable political subject. In 1890s Britain, women could not vote in parliamentary elections, though wealthy hostesses could influence political networks through social gatherings. These conditions help explain why private meetings and financial secrets carry public consequences.
How it was received
An Ideal Husband opened in London in 1895 and was a popular success. Later that year, Wilde’s prosecution and imprisonment for gross indecency overshadowed his theatrical career. Today, the play is often read and performed as more than a witty comedy: its treatment of blackmail, political corruption and forgiveness raises questions about whether public service or marriage can depend on perfect moral conduct.
Use this context to explain why Wilde places political bargaining inside fashionable homes and makes forgiveness, rather than spotless virtue, essential to the ending.
話し合いのための質問
- Does Lady Chiltern's forgiveness require her to support Robert's career, or are these separate choices?
- Where should the need to love imperfect people meet the need to hold them responsible?
- Does Mabel's rejection of the perfect husband suggest wisdom, lowered expectations, or something else?
- What makes an explanation trustworthy when a private letter appears to support suspicion?
論述のテーマ
- Imperfect love. Compare Robert's appeal for love with Mabel's rejection of a perfect husband. What standards for marriage do they suggest?
- Changing judgment. Trace Lady Chiltern's movement from insistence to forgiveness. Does her final position suggest changed principles or a changed understanding of love?
- Political survival. Analyze the contrast between Robert's threatened public honor and his Cabinet offer. What questions does his political survival leave open?
短いクイズ
全6問中の第1問得点 0
Who is explicitly identified as Sir Robert Chiltern’s sister?
Which act returns to the setting of Act II?
What does Mrs. Cheveley demand in exchange for Robert’s incriminating letter?
How much does Baron Arnheim pay Robert for the secret information?
How does Goring force Mrs. Cheveley to surrender Robert’s letter?
Why does Robert initially refuse consent to Goring’s marriage to Mabel?
このページを引用する
“An Ideal Husbandの学習ガイド.” Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/ja/pages/an-ideal-husband-study-guide.
Library of Alexandria. (2026). An Ideal Husbandの学習ガイド. https://libraryofalexandria.com/ja/pages/an-ideal-husband-study-guide
“An Ideal Husbandの学習ガイド.” Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/ja/pages/an-ideal-husband-study-guide.
@misc{an_ideal_husband_study_guide_2026,
title = {An Ideal Husbandの学習ガイド},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/ja/pages/an-ideal-husband-study-guide}
}
3か月間無料でご利用いただけます
理想の夫の要約を最後まで無料で読めます
- 200,000+の古典を電子書籍、オーディオブック、15分で読める要約で楽しめます。紙の本と大活字本は印刷費のみで購入できます。
- ひとつのプランで、ご家庭の最大5人までご利用いただけます
15分で読める要約は今から、電子書籍とオーディオブックは各作品の公開時から楽しめます。大活字本を含む紙の本は印刷費のみで購入できます。
3か月無料で試しますほかの学習ガイド： Tess of the d'Urbervilles · The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus · The War of the Worlds · すべての学習ガイド
