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Teacher’s notes LEVEL 3
An Ideal Husband
Oscar Wilde
About the author
Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in 1854
in Dublin, Ireland, the second of three children born
to writer Jane Francesca Wilde née Elgee and surgeon
Sir William Robert Wills Wilde. Wilde’s mother was
a prominent poet, journalist and nationalist and his
father was a successful surgeon and noted philanthropist,
knighted in 1864. Wilde first entered Trinity College
in Dublin and then continued his studies at Oxford
University in England. He excelled in his studies, winning
many prizes and awards and helped found the Aesthetic
Movement, ‘art for art’s sake’ at Oxford. Known for
his biting wit, he became one of the most successful
playwrights of late Victorian London, and one of the
greatest celebrities of his day. Several of his plays continue
to be widely performed, especially The Importance of Being
Earnest. An Ideal Husband (1895) was first performed at
the famous Haymarket Theatre in London.
Summary
An Ideal Husband is about a group of rich people in
London during the 1890s. Sir Robert Chiltern is the
‘ideal husband’, who works in the government’s foreign
office and is happily married to the beautiful Lady
Chiltern. When Mrs Cheveley arrives on the scene,
however, a secret about Sir Robert’s past is revealed and
important life-changing decisions must be made.
Act 1, Scenes 1–3: A woman called Mrs Cheveley arrives
at a party at the Chilterns’ house. She has been out of
England for a long time. Her arrival brings trouble for
Sir Robert. She has a secret letter written by him to a
businessman called Baron Arnheim, in which he sells
him a government secret. Mrs Cheveley wants Chiltern
to get the government to support a plan to build a canal
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in Argentina, which will make her rich. If he doesn’t do
this, she threatens to tell the newspapers about the letter.
Chiltern at first resists, but eventually agrees to do as she
wishes.
Act 1, Scenes 4 –6: Mrs Cheveley tells Lady Chiltern that
she has persuaded Sir Robert to change his mind about
the canal project. Lady Chiltern is shocked and finds
it hard to believe that an honest man like her husband
would do such a thing. After Mrs Cheveley leaves, Mabel,
Sir Robert’s sister, finds a brooch on the sofa. Another
guest, Lord Goring, takes the brooch and asks Mabel not
to tell anybody that he has it. He says he had given it to
somebody many years earlier. Lady Chiltern confronts
her husband and asks him not to do what Mrs Cheveley
wants. Sir Robert gives in to his wife and writes a letter to
Mrs Cheveley refusing to support the plan in the House of
Commons.
Act 2, Scenes 1–3: Sir Robert tells Lord Goring about
the difficult situation he is in. He explains that he sold
the government secret because he was poor and wanted
to be rich and successful. Lord Goring advises Sir Robert
to tell his wife everything, but he refuses saying that she
wouldn’t love him anymore. Sir Robert decides to write
to Vienna, where Mrs Cheveley normally lives, to see if
he can find out any secrets about her. Lord Goring then
speaks to Lady Chiltern and he tells her that a man can do
anything to become successful, but she does not believe
her husband could do anything dishonest.
Act 2, Scenes 4 –5: Mrs Cheveley visits Lady Chiltern and
mentions a brooch she thinks she lost at the Chilterns’,
but no servant has found it. Lady Chiltern asks Mrs
Cheveley to leave her house because she is dishonest, but
Mrs Cheveley argues back and tells Lady Chiltern that
her husband is a dishonest man who made his money by
selling a government secret. She insists that Sir Robert
must help her by supporting the canal project. Lady
Chiltern confronts her husband and he admits that it is
true. She is bitterly disappointed that her husband is not
the perfect man she thought he was.
Act 3, Scenes 1–2: Lord Goring receives a letter from
Lady Chiltern. She says she trusts and wants him and
that she is going to visit him that evening. Then Lord
Goring’s father arrives, wishing to speak to him about the
importance of marrying soon. Goring tells his servant
that when a woman arrives, to show her into the sitting
room to wait for him. When Mrs Cheveley arrives, the
servant thinks that this is the woman Goring was referring
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Teacher’s notes LEVEL 3
An Ideal Husband
to and takes her to the sitting room. Once there, she sees
the letter from Lady Chiltern and plans to steal it, but the
servant comes in and she can’t.
