Preparing the way for Wilde's master-piece, "The Importance of Being Earnest", "An Ideal Husband" is as strong on repartee as on melodrama - in this case not the theme of 'woman-with-a-past' but of political corruption. Sir Robert Chiltern, a rising star in political circles, finds himself confronted by the worldly-wise Mrs Cheveley, who holds evidence of the only financial indiscretion he ever committed. He will receive the incriminating note in return for his vote in an upcoming division in the House of Commons.
Urged by his idealistic wife to resist the blackmailer, Chiltern turns for help to his debonair friend Lord Goring, who, with the help of farcical accident, saves appearances and thus saves the day. This edition discusses the play on its own terms and in the context of Wilde's other society comedies; it includes an account of its stages of revision and an appendix of women's fashion in the 1890s.
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