An Ideal Husband

Lady Gertrude Chiltern is Sir Robert’s wife. She is 27 with a “grave Greek beauty” and is a champion of women’s rights (199)—particularly women’s education—as well as her husband’s political career. Like many “new women” of the late Victorian era, however, Lady Chiltern combines her progressivism on gender roles with a fixation on “proper” morality. An extremist, Lady Chiltern spares no one her judgment—most especially her husband—and so is naive to the political schemes that her husband and many others participate in.

Throughout the play, Lady Chiltern grows from an uncompromising purist into a more charitable wife due in large part to Lord Goring’s influence. As Lord Goring works to help Lady Chiltern grow, she begins to view people as dynamic and complex rather than all good or all bad. Lady Chiltern also learns how to love. Where she originally conceptualizes a woman’s love as worshipful and idealizes her husband for his good and pure character, Lady Chiltern learns that women are instead meant to forgive and that in doing so, she will “help the world” (314)—ironically, an embrace of women’s traditional role as moral guardians, though one in which the definition of morality has evolved toward compassion.

Mrs. Cheveley is the antagonist of the play and a foil to Lady Chiltern. Also 27, Mrs. Cheveley is deceptive and frequently described as having an amused smile or twinkle in her eye, suggesting that she is always up to something. Mrs. Cheveley is duplicitous, self-serving, and very aware of the often amoral nature of both politics and private life—so much so that she attempts to extort other characters, like Sir Robert, to her benefit.

Once almost married to Lord Goring, Mrs. Cheveley was also a student of Baron Arnheim—yet in contrast to Sir Robert, another friend of Baron Arnheim, Mrs. Cheveley pursues both power and wealth no matter the cost. As someone who has been married multiple times and pursues love for political or monetary gain, she stands in opposition to the monogamous, “pure” commitment of the Chilterns, whose marriage she nearly destroys. However, she also contrasts with Lord Goring, who is similarly flippant regarding “propriety” but actually does take love itself quite seriously. Her downfall takes the form of ironic justice: She is trapped by her ex-lover, Lord Goring, with a wedding brooch even as she attempts to propose to him.

Lord Goring is 34 years old, Lord Caversham’s son, a friend of the Chilterns, and Mrs. Cheveley’s ex-lover. Often read as a stand-in for Oscar Wilde, Lord Goring is the hero of the play. He is an expert on “modern” life—something his father often criticizes, as Lord Caversham sees this as synonymous with amorality. It’s this expertise, however, that makes him the hero: He is a “dandy” who embraces Life as Art and often speaks jokingly, but his wit serves a serious purpose, skewering the pretensions and cruelties of Victorian morals in favor of something more humane. That Lord Goring’s viewpoint emerges triumphant suggests that the modern will inevitably overtake the old.

Because Lord Goring sees the reality of each character more clearly than the rest, he is the character against whom everyone else’s growth is measured. Lord Goring also facilitates that growth, counseling most characters in charity and forgiveness. The only character Lord Goring never has to educate is Mabel, who seems even more attuned to modern society than Lord Goring himself. Though Lord Goring is largely a static character, he does experience a kind of transformation in that he chooses to marry Mabel, the only character who can “keep up” with his philosophy and wit; their union contrasts with the Chiltern marriage, which is based in convention and “propriety,” particularly as the play begins.

Mabel Chiltern is Sir Robert’s sister and Lord Goring’s eventual lover. Wilde describes her as having “the fascinating tyranny of youth and the astonishing courage of innocence” (201). Mabel is young and jocular, delivering witty banter throughout the play and (apparently) taking very little seriously. Described by Wilde as the picture of English prettiness, Mabel spends much of the play flirting with Lord Goring and otherwise communicating her disdain for societal norms—for instance, Tommy Trafford’s recurring requests for her hand.

Because Mabel, like Lord Goring, sees through the stuffiness of the Victorian era and therefore possesses a vision others don’t, she changes little herself; instead, she acts as a foil for figures like Lady Chiltern and even Lady Markby, suggesting their growth (or the lack of it) by contrast. However, her relationship with Lord Goring does deepen throughout the play, and the pair are engaged as the play ends.

Lord Caversham is Lord Goring’s father. He is 70 and described by Wilde as a Whig—i.e., a proponent of parliamentary power. He represents traditional society and frequently denounces modernity, including his own son’s penchant for pleasure and the aesthetic. The interactions between Lord Caversham and Lord Goring suggest the contest between new ideas and old; Lord Caversham denounces and resists his son, but Lord Goring pokes fun at and undermines this resistance. Lord Caversham is pleased when his son finally decides to marry, as is customary for a man his age, but Lord Goring and Mabel’s relationship represents an unconventional approach to marriage that challenges Lord Caversham’s values even as it seems to placate them.

Lady Markby introduces the rest of the characters to Mrs. Cheveley when the latter returns from Vienna. Like Lord Caversham, Lady Markby is representative of older notions of propriety—particularly regarding femininity and women’s role in society. She frequently criticizes Lady Chiltern’s support of the higher education of women; she also disparages the political sphere, noting its impact on “proper” married life throughout the play. Lady Markby therefore counters Lady Chiltern’s representation of the Victorian new woman. Wilde describes Lady Markby as a pleasant and popular older woman, and throughout the play, she adheres to social graces like calling on her neighbors in times of need and attending parties hosted by the Chilterns.

Baron Arnheim, though deceased by the time of the play, represents the philosophy through which both Mrs. Cheveley and Sir Robert accumulated their wealth and by which Mrs. Cheveley still lives. In a conversation with Lord Goring, Sir Robert Chiltern describes Baron Arnheim as seductive, tempting Sir Robert with luxury and various means by which he could gain power. Mrs. Cheveley describes him similarly, but as someone who follows closely in Arnheim’s footsteps, she speaks of him with more respect for his apparent sagacity.