ABSTRACT
Mabel Chiltern is one of Wildes most exquisite creations although her importance in the plot is negligible. He describes her as follows: the most ornamental person in London; dressed in the most ravishing frock; she doesn't like to wear pearls because they make one look so plain, so good, and so intellectual; she is a perfect example of the English type of prettiness, the apple-blossom type. 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. The action of the play focuses on his blackmail by Mrs Cheveley, a former lover of the Baron, who is trying to gain government influence for a project in which she is investing. The moral quandary is revealed to Sir Roberts wife Lady Gertrude Chiltern and domestic strife is the result. Love corrects the balance in the end and reputations are only bruised.
