Who is mabel chiltern

While she ends up engaged to Lord Goring, she's not really in his same world she's probably about half his age. His spontaneity is constructed; hers is natural. This may be what attracts him to her. Lady Chiltern actively fights the dunderheadedness of a Mrs. Markby, while Mabel's simply amused: "I love being scolded by her" 2.

What she avoids is earnestness, seriousness, and any sort of purpose. She says to Lady Chiltern, "You married a man with a future, didn't you? But then Robert was a genius, and you have a noble, self-sacrificing character…I have no character at all, and Robert is the only genius I could ever bear" 2.

Unlike Lord Goring, Mabel never reveals a deeper understanding of the world or interest in others. Not only does Mabel spend an inordinate amount of time seeking out public affection, she makes sure to expose herself to the public even in her charity.

I am just off to rehearsal. Upon explaining the strange nature of this public spectacle, Mrs. Markby, from a different generation than young Mabel, is struck that an upper class woman would expose herself to the public in such an unrefined way.

However, it is not his affection that Mabel seems to care for. If he proposed at the top of his voice, I should not mind so much. That might produce some effect on the public. Here, Mabel admits that she does care for Tommy; she is not spurning his advances because she lacks affection for the man.

Rather, her main reason for denying his repeated proposals is due to his private means of proposing to her. A proposal is typically noted as a private event between two individuals.

However, in this monologue, Mabel expresses her opinion that a private proposal is of no use to anyone because the nature of a proposal is that it be a spectacle for all of the public to see. The love of Tommy Trafford is worth nothing unless all of London Society can see it. The one-on-one proposal many are familiar with is useless because it does nothing to make oneself a spectacle. However, his proposal is impromptu and extremely private. Is it a proposal? In this proposal, the one Mabel eventually accepts, Lord Goring has done nothing by way of public spectacle.

Not even the Chilterns are around to see the proposal happen. Further complicating this private proposal, Mabel makes it clear that her affections for Lord Goring have been quite public. It is a public scandal the way I adore you. Her love, made ostentatiously public for the whole of London, is used as evidence for her affection towards him. Both Lord Goring and Mabel readily accept this as indisputable proof of her love and affection.

It seems that Wilde himself has no further explanation on the subject as Mabel says little else for the remainder of the play. It could be that Wilde meant to make a comment about the nature of this paradox within the play. When looking more closely at her words and actions, it would seem that she simply contradicts herself.

Additionally, she is free to express her adoration for Lord Goring in a very public way. Therefore, when it comes to her private affections, she has no qualms about expressing them openly for all of London Society. Through the play, the audience can see a ready inversion of what can be deemed as public or private. I love how Wilde reveals truth by using humour and satire. There is both light and dark in his work.

So many of his thoughts of morality, truth and human behaviour remain relevant today. My answers to these questions are based on my initial instincts and may change throughout rehearsals as I learn more about the play and we discover more working together as a company with Dean Bryant and the other creatives.

Mabel represents the third generation in the play. In her youth and innocence, I think she is totally unware of the power struggles the others have been facing. Mabel makes her own choice of proposal and in her acceptance, becomes a real wife to Lord Goring. To the older generation in this play this could be seen as a courageous act considering freedom of choice in relation to partner and marriage had not been a priority or major consideration within society.

This is a difficult question to answer. Wilde is famous for his subversive sometimes cynical commentary on society and some of the comments he makes in this play about societal gender boundaries and the value of marriage can be seen as progressive for the time the play was written. However, I believe that Wilde, like his predecessors and his contemporaries were products of a patriarchal society.

He presents the idea and possibility of gender mutability, but only within the patriarchal limits. Bearing that in mind, I believe it is unfair to make a direct comparison of An Ideal Husband to our current ideals of gender equality. I love that she follows her instincts and is able to let this influence her decision making despite what is expected of her by society.