Monologue Blog 3 - An Ideal Husband

For my final monologue I have chosen to play the character of Mabel Chiltern from the play 'An Ideal Husband' by Oscar Wilde. Mabel is an exemplar of English prettiness, Mabel, Sir Robert's younger sister, embodies what Wilde describes as the "fascinating tyranny of youth" and "astonishing courage of innocence." She is in love with Lord Goring and flirts with him until he proposes to her. She is witty and modern and a perfect partner for him, since they are both rebellious towards social expectations. Tommy Trafford, her brother’s secretary, regularly proposes to her, but she holds out for Lord Goring.



The monologue shows Mabel as being high class with the use of words such as, "repartee, absurdly unreasonable, luncheon..." I portrayed her as being high class by not being overly posh (just well spoken) but more in the way she holds herself. I sat straight in a chair, with my hands in my lap and my feet firmly planted on the ground. The whole monologue I stayed seated  and did not fidget as I do not see a character of high birth walking up and down and playing with her clothing, hands or hair, as she would have to act like a proper lady - even in the comfort of her own home.

I see Mabel as being quite spoilt, "Well, Tommy has proposed to me again. Tommy really does nothing but propose to me." She doesn't even want to marry Tommy but she does nothing to stop him chasing after her. The line I used as an example is the first line of the monologue and it really introduces her effectively as I say it with a bored expression on my face and a drawl tone. Being proposed to is a special occasion and must be treated as such but she could care less and treats it as a game.

She does not mind insulting people, "Musical people are so absurdly unreasonable. They always want one to be perfectly dumb at the very moment when one is longing to be absolutely deaf." which shows her as still being a child not caring who she hurts. I made her scrunch up her nose to give off the feel of distaste and made her voice go a bit nasally to show her dislike for musical people, like they are lower than her and should know their place.

This line, "At luncheon I saw by the glare in his eye that he was going to propose again, and I just managed to check him in time by assuring him that I was a bimetallist." shows that she is very intelligent as she came up with bimetallist on the spot. I did the line laughing as I think the situation would be amusing to her, because she never takes Tommy's proposals seriously.

The last couple of lines show who she is perfectly, "I am very fond of Tommy, but his methods of proposing are quite out of date. I wish, Gertrude, you would speak to him, and tell him that once a week is quite often enough to propose to any one, and that it should always be done in a manner that attracts some attention." I believe that she is fond of Tommy but not in the way he wants her to be and it shows again how spoilt she is by her wanting to get attention from the public. I played it as her saying the line, "I am very fond of Tommy," in a gentler voice and a slight smile but dismisses it by asking Gertrude to speak to him. When asking Gertrude of that I lean in close like I'm telling a secret of the utmost importance and lower my voice so she understands how important this is to her.