Abstract Oscar Wilde is a famous writer in Victorian era and he is one of most influential aesthetes who advocate “art for art’s sake”. In his social comedies, An Ideal Husband is a hit and a well-organized comedy, which is studied by large quantities of scholars at home and abroad, who studied its aestheticism, dandyism, the formalist feature, awareness of new women and binary oppositions. This thesis, from the perspective of social ethics, focuses on three ideals in An Ideal Husband. The thesis, combining the analyses of Oscar Wilde and the Victorian era, studies the whole comedy through comparison and contrast, analyzes the conflicts between characters’ opinions on husbands and life and explores the discussions of distorted relationships and harmonious ones. The thesis comes out three conclusions during the analyses: an ideal husband can make his wife and himself know and appreciate each other well; an ideal life is an honest, happy and free life; communications are sincere, kind and harmonious in an ideal relationship.62104

Key Words: Oscar Wilde; An Ideal Husband; ideal husband; ideal life; ideal relationship

摘要 奥斯卡·王尔德是维多利亚时期的著名作家，他也是最具影响力之一的唯美主义者， 他提倡“为艺术而艺术”。在王尔德的社会喜剧中，《理想丈夫》一炮而红，设计精巧，为众多海内外学者追捧。学者们研究其唯美主义、纨绔主义、形式特征、新女性意识以及二元对立等等。本论文从社会伦理角度，聚焦于反映《理想丈夫》中隐含的三种理想。论文通过研读作品，对比分析剧中不同人物对于丈夫、生活的看法的冲突，以及对比剖析剧中的扭曲的人际关系和和谐的人际关系，并结合王尔德的理想和维多利亚时代特点，得出了以下结论：能使夫妻双方相互了解、欣赏的丈夫是理想丈夫；真实自由快乐的生活是理想生活；真诚、友善而和谐的交往促进理想的人际关系。

毕业论文关键词：王尔德；《理想丈夫》；理想丈夫；理想生活；理想的人际关系

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

3. Ideal Husband in An Ideal Husband 3

3.1 From the perspective of traditional women 4

3.2 From the perspective of Lady Chiltern 5

4. Ideal Life in An Ideal Husband 6

4.1From the perspective of traditional concepts 6

4.2 From the perspective of the young 7

5. Ideal Relationships in An Ideal Husband 8

5.1 Distorted relationships 8

5.2 Harmonious relationships 11

6. Conclusion 13

Works Cited 14

 1. Introduction 

Victorian Age is generally recognized as a peak of British Empire. The whole country had benefited from its first completion of Industrial Revolution. People in Victoria Era embrace great expectations and wishes towards a promising future that will be brought by machines. But there occur many conflicts between the reality and the ideal at the end of 19th century. The nature of capitalism is the pursuit of profit and the capture of power, which is exposed in Wilde’s comedies. An Ideal Husband is one of his most influential plays. It turned out to be a big success when it was performed in London in the 3rd of January, in 1895. It is “the Earthshaking Year” (Lottman, 2011: 67) for Wilde. An Ideal Husband has a relatively complex structure and various characters. From reading we can know the so called ideal husband is Sir Robert Chiltern, Bart. He is an influential Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs. He is also an ideal husband in the heart of Lady Chiltern, his wife. The glory life is threatened by Mrs. Cheveley, who “hold Sir Robert in the hollow of her hand” (Wilde, 2012: 134) and induced him to support the most dishonest and fraudulent scheme there has ever been in the political life. Although Lady Chiltern believed that “All his life Sir. Robert has stood apart from others. He never let the world soil he. To the world, as to himself he has been an ideal always. He is not a man to do anything base or underhand or dishonorable.”(Wilde, 2012: 70) Finally, however, she heard and knew Sir Robert “sold a Cabinet secret for money! He began his life with fraud! He built his career on dishonor!” (Wilde, 2012: 136) Her husband destroyed her ideal and she could not bear and forgive him for anything false and dirty that he had done. Lord Goring decided to help Sir Robert off the political and marriage crisis as well. He observed carefully, managed to get the secret letter back and removed the threats of Mrs. Cheveley. To make up for his injustice before, Sir Robert this time insisted on the justice and delivered the inspiring speech to object the disgusting speculation. Lady Chiltern still loved Sir Robert and finally forgave him.