Power in An Ideal Husband

The desire for power has been a compelling theme in plays for centuries. However, Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband displays something that most power-driven plays don't - the desire for many different kinds of power. Instead of every character struggling to control one common aspect of their lives, each person has their own individual kind of power that they crave. It is with each character and their struggles that Wilde conveys his message: the quest …

…he'll make sure that his family does it, too. Wilde wrote this play over a hundred years ago, yet the message still rings true today: people who hold the quest for power above everything else are destined for downfall. The last century is scarred with tragedies caused by the fight for power; the Holocaust, Vietnam, and even Columbine, for example. Still, the struggle rages on, and An Ideal Husband displays what is yet to come.