Wilde’s Gender Line: The Limits to Mutable Identity in An Ideal Husband
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Keywords:
Oscar Wilde, An Ideal Husband, Feminism, Identity Construction
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Abstract
Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband presents a gendered boundary which limits the mutability of identity for the female characters. In this paper, I will show that Wilde presents identity mutability within this play; however, only the male characters hold this privilege. By examining the various blackmail schemes within the play, I will discuss the relationship between blackmail and plausibility. When Mrs. Cheveley blackmails Robert she must rely on physical evidence because her word, by itself, is not powerful enough to threaten him. In contrast, when Lord Goring threatens to have Mrs. Cheveley arrested for theft he implies that his word alone is substantial evidence to have her arrested. When we consider blackmail as a specific kind of representation, these scenes reveal both men’s control over their representations as well as women’s lack thereof.
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Research
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