An Ideal Husband

Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.5

Word count: 179K words
Chapters: 18

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971, and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today. An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde. Author: Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900. Language: English. Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature. Release Date: Apr 1, 1997.

Editor's review

An Ideal Husband is one of Oscar Wilde's signature society comedies. Set in London high society, it revolves around a politician's past secrets and the trust within his marriage, using witty dialogue to peel back layer after layer of hypocrisy and compromise beneath a respectable surface. Wildean epigrams come thick and fast, and the characters' exchanges are sharp and highly theatrical: readers will both smile in recognition and feel the gentle satire on moral hypocrisy. This edition is the English electronic text provided by Project Gutenberg, in English, and makes a good entry point into Wilde's dramatic world. Rather than rushing the plot, readers will gain more by noticing how the characters use clever remarks to dodge the truth and how pressure exposes their true selves. Suitable for English literature enthusiasts, drama readers, and learners who want to practise close reading in English.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English literature readers who enjoy Wildean witty dialogue and satirical comedy
Learners who want to practise English close reading and language sense through dramatic texts
Readers interested in Victorian social manners and moral issues
Drama enthusiasts looking for dialogue texts to read aloud or adapt

Not a good fit for

Beginners who need a Chinese translation or bilingual annotations to read comfortably
Readers expecting a tightly plotted mystery rather than a dialogue-driven work
Readers unfamiliar with nineteenth-century English high society who are unwilling to look up the background

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the character relationships and conflicts, then revisit key dialogues and copy out epigrams you like.
Try reading aloud in roles to feel the stage effect of Wilde's lines in tone and rhythm.
As you read, note how the meaning of "an ideal husband" shifts depending on who is speaking.
Read alongside concise background material on the Victorian era to understand the social context of the satire.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book in Chinese or English?

This is the English electronic text released by Project Gutenberg, in English, with no Chinese translation; reading it requires some English proficiency.

Can I read this directly without having read other works by Wilde?

Yes. This is a self-contained comedy, and the character relationships are introduced gradually in the play. No prior knowledge of Wilde's other works is needed, though familiarity with his epigrammatic style will make it easier to get into.

Is this book better for reading or for watching a performance?

Both work. The text is dialogue-dense and highly theatrical, so you can recreate the scenes in your mind as you read; if you can find a performance video or audio to compare, it will be easier to appreciate the rhythm and humour of the lines.

What is most worth paying attention to while reading?

I suggest focusing on how the characters use witty remarks to conceal their self-interest, and on the tension between "respectability" and "truth"—this is the key to understanding the play's satirical intent.

Comments

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About the author

Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900 Author

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) was an Irish writer known for his plays, fiction, fairy tales and epigrams. The collection here contains 55 of his works, including the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (also appearing as Das Bildnis des Dorian Gray, Le portrait de Dorian Gray and Dorian Grayn muotokuva) and the fairy-tale collection The Happy Prince, and Other Tales. The Picture of Dorian Gray centres on a portrait and its subject's fate, exploring beauty, youth, morality and indulgence through polished dialogue and an aesthetic style; The Happy Prince, and Other Tales uses fairy-tale form to portray sacrifice and compassion in clear, gently ironic prose. Wilde's writing is witty and ornate, marked by paradox and epigram, and his works have long circulated in many languages. Beyond his dates, public information is limited, so no biographical details are conjectured here.