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Stase Diresttons and Settinsa:

Before any of the play's charscters speak.The grandeur of the room in which the party and finst act are set communicates that the bosts are wealthy.The setting also includes a valuable and undoubtedly expensive tapestry, proof of the Chilterms' general taste and wealth.A tapestry portrays an image on one side, which is visible, while its reverse may conceal something or someone from view.Wilde uses stage directions to highllight important aspects of the play for the audience.In this way the tapestry symbolizes the play's central conflict: the love between Sir Robert and his wife is evident, but in Act.When the audience learms about Sir Robert's financial crimes later in the play, the entire set will serve as evidence of them.Its larger function, though, is to comment on the play as a whole.Cheveley.The meaning of this setting will soon change.Private assessments matter.

Stase Diresttons and Settinsa:

Before any of the play's charscters speak. Wilde uses stage directions to highllight important aspects of the play for the audience. The grandeur of the room in which the party and finst act are set communicates that the bosts are wealthy. The meaning of this setting will soon change. When the audience learms about Sir Robert's financial crimes later in the play, the entire set will serve as evidence of them.

The setting also includes a valuable and undoubtedly expensive tapestry, proof of the Chilterms' general taste and wealth. Its larger function, though, is to comment on the play as a whole. A tapestry portrays an image on one side, which is visible, while its reverse may conceal something or someone from view. In this way the tapestry symbolizes the play's central conflict: the love between Sir Robert and his wife is evident, but in Act. I he has a serious secret to hide: the dishonorable source of his wealth and the flaw it will create in his wife's view of him as an "ideat husband However, the tapestry also foreshadows the play's ending The tapestry "representis] the Triumph of Love," based on an 18th-century painting by Boucher, most likely depicting Venus, the goddess of love. An Ideal Husband is a story in which love will triumph in the end, as indeed it

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Minor Characters:

The opening exchange between Mrs. Marchmont and Lady Basildon telegraphs several of the play's concerns and topics: duty, matrimony, education, and self interest These two minor characters differ very little from one another. They exist in the play to establish, and simultaneously make fun of, social norms. They entertain through their comnentary, ptovide a more general period view of maniage, and show how socially important Sir Robert is.

The two women's interaction also represents how participating in high society is a kind of spectator sport. All the guests at the Chilterms' gathering mix and mingle.

come and go, assessing each other's social status and personal characteristics at every turn. Everyone seems to have an opinion about someone else, from Lord Caversham's assessment of his son, Viscount Goring, as a "good-for-nothing" to the various, somewhat contradictory assessments of Mes. Cheveley. Private assessments matter.