An Exploration of Different Conceptions of Love and Friendship in “An Ideal Husband”

Abstract

During 1890s, Wilde became a distinguished name with the publication of his successful play. He used lots of witty paradoxes and most of his characters entertain us with epigrams. Epigrams are what give his plays the "edge" which they are so famous for. His epigrams are a play on words by means of a clever rhetoric. He made use of literary devices like irony, paradox and hyperbole to get different meanings from a simple statement. Although An Ideal Husband adopts these motifs, it also parodies them through the play. Love and friendship were major themes for Society Drama during the 1890s. We will deal with all of these issues in the paper and these ideas will come out clearer.

DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2012.v2n4p239