Remind yourself of the conversation between Gerald and Mrs Arbuthnot between lines 104 and 265 of act IV What is the importance of this section in the context of the whole play?

‘He shall not come here. He shall not cross the threshold of my house.’

The short sharp sentences that make up this assertive statement signal the way that Gerald is unable to manipulate his mother and create the relationship that he desires between his parents. She is the dominant parent and he is the obedient child despite his twenty years and this is presented strongly in the extract by wild and is seen throughout the entire play in a similar way. The image of Gerald is a naïve child is cemented in the mind of the audience by Wilde during this extract

‘I have written to Lord Illingworth to tell him that he must marry you’

this fantasy of Gerald's is one that is unrealistic and the following dialect between him and his mother signals the way that in the end he is the one who always bows to her wishes as is the pattern throughout the entire play.

Wilde uses many techniques throughout the extract to create a repeated dramatic effect making this passage of the play one of the most important in the context of the whole story line. Wilde uses an emphatic choice of language to create melodrama during conversation between Mrs Arbuthnot and Gerald

‘Go before it kills me: but don’t ask me too meet him.’

This over reaction by Mrs Arbuthnot is typical of the language that Wilde uses throughout the extract and to an extent the entire play to present the scene as one of high drama and one that is critical to the closing scenes of the play. Wilde’s variety of dramatic techniques is shown throughout the extract as he uses rhetorical and dogmatic language to convey Mrs Arbuthnot’s thoughts and actions to the audience

‘I will not marry him’

This language creates a sense of drama as there is a twinge of conflict between mother and son and is one which tests their bond much in a similar way as it does throughout the whole play; however the audience has learnt by now that Gerald will eventually bow to the wishes of his mother. Wilde cleverly uses references back to previous moments in the play in order to add to the drama and significance of the scene

‘The marriage must take place first. It is a duty that you owe’

This is significant because it mirrors a previous conversation between Lord Illingworth and Mrs Arbuthnot in which she is the one claiming that he is the one whose duty it is to marry her

‘When we were in Paris, that it was your duty to marry me’

This begins to give Gerald's argument more solidity as it shows that the claim that his parents should be married is not based on nothing and this is made all the more dramatic by the way that the audience knows the past history between Mrs Arbuthnot and Lord Illingworth. However what is not known to the audience is that Lord Illingworth later denies that it is his duty to marry Mrs Arbuthnot, this is not known at the time of the conversation in question between Gerald and his mother so for the time being the audience is left open to the option that the marriage and Gerald's dream outcome could actually happen which is what makes the extract one of the most important and dramatic in the whole play.

Overall Wilde uses a variety of techniques and dramatic effects in order to present this extract as one of the most important in the whole play. He also plays on Victorian values and morals in order to create a storyline that is shocking and dramatic in the eyes of the Victorian public as well as the modern day audience.