In "An Ideal Husband" the "battle of life" is represented in many ways by many different characters. By example. Robert Chiltern deceives those around him by selling a cabinet secret, and Mrs. Cheveley wears the mask of good intentions when in reality she only wants to make money. The only common denominator is the fact that the characters in the. piece lie and deceive others for their own benefit.Say No to Plagiarism Get Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned” Get Original Essay The Use of Deception by Sir. Robert Chiltern in the play is by far the most publicized of all the characters. After all, his great fortune, on which much of the setting of the play is based, was entirely financed by his dishonest method of making money by. selling a cabinet secret regarding the Suez Canal project. This “con,” as Ms. Cheveley called it, propelled Robert. in government and established his reputation as a true gentleman and a valued MP. Regarding Robert using the scam to help him in the "battle of life", he talks to Lord Goring about his life before meeting Baron Arnheim. He tells Lord Goring that he had "the misfortune of being well born and poor" and that Goring "never knew what ambition was" in the way he did, which would further develop the idea that Chiltern used the means of deception to make a better one. life for himself. It could be argued that if Chiltern had not taken advantage of the situation he found himself in, he would still be occupying the much less reputable position of Under-Secretary to the Foreign Secretary. This whole affair is closely linked to elements of contemporary society. historical context, since the Suez Canal was opened in 1869 and “An Ideal Husband” was published in 1895, halfway through its construction. This would therefore mean that the Canal would have been a popular topic of conversation at the time. The fact that Wilde used these popular topics in his work further reinforces his stature as one of the most sought-after conversationalists of his time. The way scandals like this have been interpreted has changed over the years, along with people's attitudes towards success. As for the public at the time of Wilde's life, they would have been shocked that a so-called gentleman had been so dishonest and selfish. On the other hand, in today's society, we are used to seeing scandals involving people from high society very often. In fact, Robert Chiltern and his actions are almost directly linked to the recent insider trading scandal involving Phil Mickelson, the professional golfer who was embroiled in such an incident. This tarnished his reputation somewhat as he lost several lucrative sponsors and the respect of many of his admirers. Although Robert Never was publicly humiliated for his actions, the social "punishment" would have been equivalent to Mickelson's. Mrs. Cheveley is another character who uses certain poses to succeed in life. At the very beginning of the first act, she describes the natural as “such a difficult pose to follow.” This implies that her entire personality is based on being fake to others, but she won't change her ways because that's not who she is. In many ways this makes her very similar to Robert, in that she was born poor but full of ambition. This idea develops when she speaks to Lord Goring about why she became engaged to him, as she justifies it simply by saying "I was poor; you were rich. By speaking like this, it indicates to the audience that 'she's not a personloving or friendly, but simply a pragmatic person, who has no qualms about deceiving others. It was this characteristic of her character that probably made Goring fall in love with her; he's a romantic. Wilde played here on the notion of “the attraction of opposites”. This highlights that Ms. Cheveley doesn't care about people's feelings or trust; just that she succeeds. Further evidence can be seen in the way she almost tears the Chilterns' marriage apart, just so she can force Robert to announce the Argentine canal project to Parliament and make him make a profit on his investment. Interestingly, Wilde may have been expressing his own political views on the authenticity of the Argentine canal project. In the 19th century, women were expected to marry in their early twenties, not based on sexual desire, but rather on maternal desire. Additionally, they are certainly not expected to be the ones in society to make money. Ms. Cheveley contradicts all of these stereotypes because in every relationship she has in the play, positive or negative, she is the one in control, which would most likely have shocked the men at the time of writing, but would have empowered the women . For example, even though her relationship with Robert Chiltern has deteriorated, she is still the one telling him what to do. A key example of this is when Mrs. Cheveley first admits to Robert Chiltern that she knows his secret. He is about to get up and leave, before Wilde writes in the stage directions that she is "holding" him, as if he were in a prison, and she had the key. This is Mrs. Cheveley's "weapon", and she uses it to try to improve her own life by gaining an advantage over Robert. This idea of ​​being in prison is directly linked to Wilde's life, since he spent two years there (1895-1897). sentenced to forced labor for being homosexual. In this sense, we can clearly see that Wilde shares some similarities with Sir Robert Chiltern, based on the fact that they both kept secrets that would have defamed them. The only difference is that Chiltern seems to get away with it more, while Wilde does not. I believe these differences in the results between Wilde and Chiltern were that Wilde was describing what he hoped would happen in terms of discovering his secrets. In my opinion, this is where the title of the play comes from, but more specifically the word "Ideal", because these were the "ideal" outcomes that Wilde wanted when his secret was discovered; that everything turns out well for him in the end. Perhaps the only character in the entirety of the play to use deception in a relatively noble way is Lord Goring, when he tricks Mrs. Cheveley into showing her that the brooch she left at the Chilterns "The House is not his. For example, he tricks Mrs. Cheveley into lying by saying the brooch was a "gift", then quickly traps her in his own deception by informing her that he gave it to his cousin. Ten years ago now that Cheveley couldn't escape the truth, as she was both trapped in Goring's house and trapped with the spit on her arm, she had no choice but to deliver the letter. which so incriminated Robert This act of deception helped Göring in many ways, all of which can be seen as being on the side of "good" rather than "evil". For example, it got rid of him from Mrs. Cheveley. allowed him to propose to the woman he truly loved in Mabel Chiltern, and this then allowed Robert to take Goring back as his "closest friend". Keep in mind: This is just a sample.Get a custom paper from our expert writers now.Get a custom essayIn the spirit of Wilde, he..