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An Ideal Husband stages public blackmail around a politician’s hidden file

On 3 January 1895 An Ideal Husband opened, a public play whose plot is political blackmail over a hidden past. In the causal graph this event strengthens Institutional Corruption, a driver that strengthens Political corruption index — a worsening welfare path.

Sources: [1][2]

Read the full account

On 3 January 1895 An Ideal Husband opened, a public play whose plot is political blackmail over a hidden past.

Context

The play also critiques purity-politics. Medium confidence.

Oscar Wilde’s documented role is bounded by other offices and collaborators named in the sources below.

Why it matters

A hit play of political blackmail is an institutional-opacity teaching object.

3 January is not 14 February Earnest.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Oscar Wilde

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.55 · verified

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

    1. FactAn Ideal Husband stages public blackmail around a politician’s hidden file
    2. strengthensDriverInstitutional Corruption
    3. strengthensIndicators (3)Political corruption index
    Worsening path

    impact weight 0.5 · Effect from 3 January 1895 · verified

    A hit play of political blackmail is an institutional-opacity teaching object.

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.Project Gutenberg — Oscar Wilde author pageProject Gutenberg · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Britannica — Oscar WildeEncyclopaedia Britannica · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Britannica’s play chronology and Gutenberg’s text independently date the January 1895 Haymarket opening.

Established: 3 January 1895 opening. Not established: a unique Westminster coefficient.

Contribution type is direct.

Later museums, UNESCO listings, Loeb reprints, and 2024–2025 COP or NATO rows are not this event. Responsibility 0.55 and influence 0.55 bound the path; they are not a personality score. If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here. Readers should open both named URLs.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorOscar Wilde
  2. contributed toFactAn Ideal Husband stages public blackmail around a politician’s hidden file
  3. strengthensDriverInstitutional Corruption
  4. strengthensIndicatorPolitical corruption index

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). An Ideal Husband stages public blackmail around a politician’s hidden file. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/wil-ideal-husband-blackmail-1895

https://factrail.ai/facts/wil-ideal-husband-blackmail-1895

Accessed 16 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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