Lord Caversham Character Analysis

Primarily, Wilde constructs the foil character of Lord Caversham as an “old gentlemen of seventy” (1.1A) who abides by Victorian English expectations to contrast Lord Goring’s repudiation towards aristocratic constraints as influenced by Aestheticism. When the audience is introduced to Lord Caversham in Act 1 Scene 1A, Wilde illustrates his aristocratic credence through his costume where he wears “the riband and star of the Garter” and is “A fine Whig type” “Rather like a portrait by Lawrence” (1.1A). These stage directions portray Lord Caversham’s advocacy for gentry ordinance where the Garter ornaments reveal his bestowed Order of Chivalry, an honour restrictively awarded to aristocratic men for their services (Goodey, 2017) to the Queen’s reign, and that he is a member of parliament from alluding to the British political party, the …show more content…
From his attire, the audience observe that Lord Caversham is stubbornly influenced by social strictures dissimilarly to Lord Goring who through stage directions in Act 1 Scene 1C, is “A flawless dandy” “fond of being misunderstood” and that “He is clever” (1.1C). Lord Caversham complains about his “good-for-nothing young son” (1.1A) indicating his frustration from Lord Goring’s lack of deference and concern for social didactics where in Act 3 Scene 2, Lord Goring ignores his demands for him to “high-time for you to get married” (3.2) exclaiming “I must have not any serious conversation after seven” (3.2). This reveals that Lord Goring is not easily controlled other characters, arousing the audience’s curiosity. Hence, through the foil character of Lord Caversham as a conservative Englishman, Wilde compares Lord Goring’s apathy towards social dictums as insinuated from Aestheticism to Lord Caversham, heavily influenced by Victorian English customs, as he disregards his father’s paternal