An Ideal Husband-Oscar Wiide

An Ideal Husband

by Oscar Wilde
Web-Books.Com

An Ideal Husband
The Persons Of The Play ................................................................................................3 First Act ..........................................................................................................................5 Second Act....................................................................................................................34 Third Act ......................................................................................................................62 Fourth Act.....................................................................................................................85

The Persons Of The Play
THE EARL OF CAVERSHAM, K.G. VISCOUNT GORING, hisSon SIR ROBERT CHILTERN, Bart., Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs VICOMTE DE NANJAC, Attache at the French Embassy in London MR. MONTFORD MASON, Butler to Sir Robert Chiltern PHIPPS, Lord Goring's Servant JAMES } HAROLD } Footmen LADY CHILTERN LADY MARKBY THE COUNTESS OF BASILDON MRS. MARCHMONT MISS MABEL CHILTERN, Sir Robert Chiltern's Sister MRS. CHEVELEY THE SCENES OF THE PLAY ACT I. TheOctagon Room in Sir Robert Chiltern's House in Grosvenor Square. ACT II. Morning-room in Sir Robert Chiltern's House. ACT III. The Library of Lord Goring's House in Curzon Street. ACT IV. Same as Act II. TIME: The Present PLACE: London. The action of the play is completed within twenty-four hours.

THEATRE ROYAL, HAYMARKET Sole Lessee: Mr. Herbert Beerbohm Tree Managers: Mr. Lewis Waller and Mr. H.H. Morell January 3rd, 1895 THE EARL OF CAVERSHAM, Mr. Alfred Bishop. VISCOUNT GORING, Mr. Charles H. Hawtrey. SIR ROBERT CHILTERN, Mr. Lewis Waller. VICOMTE DE NANJAC, Mr. Cosmo Stuart. MR. MONTFORD, Mr. Harry Stanford. PHIPPS, Mr. C. H. Brookfield. MASON, Mr. H. Deane. JAMES, Mr. Charles Meyrick. HAROLD, Mr. Goodhart. LADY CHILTERN, Miss Julia Neilson. LADY MARKBY, Miss Fanny Brough. COUNTESS OFBASILDON, Miss Vane Featherston. MRS. MARCHMONT, Miss Helen Forsyth. MISS MABEL CHILTERN, Miss Maud Millet. MRS. CHEVELEY, Miss Florence West.

First Act
SCENE The octagon room at Sir Robert Chiltern's house in Grosvenor Square. [The room is brilliantly lighted and full of guests. At the top of the staircase stands LADY CHILTERN, a woman of grave Greek beauty, about twenty-seven years of age.She receives the guests as they come up. Over the well of the staircase hangs a great chandelier with wax lights, which illumine a large eighteenthcentury French tapestry - representing the Triumph of Love, from a design by Boucher - that is stretched on the staircase wall. On the right is the entrance to the music-room. The sound of a string quartette is faintly heard. The entrance on the leftleads to other reception- rooms. MRS. MARCHMONT and LADY BASILDON, two very pretty women, are seated together on a Louis Seize sofa. They are types of exquisite fragility. Their affectation of manner has a delicate charm. Watteau would have loved to paint them.] MRS. MARCHMONT. Going on to the Hartlocks' to-night, Margaret? LADY BASILDON. I suppose so. Are you? MRS. MARCHMONT. Yes. Horribly tediousparties they give, don't they? LADY BASILDON. Horribly tedious! Never know why I go. Never know why I go anywhere. MRS. MARCHMONT. I come here to be educated LADY BASILDON. Ah! I hate being educated!

MRS. MARCHMONT. So do I. It puts one almost on a level with the commercial classes, doesn't it? But dear Gertrude Chiltern is always telling me that I should have some serious purpose in life. SoI come here to try to find one. LADY BASILDON. [Looking round through her lorgnette.] I don't see anybody here to-night whom one could possibly call a serious purpose. The man who took me in to dinner talked to me about his wife the whole time. MRS. MARCHMONT. How very trivial of him! LADY BASILDON. Terribly trivial! What did your man talk about? MRS. MARCHMONT. About myself. LADY BASILDON....