Act 3, Scenes 3–5: Sir Robert goes to Goring’s house to
tell him that his wife knows everything and she no longer
loves him. He discovers Mrs Cheveley in the next room
and assumes that her and Goring are plotting against him.
He leaves and Mrs Cheveley tells Goring that she will give
him Sir Robert’s letter if he promises to marry her. He
refuses. Mrs Cheveley then talks about the brooch she lost
and Goring takes it from his desk. He tells Mrs Cheveley
that he knows that the brooch had been stolen from his
cousin and threatens to call the police. To stop him doing
this, Mrs Cheveley gives Goring Sir Robert’s letter and he
burns it. Then Mrs Cheveley manages to steal the letter
Lady Chiltern had sent Goring and seeing that it looks
like a love letter, threatens to send it to Sir Robert.
Act 4, Scenes 1–4: Lord Goring and his father are talking
about marriage again at Sir Robert’s house when Mabel
Chiltern arrives. Lord Goring asks her to marry him and
she accepts. Then Lady Chiltern appears and Goring tells
her that Sir Robert’s letter has been destroyed but that
Mrs Cheveley has stolen her letter. He suggests she tell her
husband everything but she refuses. They plan to try to
intercept the letter, but are too late and Sir Robert arrives
with it in his hand. Fortunately, he thinks his wife wrote
it to him and he believes she loves him again. He says he
is going to leave the government and live quietly with his
wife.
Act 4, Scenes 5–8: Lord Caversham returns and tells
Sir Robert that the Prime Minister has offered him a very
important government job. At first, he refuses it but then
Goring convinces Lady Chiltern that he is wrong to do
this and she in turn persuades her husband to accept the
job. Goring asks Sir Robert for permission to marry his
sister. Sir Robert says he cannot give it, believing that
Goring has some kind of relationship with Mrs Cheveley.
Lady Chiltern then tells her husband everything about the
letter she wrote to Goring and how Goring had thought it
was her in the other room, not Mrs Cheveley. Sir Robert
isn’t angry with his wife and consents to the marriage
between Mabel and Goring.
Background and themes
Political corruption: Sir Robert’s brilliant career is
threatened by his corrupt past behaviour. One of the
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play’s ironies is that the happy ending depends on this
corruption remaining hidden from the public. However,
because he successfully hides this past, Sir Robert feels
absolved of his crime. Even Lady Chiltern forgives him
for it. The play suggests that corruption often went hand
in hand with politics. The morals of many people, and
some of the play’s major characters, are based more on
the fear of public disgrace and losing social status than on
the values of right and wrong. Wilde criticizes this society
throughout the play.
Institution of marriage: Wilde treats marriage as a
complicated and imperfect relationship and makes fun of
the Chilterns’ attempt to create the perfect marriage. Lady
Chiltern constantly states that her husband is perfect and
represents the best of respectable English life. Lord Goring
is the play’s champion of love, and his relationship with
Mabel allows for imperfections rather than focusing on
ideals. Mrs Cheveley tries to force Lord Goring to marry
her, but she represents evil and self-interest. Thus, he does
not even imagine accepting her suggestion, and maintains
true to himself and his love.
Discussion activities
Before reading
1 Discuss: Ask students to talk in small groups about
whether they prefer plays or films and why. Get
feedback from the whole class. Tell them to draw a
Venn diagram to compare plays and films. What is
similar and what is different?
PLAY FILM
Introduction
After reading
2 Discuss: Put students in small groups to answer the
following questions: When and where does the story
happen? What are the men and women in the story like?
Do they work? What do they do in their free time? What
kind of secrets do people sometimes learn that give them
power over other people?
3 Read carefully: Get students to look at the list of
characters on page viii and ask them to write more
information about them as they read. As students go
on reading, they decide if they are main or secondary
characters.
