Structure

About the lecture

In this module, we think about the structure of An Ideal Husband, focusing in particular on the ways in which Wilde both conforms to and subverts the dramatic form known as the ‘well-made play’. As we move through the module, we consider: (i) the standard structure of the ‘well-made play’; (ii) the convention that everything returns to normal by the end of the play; (iii) the figure of the raisonneur – his traditional identity and his identity in An Ideal Husband; (iv) the complexity of Act III; and (v) the importance of setting in Act II and Act IV.

About the lecturer

Prof. Anne Varty is Professor in Victorian Literature and Culture at Royal Holloway, and has wide-ranging interests in contemporary Scottish literature, and theatre and literature since the Victorian period.