Guyette, a longtime journalist, received a bachelor's degree in English writing from the University of Pittsburgh. In this essay, Guyette discusses how Wilde uses scathing wit to create a play that, ultimately, espouses tolerance and compassion.
In An Ideal Husband, Oscar Wilde stitches together multiple and varied elements to produce a seamless work that remains relevant more than a century after it was written. The playwright combines scintillating wit with both farce and melodrama, creating a piece that, over the course of its four acts, offers biting social and political commentary while espousing a philosophy that has the primacy of love and compassion as its focal point. Taken together, these elements compel Wilde's audience to consider what, exactly, makes a person truly moral.
"Deliciously absurd, morally serious, profoundly sentimental, and wickedly melodramatic, it is primarily a.....
This is a free excerpt of 135 words. This section contains 1,750 words. This
study guide contains 23,299 words (approx. 78 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Literature Guide with our An Ideal Husband Access Pass.
