An Ideal Husband is a political comedy about an evil scheming woman (Mrs Chevely) trying to blackmail an upright English gentleman (Sir Robert Chiltern) with an act of folly he once did in his youth.

The two main characters are Mrs Chevely and Robert Chiltern, Mrs Chevely being the central character that the whole play is about. She is a scheming evil woman with only one thing on her mind, money. Everything she does is deceiving and infamous. She says she has loved but that is not believed. Robert Chiltern is as honourable as can be with a beautiful unstained wife. He is greatly liked by everyone and thought very highly of. Lord Goring who undoubtedly has the most lines in the play, also plays a large part. He contributes largely to the humour, he being Mrs Chevely's love interest but himself is in love with Mabel Chiltern. Everyone likes him and he is always there to help someone if help is needed, b

There are four scenes in the play, the first a kind of introduction to everybody but already by the end of it the plot of the play has been made clear. In the second there is a lot of conversing about what to do, and at the end Mrs Chevely gives the Chilterns's a deadline for doing what she wants. In the third scene Mrs Chevely is exposed as a thief but still manages to do or threaten one last vile thing. And the fourth scene is where everyone makes up, conflicts are resolved, Mrs Chevely is finally out of everyone's lives and Lord Goring proposes. I think that all the four scenes were equal in emotional strength and none of them especially stood out.

Overall I like this play, and as I have performed as a character in a production of the play, I really got into all the little hidden meanings which would not be picked up at first, which made it all the more appreciable and enjoyable to do.

The main theme of the play is blackmail; love also comes into it a lot as Mrs Chevely claims to love Lord Go

Some common words found in the essay are:
Lord Goring, Mabel Chiltern, Lady Markby, Chevely Chilterns's, Goring Marriage, Lady Chiltern, Robert Chiltern, Chiltern Chevely, Ideal Husband, Gertrude Chiltern, lord goring, robert chiltern, throughout play, everyone's lives, mabel chiltern,
Approximate Word count = 677
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)