Considering his extramarital affairs, he may have seen marriage as failing to encompass all passions and romances and purposefully removed passion from marriage in his work. This is not to say that his own marriage was unhappy rather, he found the rules of marriage tedious and suffocating. Though married himself, Wilde’s work may suggest that he saw marriage as a failed institution. Given Wilde’s mocking depictions of marriage, I wonder what Wilde truly thought of marriage as an institution, and if that view was influenced by his attraction to men. Marriage creates a false exterior of emotional commitment that poorly hides the detached relationship between spouses. Harry and his wife divorce after years of happily ignoring one another. Even in Dorian Gray, marriage is depicted as a social expectation rather than an emotional commitment. Married minor characters complain about the dullness of their spouses and comment on the optics of other marriages, while unmarried couples are praised for their artistic romance. In An Ideal Husband, marriage is talked about as something that can succeed or fail in being fashionable. These characters describe marriage as the end of emotional attachment and the beginning of a tedious and constricting relationship.įor example, when Jack tells Algernon of his plans to marry Gwendolen, Algernon laments that this will ruin the romance between them, saying “there is nothing romantic in proposing” and characterizing marriage as “business.” He champions the uncertainty of romance as its chief appeal and notes that marriage destroys uncertainty. Wilde’s “clever” characters often criticize the triviality or unhappiness of marriage while praising the art of romance. Miss Mabel Chiltern, Sir Robert Chiltern's sister - Read by Ophelia Darcyįor further information, including links to online text, reader information, RSS feeds, CD cover or other formats (if available), please go to the LibriVox catalog page for this recording.įor more free audio books or to become a volunteer reader, visit common thread in Wilde’s work, especially his plays, is a distaste for marriage. The Countess Of Basildon - Read by JemmaBlythe Harold, footman - Read by Zachary Brewster-Geisz James, footman - Read by Read by Chris Goringe Phipps, Lord Goring's servant - Read by Juho Fröjd ![]() ![]() Mason, Butler to Sir Robert Chiltern - Read by Hugh McGuire Vicomte De Nanjac, Attache at the French Embassy in London - Read by Juho Fröjd Sir Robert Chiltern, Bart., Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs - Read by David Barnes Viscount Goring, his son - Read by John Gonzalez "Sooner or later," Wilde notes, "we shall all have to pay for what we do." But he adds that, "No one should be entirely judged by their past." (Summary by Wikipedia) The action is set in London, in "the present", and takes place within a single day. ![]() Read by a Full Cast of Voices.Īn Ideal Husband is an 1895 comedy by Oscar Wilde which revolves around blackmail and political corruption, and touches on the themes of public and private honor. LibriVox recording of An Ideal Husband, by Oscar Wilde.
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