An Ideal Husband: Metaphor Analysis
The Arts
In keeping with Wilde’s idea that life imitates art, rather than the other way around, he makes constant
reference to the arts as something superior to life, something worthy of being copied. In his stage
directions, for instance, he compares the characters to portraits by painters. Mrs. Marchmont and Lady
Basildon, for instance, are two pretty society women with a delicacy of manner that the French painter
Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684–1721) would have loved to paint. By evoking Watteau’s Rococo paintings of
aristocratic society, Wilde creates an atmosphere of formal manners, extravagant dress, and theatrical
poses. Lady Chiltern, on the other hand, has “grave Greek beauty” (p. 1), indicating a more severe character
with moral dimension. At the top of the stairs she stands under a French tapestry with a design made by
FranÁois Boucher (1703–1770) of “The Triumph of Love” (p. 1). This may be the erotic “Triumph of Venus,”
an allegory by Boucher, which serves as a symbol for the moral of this play, for it is love that eventually wins
out over society’s harsh moral judgment. The tapestry is the last thing we see as the lights fade in Act I
while Gertrude claims she will always love her husband, as long as he remains her ideal.
Lord Caversham is introduced as like a portrait of Lawrence, and Mabel Chiltern as like a Tanagra statuette.
Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830) was a famous portrait painter of royalty and nobility, president of the
British Royal Academy. The analogy implies that Lord Caversham is a traditional upper-class lord, very
dignified and formal. Mabel, on the other hand is described as “the English type of prettiness, the apple-
blossom type” (p. 3). She is compared to a Tanagra statue, one of the ancient Greek terra cotta figurines
that were portraits of real women. This suggests she is real and earthy as opposed to the artificial Watteau
women. Mrs. Cheveley is so artificial in her purple dress and diamonds that she “looks like an orchid” (a
hot-house flower) and is “A work of art” “showing the influence of too many schools,” a not-so-subtle put-
down, implying she is a whore (pp. 4, 5). Sir Robert Chiltern is compared to a portrait by Vandyck (Sir
Anthony van Dyck 1599–1641), the Flemish court painter whose realistic portraits of respectable and
wealthy patrons suggest Sir Robert’s solid, serious, and practical reputation.
This comparing of people to famous works of art adds to the feeling of artificiality of English high society.
Society is a notorious theatrical production. Mabel actually participates in tableaux or posed scenes as a
charity project. Wilde makes all the characters part of posed social tableaux.
The Arts
In keeping with Wilde’s idea that life imitates art, rather than the other way around, he makes constant
reference to the arts as something superior to life, something worthy of being copied. In his stage
directions, for instance, he compares the characters to portraits by painters. Mrs. Marchmont and Lady
Basildon, for instance, are two pretty society women with a delicacy of manner that the French painter
Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684–1721) would have loved to paint. By evoking Watteau’s Rococo paintings of
aristocratic society, Wilde creates an atmosphere of formal manners, extravagant dress, and theatrical
poses. Lady Chiltern, on the other hand, has “grave Greek beauty” (p. 1), indicating a more severe character
with moral dimension. At the top of the stairs she stands under a French tapestry with a design made by
FranÁois Boucher (1703–1770) of “The Triumph of Love” (p. 1). This may be the erotic “Triumph of Venus,”
an allegory by Boucher, which serves as a symbol for the moral of this play, for it is love that eventually wins
out over society’s harsh moral judgment. The tapestry is the last thing we see as the lights fade in Act I
while Gertrude claims she will always love her husband, as long as he remains her ideal.
Lord Caversham is introduced as like a portrait of Lawrence, and Mabel Chiltern as like a Tanagra statuette.
Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830) was a famous portrait painter of royalty and nobility, president of the
British Royal Academy. The analogy implies that Lord Caversham is a traditional upper-class lord, very
dignified and formal. Mabel, on the other hand is described as “the English type of prettiness, the apple-
blossom type” (p. 3). She is compared to a Tanagra statue, one of the ancient Greek terra cotta figurines
that were portraits of real women. This suggests she is real and earthy as opposed to the artificial Watteau
women. Mrs. Cheveley is so artificial in her purple dress and diamonds that she “looks like an orchid” (a
hot-house flower) and is “A work of art” “showing the influence of too many schools,” a not-so-subtle put-
down, implying she is a whore (pp. 4, 5). Sir Robert Chiltern is compared to a portrait by Vandyck (Sir
Anthony van Dyck 1599–1641), the Flemish court painter whose realistic portraits of respectable and
wealthy patrons suggest Sir Robert’s solid, serious, and practical reputation.
This comparing of people to famous works of art adds to the feeling of artificiality of English high society.
Society is a notorious theatrical production. Mabel actually participates in tableaux or posed scenes as a
charity project. Wilde makes all the characters part of posed social tableaux.
