Part of The Student Room Group

  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

'An Ideal Husband', Oscar Wilde - Lord Goring and Lady Chiltern

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

'An Ideal Husband' Oscar Wilde By: Elaine Ha F5B 'Discuss how Wilde influences the audience to like or dislike characters' In my paper, I will discuss two entirely different people, both of whom have entirely different personalities but are both the characters in the play, 'An Ideal husband'- Lord Goring and Mrs. Chiltern. I will also mention the reasons and ways in which Oscar Wilde has managed to make them liked and disliked by the audience. Lord Goring Background info: The beginning of the play is set at Mrs. Chiltern's home. She is conducting a party and has invited many guests, including all of the main characters in the play, Lord Goring. Lord Goring is an intelligent, laid back 34 year old bachelor who lives life leisurely which distinguishes him from most of the other upper class male characters who have political careers, dominating their lives. Proof that politics is overtaking their normal lives can be seen in the first act when Lady Basildon and Mrs. Marchmont speak about their husbands, further evidence is the remark Lady Markby's makes about how politics has disrupted her life below. ...read more.

Middle

Chevelry) his personality changes into becoming serious. By doing this, Oscar Wilde influences the audience to like Lord Goring because although he a comical laid back person, when his friend is in trouble, he will change his character to become what his friend needs, some one serious who understands. However, the main reason why Lord Goring is still liked although he has turned serious is because this fact is greatly overshadowed by the fact that the change in personality is due to him being a loyal friend and attempting to help solve Robert Chiltern's problem. Even, when Lord Goring makes the problem worse and Robert Chiltern thinks of him as a traitor, the audience already knows his innocence and pities him, while laughing at the situation that has occurred. (Lord Goring thinks that it is Mrs. Chiltern who has come to see him, but actually it is Mrs. Chevelry, in the next room who has been listening in on Robert Chiltern and Lord Goring's conversation. Robert finds Mrs. Chevelry and is extremely angry, then leaves, while Lord Goring, still not realizing the person is actually Mrs. ...read more.

Conclusion

In Act I page 48, when Robert Chiltern realizes the position he is in, he asks his wife to love him always. Her response was that she would love him only because he was worthy of love. Due to this, even after Lady Chiltern is given the biggest shock of her life, her ideal dreams suddenly shattering, and then immediately scolded and critized by her husband Robert Chiltern with his brilliant truthful speech on how women always make ideals of men, the audience can no longer feel no remorse for her as Lady Chiltern sways side to side. Pity is felt for Robert Chiltern, living with a wife believing that her husband was the most perfect person in the world and only loving him because of this. Although the end is a happy one, at the end, when she agrees with Robert that he should resign from the offer of having a cabinet seat, even Lord Goring proves to know more about life and her husband than she does, telling her that rather than lose her love, Robert Chiltern would agree to anything. And so again, she is portrayed negatively. ...read more.

The above preview is unformatted text

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE JRR Tolkien section.

Found what you're looking for?

  • Start learning 29% faster today
  • 150,000+ documents available
  • Just £6.99 a month

or


Not the one? Search for your essay title...
  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

See related essaysSee related essays

Related GCSE JRR Tolkien essays

  1. Themes in ‘An Ideal Husband’

    The theme trust is needed the most in this whole play. Trust is developed at the end of the play. Trust of lady Chiltern and Robert Chiltern was strong but later on it turned weak because of Robert's past, later on the trust rebuilt again through all challenges they faced together.

  2. Fantasy films often take us in to a different world and away from the ...

    The events in most fantasy films are very varied and have some battle scenes and some romantic scenes. Star Wars follows this stereotype to a certain extent as it does contain battles, and it includes the very famous fight between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.

  1. Compare two film trailers, 'Lord of the Rings III' and 'The Gladiator'.

    The first clip seen in this trailer is the logo of the dream works universal, followed by a quote saying: "The general". Whilst the clips I have mentioned were being shown, the music was rather loud and fuming and the sky was very grey, fumed with thunder and lightening whilst the dream works universal logo was being shown.

  2. Analysing the characters of Shrek and Lord Farquaad.

    that he is an ogre and that he likes and respects him. Although Shrek tells Donkey that he is supposed to be scared of him Donkey still wants to go with Shrek and stay with him. Donkey irritates Shrek throughout the film but this probably wouldn't be a very good

  1. Analyse the characters of Shrek and Lord Farquaad.

    The sort of humour makes it different from normal, conventional fairytales and also the big, ugly ogre would normally be a nasty creature but we know straight away that this is not the case and he proves to be quite the contrary as the story unfolds.

  2. In the Grimm fairytale "The Lady and The Lion," L. Frank Baum's fantasy work, ...

    It is he who possessed the magical ring of invisibility before Bilbo and it was in his cave that Bilbo found this ring that would change his future. Gollum had every right to be upset in losing the ring to Bilbo, however, he also had it in his head to

  1. Humanity, the Absolute Truth.

    "Tell me what troubles your thoughts, Adam." "Well Lord, I...." "You what?" urged The One from Upon High. "I'm... I saw two monkeys today and..." "Oh! Is that all. Well don't let it bother you. I expect you'll see more of them before your time is through." "Yes, Lord. But..."

  2. "... despite the overwhelming evidence against his own misperceptions, Stevens emerges as a somewhat ...

    when he tells him "Father has become increasingly infirm" [pg 68] - even between father and son, the butler's mask cannot be allowed to slip. When his father is upstairs dying - difficult times for anyone - Stevens cannot bring himself to leave his duties.

  • Over 160,000 pieces
    of student written work
  • Annotated by
    experienced teachers
  • Ideas and feedback to
    improve your own work