Summary
Summary of An Ideal Husband
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Perfect honour hides an old mistake
An Ideal Husband places a dangerous secret inside a world of elegant rooms and sparkling conversation. Oscar Wilde brings together politicians, society hostesses and apparently idle young gentlemen to ask what happens when a public man's reputation for perfect honour rests on an old mistake.
The comedy and the danger belong together. A threat to someone's good name can also become a threat to the love that supports his private life. Beneath the polished talk, the play asks whether admiration can survive the discovery that its hero is human.
Key idea 2
A marriage rests on perfect trust
Start free to read
Key idea 3
Mrs Cheveley turns knowledge into power
Start free to read
Key idea 4
Goring sees beyond the blackmail
Start free to read
Key idea 5
Pressure tests each person's comfortable beliefs
Start free to read
Key idea 6
Love needs room for human faults
Start free to read
Key idea 7
Wit carries the suspense forward
Start free to read
Key idea 8
Honour and love remain open questions
Start free to read
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
For anyone who enjoys witty dialogue, social comedy and a good moral puzzle, and for students meeting Wilde for the first time.
What this book is
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. Wilde wrote it at the height of his career as a playwright. He had already scored hits with Lady Windermere's Fan and A Woman of No Importance, and he knew just what the West End audience liked: sparkling talk, elegant rooms and a plot with a secret at its centre.
The play asks a sharp question. What happens when a public man is loved for his perfect honour, and that honour rests on one old mistake? Wilde sets the question among cabinet ministers, society hostesses and bored young gentlemen. He mixes a tense blackmail plot with some of the funniest conversation in English theatre. In this summary you meet the Chilterns, the schemer who threatens them, and the idle friend who may save them. You also learn what the play is really about and how Wilde builds it. Let us begin at a London party where an unwelcome guest walks in.
In this summary
- 1A perfect marriage and a partyFree
- 2A stranger arrives with a demand
- 3Robert seeks help from a dandy
- 4Love, pressure and a widening trap
- 5What the play says about ideals and mercy
- 6How Wilde builds the comedy and the plot
Key point 1 of 6
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.
We also meet Lord Goring, the closest friend of the family. He is a stylish bachelor who seems to do nothing at all and says so with pride. His father, the gruff Lord Caversham, despairs of him and wants him to marry and settle down. Goring answers every complaint with an elegant remark that says nothing and sounds delightful.
This opening matters because it builds what the rest of the play will threaten. Wilde wants us to see a marriage that looks flawless and a reputation that looks solid. The trouble is that they both depend on one belief, that Robert is exactly what his wife thinks he is. Then an old acquaintance of Lady Chiltern arrives, and the evening changes.
The arrival is marked by a hush, and then a good deal of whispered curiosity. Everyone has an opinion of the new guest, and few of them are kind.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
- Nothing to pay today · Renews every year
- We email you before you pay
- Cancel online in two clicks
Check yourself
What does Mrs Cheveley want Robert to do?
Right. “Robert has already prepared a report that condemns it, and she wants him to reverse course and speak in its favour.”Not quite. “Robert has already prepared a report that condemns it, and she wants him to reverse course and speak in its favour.”
What does Goring see as a danger beyond Mrs Cheveley's threat?
Right. “It is that Lady Chiltern has made him into an ideal, and no human being can live up to that for long.”Not quite. “It is that Lady Chiltern has made him into an ideal, and no human being can live up to that for long.”
What view of love does Goring defend?
Right. “Goring argues that people must be loved for what they are, including their faults, and not for an unreachable standard.”Not quite. “Goring argues that people must be loved for what they are, including their faults, and not for an unreachable standard.”
Questions about An Ideal Husband
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.
What is the main message of An Ideal Husband?
The play suggests that no person should be held to a perfect standard, and that real love includes forgiveness. It also mocks the gap between public virtue and private truth.
Is An Ideal Husband hard to read?
No. It is a play in clear, lively English, and the dialogue is quick and funny. The plot and the jokes are easy to follow.
