How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Act.Line). Every time a character talks counts as one line, even if what they say turns into a long monologue.
Quote #1
LADY MARKBY. [Genially.] Ah, nowadays people marry as often as they can, don't they? It is most fashionable. (1.38)
Lady Markby introduces the idea of marriage as a fad for young people. The characters have many different understandings of the purpose of marriage.
Quote #2
MRS. MARCHMONT. [With a sigh.] Our husbands never appreciate anything in us. We have to go to others for that! (1.165)
Wilde articulates a central theme even in these lighthearted discussions. She's just being clever, but Mrs. Marchmont foreshadows Lady Chiltern's painful discovery that marrying what you believe is the "perfect" husband will only lead to disappointment.
Quote #3
LADY CHILTERN. I will love you always, because you will always be worthy of love. (1.390)
Lady Chiltern traps Sir Robert in her love, which is by no means unconditional. There's almost a latent threat in this line: if you are not worthy of love, I will not love you always. It is clear, however, that she fully expects Sir Robert to live up to her impossible expectations.
Quote #4
SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. Arthur, I couldn't tell my wife. […] She would have turned from me in horror . . . in horror and in contempt. (2.3)
Sir Robert's fear drives him further and further away from the ideal of the honest, forthright husband. He gets to the point where he no longer knows how to be a husband to his wife, ideal or not.
Quote #5
LADY MARKBY: He always seems to think that he is addressing the House, and consequently whenever he discusses the state of the agricultural labourer, or the Welsh Church, or something quite improper of that kind, I am obliged to send all the servants out of the room. (2.242)
Lady Markby uses her husband's foibles as conversational fodder and social currency.
Quote #6
LADY MARKBY: Ah, I forgot, your husband is an exception. Mine is the general rule, and nothing ages a woman so rapidly as having married the general rule. (2.276)
Most of the women in the play reinforce the image of Sir Robert as the perfect husband. Maybe that pressure makes it harder for Lady Chiltern to accept the truth.
Quote #7
SIR ROBERT: 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. (2.311)
Sir Robert recognizes his wife as an equal in their "modern" marriage, but still makes big generalizations about the way the sexes love each other. Old-fashioned, maybe, but Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus was a bestseller not too long ago. The struggle for each sex to understand the other continues even today.
Quote #8
LORD GORING: It is the growth of the moral sense in women that makes marriage such a hopeless, one-sided institution. (3.30)
Women at this time were getting out more, getting more involved, making their voices heard on a range of political and ethical topics. Lord Goring seems to regret the growing complexity, and eventually chooses a wife who rejects it.
Quote #9
LORD CAVERSHAM. [Testily.] That is a matter for me, sir. You would probably make a very poor choice. It is I who should be consulted, not you. There is property at stake. It is not a matter for affection. Affection comes later on in married life. (3.111)
Lord Caversham is unnerved by the transition from marriage as an economically driven institution to marriage as a matter of personal preference.