Original artwork, not a still
An Ideal Husband · 1899
In married life affection comes when people thoroughly dislike each other.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
This is a wry inversion of what people expect from marriage. Instead of warmth growing from compatibility, the speaker jokes that fondness arrives only once two people have thoroughly disliked each other. It's a paradox played for laughs, treating mutual irritation as the odd doorway to affection.
Context reviewed
