An Ideal Husband

In Oscar Wilde’s brilliantly witty comedy, fate catches up to politician Robert Chiltern when a mysterious woman produces a letter revealing a past misdeed. Is this a public scandal or private shame? One of the more serious of Wilde’s social comedies, An Ideal Husband focuses on the often corrupt underpinnings of wealth and power, how information and knowledge in politics hold sway, and how public and personal morality can collide. An Ideal Husband also takes a good-natured poke at the institution of marriage, asking viewers if it is it truly possible to try to have an “ideal” marriage. In the end, Wilde’s message is surprisingly benign: Only love really matters; only love will lead to happiness.