‘As for your past no one knows anything about it except myself and Gerald’ this comment by Lord Illingworth hits deep with Mrs Arbuthnot as she is not proud of the past and this leads the audience to believe Mrs Arbuthnot is a weakened women however this proves not to be the case. Her power is quickly shown as she refuses to take Lord Illingworth's hand in marriage
‘I decline to marry you Lord Illingworth’
By refusing to marry Lord Illingworth Mrs Arbuthnot asserts herself as the dominant maternal female rather than a submissive one to the dominant male. This is one of the main factors that makes the ending of the play so climactic as the audience sees a new side to Mrs Arbuthnot that hasn’t been presented before.
Wilde initially presents Lord Illingworth as a figure of high authority and power and someone that will get whatever he wants as well as being extremely sure of himself
‘I assure you, he will find in me the most charming and generous of fathers’ with this comment Lord Illingworth seems to be the controlling figure and in command of his own life as well as Gerald's and Mrs Arbuthnot's. However as the scene progresses towards the end of the play Lord Illingworth's presence becomes less and less influential and the audiences impression of him drops to a much lower level this is typified when Mrs Arbuthnot turns down Lord Illingworth's offer to marry him.
‘Are you serious?’ The shock and surprise in Lord Illingworth is a defining moment in the play and one that makes the last scenes of the play so important. This is the moment when Wilde’s initial presentation of these two characters is completely reversed and Mrs Arbuthnot becomes the dominant female.
Wilde’s presentation of Gerald is one of the most important factors in the play and in this scene in particular despite the fact that he doesn’t appear until towards the end of the scene. When Gerald enters he kneels at the feet of his mother, showing that he is not the man he has strived to become and that he is still a young boy for whom his mother will continue to dictate his actions and this is the final impression that the audience is left with as the play ends.
Throughout the play and final scene Wilde uses a number of effects in order to make the closing moments as dramatic as possible. This is clear from the moment Lord Illingworth enters the scene and begins conversing with Mrs Arbuthnot ‘You can have nothing to say to me, you must leave this house’
This is dramatic and important because it echoes the conversation that took place between the pair of them twenty years previously. As the scene progresses Wilde uses short sharp dialogue in Mrs Arbuthnot's speeches in order to create extra dramatic effect ‘I beg you to go.’ There is heavy dramatic importance laid on the fact that Mrs Arbuthnot and Lord Illingworth both see Gerald as their own and the possessive language throughout the scene adds to this effect ‘my son’. One of the most dramatic points in the scene and the play on the whole is when Mrs Arbuthnot refuses Lord Illingworth's proposition for part ownership of Gerald
‘She loves him. They love each other. We are safe from you, and we are going away’ Mrs Arbuthnot uses cold, heartless monosyllabic language in order to indicate to Lord Illingworth that she is not interested in giving up her ownership in the slightest and that he will be cut out of the boys life, the language as well as the timing of the statement make it even more dramatic and one of the key points in the scene. The conversation then takes an even more dramatic turn with Wilde using pauses to create tension as the scene builds towards its climax. Once Lord Illingworth knows that he has been defeated his tone and attitude dramatically turn with him losing his air of confidence that has surrounded him for the whole play as he now resorts to sarcasm ‘Do tell me your reasons. They would interest me enormously’
This is the final step in the switch of power between Lord Illingworth and Mrs Arbuthnot as she now has everything she wants and he is left with nothing. This is confirmed with the final line of the play when Mrs Arbuthnot refers to Lord Illingworth as ‘A man of no importance’ this is a fitting end to the play as it shows the dramatic journey that Mrs Arbuthnot and Gerald have been through. In the final image of the play the three characters withdraw into the garden presenting a final impression of sentimentally as well as the incestual undertone created by the religious meaning of stepping into the garden.
Overall Wilde uses a number of techniques and a vast array of language throughout the entire play in order to make this final scene one full of drama and tension and one that creates the best possible ending to the play and he does this successfully with the stories of each character linking well to create and ending that makes sense in the mind of the audience.
