Book Review: An Ideal Husband

I’ve been really enjoying these plays by Oscar Wilde. They are naturally of its time, the writing, the jokes, and the social commentary are all relics of the society in which Wilde was surrounded. It is a shame that the same society eventually condemned him in the end. ‘An Ideal Husband’ looks at morality, dirty politics, opportunism and marriage; key themes that regularly occur in Wilde’s works. Although this is a comedy, the play's material can be transported at any time, there is as much political intrigue in the halls of Whitehall today as there was over 100 years ago and as many dirty deals. Fortunes of Britain’s politicians rise and fall and that will never change. Is a politician truly moral? Not particularly no - they may have good intentions, but the road to hell is littered with them.

Morality and dirty politics are irrevocably tied to money in this play. Sir Robert Chiltern is a wealthy MP and is idolised by his wife, Lady Chiltern. An enemy of Lady Chiltern’s - Mrs Cheverly makes an appearance and blackmails Robert as she knows he made his fortune through insider trading and could lead him to scandal. It is interesting to look back at the plot from a 21st-century perspective. This play is set during a time when the British empire was still at its height - obviously being a colonist was a less dubious way of finding your fortune than insider trading, but still, a lot of the middle and upper classes of Great Britain did profit from colonialism in one way or another. In the case of ‘An Ideal Husband’ it was through a scheme relating to the Suez Canal. If you know your history, you know what a hot mess that was. So the case for morality is interesting - can one be truly moral if one's fortune is made through illicit ways, even colonialism?

Wilde’s writing is very much of the time. True, this is supposed to be satire - and whilst it all ends well and has a happy ending. Mrs Cheverly’s schemes all fall to nothing and she is seen as the pantomime villain she really is. Robert and Lady Chiltern reconcile to an extent, Lady Chiltern no longer idolises her husband and sees him for what he truly is:  as a flawed man. Robert avoids scandal by the skin of his teeth - but faces no real consequences. I cannot tell if this is the true genius of Wilde’s writing - that good-intentioned people can get away with awful crimes or if this stays true to satire and that all politicians are just as corrupt as the next with a few “hahas” thrown in.

I’m not sure if this is my favourite of Wilde’s plays or even a written piece of work. I did enjoy the retrospective look at Edwardian society and I find the mannerisms and wit to be fascinating. Wilde is an excellent writer - hindsight is a funny thing and perhaps he shouldn’t have dabbled quite so well into the world of political intrigue as his world came crumbling down shortly after.