I just read the play "An Ideal Husband" by Oscar Wilde, and I believe it may be my favorite play! (Aside from "Arms and the Man" and "Arsenic and Old Lace") I have heard people say it is not Wilde's wittiest play, but somehow I don't think it was supposed to be. I wish people wouldn't dismiss him as a silly quote-factory. As "An Ideal Husband" and "Picture of Dorian Gray" reveal, he actually had an interesting view of morality that went far beyond just contradicting society's expectations. His emphasis was on free will, charity, forgiveness, and love, and also what happens when one is denied (or denies oneself) those things. Also on fashion and wittiness. Probably about half of Dorian Gray is descriptions of people's clothes and home furnishings.
Anyway, back to the play. It has the coolest speechifying villain. She's so evil. It also has the most wonderful hero, Lord Goring. He's a dandy who is the shame of his father and is basically idle and frivolous, yet he is pretty much the only character with a real understanding of morality and the guts to act on it. He's also adorable when he plays the airhead. It's actually a very suspensful little play. And it does have it's fair share of witticisms and jabs at Victorian culture, but it's no "Importance of Being Earnest"
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