Love and friendship were major themes of social drama during the 1890s. An established "standard plot" of the period was that of domestic life being hit by a difficult situation, ending with the reaffirmation of common ideas: loyalty, duty, forgiveness, etc. While An Ideal Husband adopts these motifs, it also parodies them through the exaggerated conceptions of love and friendship that each character represents. The work therefore carries out an exploration of different conceptions through the various types of love that the characters embody. The captions after the introduction of the characters initiate this idea. For example, Lady Chiltern is a "grave Greek beauty", which highlights her serious nature and foreshadows her rigid ideals regarding love for her husband. On the other hand, Lord Goring is an 'impeccable dandy', connecting his 'type' with freer ideas of beauty, style and art – more representative of Wilde's view on life and love. The stark contrast between each character allows Wilde to explore their individual conceptions of love and highlight the advantages and flaws of each accordingly. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Lady Chiltern's conception of love seems to alter Wilde's message within the work. Her conception of love is initially overtly feminine, and Wilde exaggerates her view of her husband to the point of the ridiculous. She claims to "adore him" and that he was "the ideal of her life". In making Lady Chiltern so morally upright that she threatens to leave Sir Robert because he has sullied her otherwise stainless character, she appears ridiculous to the audience. «We women love when we love; and when we lose our adoration, we lose everything' is one such hyperbolic statement used to highlight the unreasonable nature of his love. 'Adoration' is inextricably linked to 'everything' within the sentence, implying that there is nothing else to her love for Sir Robert, further revealing her view of friendship as an element of love: it is non-existent, c 'It's just idealism. She also speaks on behalf of all women ("us"), once again promoting the idea that she is a type, representative of all female love from Wilde's perspective. Parodying his view of love guides the audience to see that his high moral position is not endorsed by Wilde, implying that An Ideal Husband serves to highlight the flaws of such a conception of love. This is in contrast to the apparent change in his views at the end of the play when he comments, "We have both been punished." I set it too high,” reflecting the “lesson” the ordeal taught her. By allowing her to realize her mistake, Wilde explores her mistaken notion of love and suggests the audience not make the same mistake. She supports her own reverse conception of love, that of passion and forgiveness, without such rigid morals. An ideal husband also seems to comment on the modern female role within relationships who is morally honest and intellectually supportive of her husband's career –, through Lady Chiltern, conveys that such high morals need not be applied to love. Although accepting his intelligence has an "ennobling effect on life", his moral standing in comparisons of love bring "ruin" to Sir Robert's life, suggesting that it is imperfect. Further exploration of female love is illustrated through the comments of Mrs Marchmont and Lady Basildon. Both "have the most admirable husbands in London" but are "well punished for it",proving once again that ideals are not as important as passion. Wilde combines both the old generation of femininity (Mrs Marchmont and Lady Basildon) and the new (Lady Chiltern) and through the exploration of their conceptions of love shows that neither is happy in passionless love. In suggesting that they have unexciting marriages, "there is not the slightest element of excitement in knowing him" and pointing out the flaws in Lady Chiltern's notion of love, Wilde once again seems to support his more natural concept. Idealization is also rejected in another of Wilde's comedies. Mrs. Erlynne of Lady Windermere's Fan observes that 'ideals are dangerous things. The realities are better. They hurt, but they are better” (4.1.308). Lady Chiltern's transformation throughout the play reinforces this idea, she is truly "hurt" by the idea that her husband is not what she set him up to be. However, I would say that the Chilterns' marriage is "improve[ed]" due to their new openness, and with forgiveness now part of their love they experience a higher level of love and trust. Lady Chiltern says that it is now "love and only love" that she feels for her husband, in contrast to her cold moral feelings at the beginning of the play. Therefore the work works to highlight the effect of forgiveness on love by using its transition between different conceptions within the work. Sir Robert Chiltern, however, represents a completely different concept of love, which can be interpreted as masculine (in his own words: "man's love"). '). This offers a different understanding of love, when "[men] love women [they] love knowing their weaknesses, their follies, their imperfections, and love them all the more for it." It acts in stark contrast to Lady Chiltern's strict idealistic vision and conveys to the audience the key themes of the play: forgiveness and the imperfection of human nature. If the couple had followed this masculine conception of love from the beginning of their