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movrena's review against another edition
4.0
Oscar Wilde is the best, if you think otherwise you're wrong.
After having read A Picture of Dorian Gray recently, I didn't know what to expect from this. I knew it would be good, how could it not be, but I was curious as to how Wilde would approach a comedy.
It was brilliant, just brilliant. I was surprised at how funny it was. Wilde writes some really witty and humorous dialogue between the characters. The interactions between the characters as they deal with Mrs. Cheveley's blackmail is what makes the play so enjoyable. It's a little bit over the top and ridiculous but it's so much fun to read. I was laughing throughout the entirety of it. I loved it.
My favorite character was Lord Goring, oh my god. He was ridiculous and eccentric, and his snide remarks and comments when he was with Sir Robert were the best thing. Mabel was my other favorite character, I really liked her and her relationship with Lord Goring. I felt the tension between the two from the very beginning, and I was rooting for them to get together at the end.
An Ideal Husband was just wonderful, I absolutely loved it. I'm going to read everything by Oscar Wilde now, he's a genius.
After having read A Picture of Dorian Gray recently, I didn't know what to expect from this. I knew it would be good, how could it not be, but I was curious as to how Wilde would approach a comedy.
It was brilliant, just brilliant. I was surprised at how funny it was. Wilde writes some really witty and humorous dialogue between the characters. The interactions between the characters as they deal with Mrs. Cheveley's blackmail is what makes the play so enjoyable. It's a little bit over the top and ridiculous but it's so much fun to read. I was laughing throughout the entirety of it. I loved it.
My favorite character was Lord Goring, oh my god. He was ridiculous and eccentric, and his snide remarks and comments when he was with Sir Robert were the best thing. Mabel was my other favorite character, I really liked her and her relationship with Lord Goring. I felt the tension between the two from the very beginning, and I was rooting for them to get together at the end.
An Ideal Husband was just wonderful, I absolutely loved it. I'm going to read everything by Oscar Wilde now, he's a genius.
vorgable's review against another edition
4.0
Fun, witty comedy of misunderstandings and assumptions. I listened to the dramatization from our local library's digital collection. I highly recommend listening to plays instead of merely reading them.
azra7's review against another edition
5.0
"Of course. You see, it is a very dangerous thing to listen. If one listens one may be convinced; and a man who allows himself to be convinced by an argument is a thoroughly unreasonable person."
How I love this play!
How I love this play!
hobiflowery's review against another edition
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
ohbabyitsalli's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
tishkova's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
ind24's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
An ideal husband is a meaty story infused with Wilde’s trademark epigrammatic humor. There are a lots of very funny and very quotable lines. (Would it be a Wilde novel if there weren’t glorious gems scattered through out?) A quote that is still stuck in my mind and definitely sums up the core of the play:
"There was your mistake. There was your error. The error all women commit. Why can’t you women love us, faults and all? Why do you place us on monstrous pedestals? We have all feet of clay, women as well as men; but when we men love women, we love them knowing their weaknesses, their follies, their imperfections, love them all the more, it may be, for that reason. It is not the perfect, but the imperfect, who have need of love. A man’s love is like that. It is wider, larger, more human than a woman’s. Women think that they are making ideals of men. What they are making of us are false idols merely. You made your false idol of me, and I had not the courage to come down, show you my wounds, tell you my weaknesses. I was afraid that I might lose your love, as I have lost it now. And so, last night you ruined my life for me—yes, ruined it!
Let women make no more ideals of men! Let them not put them on alters and bow before them, or they may ruin other lives as completely as you—you whom I have so wildly loved—have ruined mine!"
Once you read the play it becomes apparent that the hypocrisy of the public's expectation for perfection from those in public life was Wilde’s target. All I can say is read the play; you shall not be disappointed.
kren22's review against another edition
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I liked it