Which Wilde critic points the relationship between strength, gender and morality?
Hughes says “women were considered physically weaker yet morally superior to men… best suited to the domestic sphere”
Which critic discusses the presentation of the women in the play?
Sarika Bose argues that “the conservative rendering of women in the play suggests a subservience to the conventionality that Wilde mocks elsewhere”
Which critic investigates what Wilde mocks and fears?
Sarika Bose says Wilde “mocks society’s confinement of women, fallen or not, into prescribed roles… but fears self-determining women’s power”
Which critics discuss the character of Lord Goring?
Charles Spencer calls Lord Goring Wilde’s “self-portrait”
George Woodcock says “Goring… acts in this play as Wilde’s personal voice.”
Which critic speaks of Mabel Chiltern?
Lawrence Danson says “Mabel is a New Woman posing as an ingenue”
What does this critic call the play?
George Woodcock calls the play “an open attack on the social system”
links to how this is one of Wilde’s society plays
Which critic speaks about Mrs Cheveley’s appearance and character?
Sarika Bose says Mrs Cheveley’s “makeup attempts to defy nature by hiding the decay of her youth, just as her charm and manner attempt to conceal the decay of her morals”
Which critic speaks about women’s palatibility and intelligence?
Sarika Bose says “intelligence was not what would gain women approval”
What does this critic call Wilde?
remember he’s written a society play!
Terry Eagleton says that Wilde is a “remorseless debunker of the heightened gravitas of Victorian England”
Which critic discusses Wilde’s use of gender stereotypes surrounding intelligence and ambition?
Kerry Powell says that “ Wilde recultivates an eroding stereotype of the Victorian era that women are intellectually inferior to men, unequipped for ambition and action”
What do these critics argue about money and morality in Victorian society?
Edward and Freddie Fox say that “corruption is inescapable in a money-mad society”
What does this critic say the play deals with?
RAWRRRRRRR
Sos Eltis says the play dealt with “the monstrous injustice of the social code of morality”
Which critic discusses Wilde’s sexuality?
Sos Eltis says that Wilde’s sexuality “dominated criticism for decades”
How do the 2 principal female characters in the play pose a threat according to this critic?
Sarika Bose says both Lady Chiltern and Mrs Cheveley “pose threats to the world of the play by intruding onto the traditional male, public, non-domestic sphere and trying to impose their will on it”
What does the play enforce, according to this critic?
Greg Madden says the play enforces “a gendered boundary that limits the mutability of identity for female characters”
Which critic discusses gender in the fin-de-siecle period?
Elaine Showalter says “New Women and male aesthetes redefined the meanings of femininity and masculinity”
Which critic discusses the relationship between husbands and wives?
Kathryn Hughes says “the lady of the house became a walking billboard for her husband’s success”
What does this critic say about Wilde’s involvement in the society he writes about?
Curt Guyette says “it took some nerve for Wilde to sling verbal barbs at social circles he himself was a part of”
Which critics criticise Lady Chiltern’s rigid moralism?
Sos Eltis calls her “a Puritan who idealises and condemns”
Shaw points out her “mechanised idealism” and calls her Robert’s “stupidly good wife”
What critic speaks about Lady Basildon and Mrs Marchmont?
Sos Eltis says “Lady Basildon and Mrs Marchmont perform bored insouciance with studied skill”
What does this critic say about Mrs Cheveley’s goal and ending?
Erin Thomson says “in spite of her commendable desire to seek independence from males, Mrs Cheveley too falls short”
What critic points out Wilde’s dramatisation of appearance vs reality?
Cave says “Wilde understood the nature of masks that allow one to play out numerous identities”
What critic discusses the arrival of ‘the New Woman’?
Showalter says “the New Woman was an anarchic figure who threatened to turn the world upside down”
Which Wilde critic discusses marriage?
Schnitzer calls the play “a theoretical model…which allowed Wilde to express his feelings and attitudes concerning trust in marriage”