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Teacher’s notes LEVEL 3
An Ideal Husband
Act 1, Scenes 1–3
After reading
4 Discuss: Write the following quotes on the board:
I hate learning. (page 1) Because he’s so lazy. How can
you say that? (page 1) Marriage is very popular now,
isn’t it? (page 2) I am very selfish. (page 4) You have
lived abroad too long, Mrs Cheveley. (page 6) Put
students in small groups and ask them to talk about
these quotes: Who says these things and what are they
talking about? What is Wilde trying to say about these
people and their lives and opinions? Do you think
you would like these people? Do you agree with their
opinions?
5 Role play: Mrs Cheveley talks to a friend after the
party. The friend asks her about the party and Mrs
Cheveley answers her questions. Brainstorm some
possible questions before starting.
Act 1, Scenes 4 –6
While reading (at the end of Scene 4)
6 Guess: Ask the students to discuss: Why does Lord
Goring want to keep the brooch? Who did he give it to?
After reading
7 Discuss: Tell students that two very important
themes arise in this part of the act. The first is related
to dishonesty in government and the second to the
idea of a perfect marriage. Ask them to talk about
the following questions: Are politicians often dishonest?
In what ways? How can we stop this? What things make
a marriage successful? Does your husband or wife have to
be perfect?
8 Write: Get students to write the letter Sir Robert send
to Mrs Cheveley.
Act 2, Scenes 1–3
While reading (page 16, after ‘To the poor? Was that
really a good idea?’)
9 Discuss: Ask students to discuss the point that Wilde
is trying to make here. Then have them discuss
whether giving money to the poor is always the best
way of helping them.
After reading
10 Pair work: Refer students back to page 14. Baron
Arnheim said, ‘You need power and money. Those are
the most important things in life.’ Ask students to talk
about how true this is and then make a list of other
things that they value highly in their own lives. Get
feedback from the whole class.
Act 2, Scenes 4 –5
After reading
11 Role play: Have students act out this conversation in
pairs.
Student A: You’re Lady Chiltern. You’ve just learnt
your husband’s secret. Phone your mother and tell her
about it.
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Student B: You’re Lady Chiltern’s mother. Your
daughter phones you and tells you her problem.
Help her.
Act 3, Scenes 1–2
While reading (at the end of page 27)
12 Pair work: Ask the students to talk about whether
they think there is a good age at which to get married.
Get feedback from the whole class.
After reading
13 Discuss: Mrs Cheveley says, ‘Unmarried men never
have nice sitting rooms.’ Ask students to talk about the
difference between men and women’s idea of a nice
house. Encourage them to talk about both decoration
and attitude to housework.
Act 3, Scenes 3–5
After reading
14 Read carefully and discuss: Get students to make a
list of lies in this section. Then get them to talk about
on what occasions they lie.
Act 4, Scenes 1–4
Before reading
15 Discuss: Write the following names on the board:
Sir Robert, Lady Chiltern, Mrs Cheveley, Lord Goring.
Ask students to discuss their characters. What good
and bad things are there about each of these people?
Who do they think should have a new, happy life?
After reading
16 Write, ask and answer: Write Why was Mabel angry
with Lord Goring? on the board and elicit the answer
(Because he didn’t go riding with her). Now tell
students to write similar questions about these scenes.
Students then mingle with each other, asking and
answering each other’s questions.
Act 4, Scenes 5–8
After reading
17 Write: Ask students to write the letter that Sir Robert
was going to send to the Prime Minister explaining
why he doesn’t want to accept the important position.
18 Discuss: Put students in small groups to talk about
the way men and women are treated in the book.
How are their lives different from the lives of men
and women today?
19 Research: Tell students that Wilde wrote another
important play called The Importance of Being Earnest
and a novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. Divide the
class in two groups and ask them to do some research
to find information about one of these works. Then,
in class, have them share the information and decide
which of the two they would prefer to read.
Vocabulary activities
For the Word List and vocabulary activities, go to
www.penguinreaders.com.
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