Arthur is the person who goes through the whole plot from the beginning till the end like Nike in The Great Gatsby, but it is just my personal opinion. The reason why I try to analyze this character is that he is the most mysterious man in the whole play, and “obviously” he is not what he appears to be. So, I’d like to analyze Arthur from different aspects of main characters in this play.
Let me begin with Lord Caversham’s attitude to his son—Lord Goring. Arthur is a good-for-nothing young son in his father’s mind. To be honest, I shared the same thought with Lord Caversham in the beginning of the movie. It is a scene that a woman dress herself randomly and leave the room, and then Phipps turn back to wake Arthur up and serve him a glass of water as well as napkin. The first impression that Arthur leaves to audience or readers is that he is totally a dandy. In the climax of movie, Arthur’s appearance astonishes his father, because he is never expected to show up in this political occasion and Arthur does have not shown up ever. Exactly, that is what Lord Caversham think of his son and Arthur never “let his father down”.
In Mabel’s eyes, Arthur would be an ideal husband to her. Maybe Mabel also thinks Arthur is a dandy, but she likes what Arthur appears to be. She shows her love to Arthur and has some expectancy to him. After that lower house’s meeting, Mable comes to see Arthur and asks him whether he would marry Mrs. Cheveley. Before leaving, Mabel expects Arthur to say something to her, but he doesn’t, which makes Mabel feel deeply disappointed and a little angry. However, Mabel does not give Arthur up, maybe for she really does not think Arthur is a good-for-nothing.
Mrs. Cheveley has a bet with Lord Goring that if his friend—Robert stands by his principle and condemns the scheme’s question, she would give Arthur the letter that can reveals Robert’s improper way to get his power and property, thus certainly the letter can destroy all that Robert has now. However, if not, Arthur has to marry Mrs. Cheveley as a loser of this big bet. Thus, Mrs. Cheveley thinks that Arthur is a person that treasures the friendship and he also is a credible man though he does not seem like this from his appearance and behavior. Also, Mrs. Cheveley considers Arthur a significant role in political environment. She comes to “visit” Arthur to sell the destroying letter just because she thinks that she can rely on Arthur or Arthur’s background if she marries Arthur. It proves a lot that Arthur probably has a bright sight on the way to politics, otherwise Mrs. Cheveley as a calculative woman would not choose Arthur to rely on.
From Gertrude and Robert’s aspect, Arthur is a true friend. When knowing the existence of the destroying letter, Arthur does not leak out any word to anyone else and tries to help Robert to comfort Gertrude who hates moral betrayal indeed. When knowing that Gertrude has got the bad news, Arthur purposely set Robert in one of his rooms and Gertrude in the next room. When Robert is showing his authentic heart to Gertrude, Arthur purposely opens the door to make the outside hear clearly. If Gertrude is in the next door but not Mrs. Cheveley, maybe Arthur would succeed in helping the couple make peace. Although Arthur’s warm heart is misunderstood by Robert, he does not get angry. Even he still wants to help his friend Robert to get that letter from Mrs. Cheveley, though have a bet with Mrs. Cheveley on his marriage and his liberty. Arthur still chooses to believe his friend and thinks that Robert will stand by his principle on the lower house’s meeting that negotiates whether the project— that elicits investors to pour a large amount of money into it—should be supported.
Otherwise, Arthur is a really snappy dresser, and he has all the funniest lines. In the movie, we can see Arthur is particular about what he wears. Also, he boasts of his strong sense of fashion as if he is the only person in this circle who really understands and masters fashion. Arthur’s fancy threads and wayward habits identify him as a dandy. “Dandy” here absolutely is not an insult, reversely, it’s a praise. Dandyism is popular in Oscar Wilde’s time and Wilde exemplified the dandy’s roles in the public sphere, both as writers and as personal providing sources of gossip and scandal. In this play, being modern means running circles around convention. Arthur plays innocent, and often pretends to misunderstand what people say and intentionally reverse the meanings. In my point of view, he is the only person in the play who has never been trapped by power and property.
There’s one important social rule with which Arthur agrees: keep the partying and the deep thoughts far away from each other. The “trivial” and the “serious” are never to meet, even in buttonholes. This characterization forces us to consider that Arthur is capable of embracing both the trivial and the profound. Arthur’s outsider status gives him the perfect position to affect some real change in the people around him, and he draws on his somewhat split personality in order to influence people who seem diametrically opposed, such as Robert and Getrude. He would never be so serious to declare something, so he can play confident to both Robert and Getrude.
As I have mentioned in the beginning, Arthur is the person who goes through the whole plot. He is the busiest person in the play. He is not the protagonist, but he defines the action, exerting influence on everybody in the play. He is the person who restores the orderly world that Mrs. Cheveley disrupted. He is the person who helps Robert to go through the trouble. He is the person who convinces Getrude to forgive and accept. Importantly, he is the person who keeps me entertain with his quick wit and sharp tongue.