marriage, Sir Robert would have felt comfortable enough to reveal his flaws to his wife sooner, and make her love him all the more for it. The contrast in the couple's views offers evidence of how and also why An Ideal Husband is an exploration of different conceptions of love. It is forgiveness in love that Wilde is promoting and, by exploring the flaws of the feminine concept, he conveys through Sir Robert that forgiveness and love should prevail over false worship and high morality. “Love should forgive” is the sentiment at the heart of Chiltern's melodramatic speech at the end of the second act, ultimately the representation that Wilde is encouraging. Furthermore, Sir Robert does not have the "courage" to "come down and show [Lady Chiltern] his wounds", he feels that he must remain the perfect English gentleman in both public and private life. This was a particularly relevant theme in the society of the time, and by exploring this "purity" through the concept of love, Wilde also makes a personally significant observation about society. He himself gave the impression of being a happily married Victorian father; in reality he was leading a double homosexual life – in his own words, "feasting with panthers". Chiltern's view on love and the way it is explored arguably represents Wilde's disdainful view of society. He is built on a pedestal with his talent, but society's supposed moral view on love prevents him from being his true self. Further personal similarities between the playwright and character can also be observed in Lord Goring and his conception of love, friendship and life. Goring's view on love is intrinsically based on Aestheticism, a movement championed by Wilde whohe encouraged style and passion while rejecting Victorian moral structures. Lord Goring "plays with life" and states that "it is love, and not German philosophy, that is the true explanation of this world", demonstrating that he is as far away as possible from Lady Chiltern's moral ideals, and instead lives the his life through feeling. Exploring this different conception of love, Wilde emphasizes love as a theme within the work, showing that it overcomes all adversity through honesty and forgiveness, represented by Goring. He encourages both Sir Robert and Lady Chiltern to return to aesthetic love, in contrast to their different conceptions. The first pleads to be honest with his wife and break his "ideal", "you need to start by telling your wife the whole story", as he knows the power of forgiveness in love. To the latter, Goring links the value of forgiveness by advising her "Women are not meant to judge us, but to forgive us when we need forgiveness", triggering the positive transition observed in Lady Chiltern. Furthermore, throughout the play Goring leads Lady Chiltern away from her ideal notion of love, "sufficient concessions are often not made." In every nature there are elements of weakness. These examples encapsulate Goring's understanding that the act of forgiveness is a crucial part of marriage, through which human imperfection is recognized. It is plausible that Wilde had no intention of exploring different conceptions of love in this way. He himself was an aesthete and advocated beauty over meaning, which perhaps leads him to have written the work as "art for art's sake", however I would disagree. Basically, An Ideal Husband explores the other character's conception of love and highlights their flaws, ultimately conveying the natural, forgiving love - championed throughout by Goring - that prevails over unnecessary morality. However, the work does not seem to explore as many different conceptions of friendship as it does love, and does so less didactically. Lord Goring is described by Sir Robert as his "best friend" and constantly supports him throughout the play, ultimately saving him from ruin. His conception of friendship appears heroic, providing support to Sir Robert by reiterating "your wife will forgive you" in Sir Robert's darkest moments and serving as "the only friend [Sir Robert] can trust." There are hints of distrust though, such as Goring begging Lady Chiltern to "come at once to me", however this seems to serve as a dramatic device for Wilde to create doubt about the integrity of his character. Ultimately this improves Lord Goring in the eyes of the audience as we see his good intentions as a friend. Instead, these examples serve more to support Goring's positive representation of Wilde's dandyism than to fully explore different conceptions of friendship. The only alternative conception offered is through the characters of Baron Arnheim and Mrs. Cheveley. The Baron uses his friendship to corrupt Sir Robert into believing his "golden gospel" and it is further suggested that his friendship with Mrs Cheveley is based on money. Furthermore, Mrs. Cheveley reduces the idea of ​​marriage to a purely mercantile state by abusing Goring's friendship and effectively blackmailing him (however this serves more as an exploration of a different concept of love, devoid of any feelings, morally or passionately). I would argue that these different conceptions of friendship are simply used as a plot device. Lord Goring's concept of friendship, as the play's supposed "hero", is based on trust and guidance, while Mrs. Cheveley, largely the villain, is eager to advance financially. Therefore, the idea of ​​friendship within the work is used more for.