Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish The Irish people are a Western European ethnic group who originate in Ireland, in north western Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years (according to archaeological studies), with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolgs, Tuatha Dé Danann and the Milesians (in legend - there is no playwright A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. These works may be written specifically to be performed by actors or they may be closet dramas or literary works written using dramatic forms but not meant for performance, poet The history of Irish poetry includes the poetries of two languages, one in Irish and the other in English. The complex interplay between these two traditions, and between both of them and other poetries in English, has produced a body of work that is both rich in variety and difficult to categorise and author An author is defined both as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. The second entry goes on to clarify that, when using the term author, the "anything" which is created is most usually associated with written work of numerous short stories Short story refers to a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, usually in narrative format. This format or medium tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels or books. Short story definitions based upon length differ somewhat even among professional writers, due somewhat in part to the and one novel. Known for his biting wit, he became one of the most successful playwrights of the late Victorian era The Victorian era of the United Kingdom was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from June 1837 to January 1901. This was a long period of prosperity for the British people, as profits gained from the overseas British Empire, as well as from industrial improvements at home, allowed a large, educated middle class to develop. Some scholars would in London, and one of the greatest celebrities A global celebrity on the other hand is someone who is known by most people or is a mainstream celebrity. Such a celebrity is also known as either a household name or superstar. For example, Virgin Director Richard Branson was notable as a CEO, but he did not become a global celebrity until he attempted to circumnavigate the globe in a hot air of his day. Several of his plays continue to be widely performed, especially The Importance of Being Earnest The Importance of Being Earnest is a comic play by Oscar Wilde. It premiered on 14 February 1895 at the St. James's Theatre in London. As the result of a widely covered series of trials, Wilde suffered a dramatic downfall and was imprisoned for two years hard labour Penal labour or penal servitude is a form of unfree labour. The term may refer to several related situations: labour as a form of punishment, the prison system used as a means to secure labour, labour as a form of occupation of convicts, and labour camps used as a form of political intimidation after being convicted of "gross indecency" with other men. After Wilde was released from prison he set sail for Dieppe Dieppe is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region of France. In 1999, the population of the whole Dieppe urban area was 81,419 by the night ferry. He never returned to Ireland or Britain.

Contents

Birth and early life

Statue of Oscar Wilde in Dublin's Merrion Square (Archbishop Ryan Park)

Oscar Wilde was born at 21 Westland Row, Dublin Dublin , officially known as Baile Átha Cliath or Áth Cliath (Irish pronunciation: [bˠalʲə aːha klʲiəh] or [bˠɫaː cliə(ɸ)]) is both the largest city and capital of Ireland. It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin Region. Originally founded as a Viking. He was the second son born into an Anglo-Irish "Anglo-Irish" was a term used historically to describe a privileged social class in Ireland, whose members were the descendants and successors of the Protestant Ascendancy, mostly belonging to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the established church of Ireland until 1871, or to a lesser extent one of the English dissenting family. His parents were Sir William Wilde and Jane Francesca Wilde (née Elgee, a.k.a. Speranza). Jane was a successful writer, being a poet for the revolutionary Young Irelanders in 1848 and a life-long Irish nationalist Irish nationalism comprises political and social movements and sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and a sense of pride in Ireland and the Irish people. It has historically been associated with a desire for political independence from Great Britain, and today implies support for a united Ireland.[1] Sir William was Ireland's leading Oto Otology is a branch of biomedicine which studies normal and pathological anatomy and physiology of the ear as well as its diseases, diagnosis and treatment-Ophthalmologic Ophthalmology is the branch of medicine which deals with the diseases and surgery of the visual pathways, including the eye, brain, and areas surrounding the eye, such as the lacrimal system and eyelids. By convention the term ophthalmologist is more restricted and implies a medically trained surgical specialist. Since ophthalmologists perform (ear and eye) surgeon and was knighted in 1864 for his services to medicine.[1] William also wrote books on archaeology Archaeology, archeology, or archæology is the science that studies human cultures through the recovery, documentation, analysis, and interpretation of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, features, biofacts, and landscapes. Because archaeology's aim is to understand humankind, it is a humanistic endeavor and folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture, including tales, music, dance, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, customs, and so forth within a particular population comprising the traditions of that culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The academic and. He was a renowned philanthropist, and his dispensary for the care of the city's poor, in Lincoln Place at the rear of Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College, Dublin , corporately designated as the Provost, Fellows and Scholars of the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", and is the only constituent college of the University of Dublin. Trinity and the University of, was the forerunner of the Dublin Eye and Ear Hospital, now located at Adelaide Road.

In June 1855, the family moved to 1 Merrion Square in a fashionable residential area, where Wilde's sister, Isola, was born in 1856. Here, Lady Wilde held a regular Saturday afternoon salon A salon is a gathering of stimulating people of quality under the roof of an inspiring hostess or host, partly to amuse one another and partly to refine their taste and increase their knowledge through conversation and readings, often consciously following Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to please or to educate" . The with guests including Sheridan le Fanu Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the premier ghost story writer of the nineteenth century and had a seminal influence on the development of this genre in the Victorian era, Charles Lever, George Petrie, Isaac Butt Isaac Butt , Q.C., M.P., was an Irish barrister, politician, MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the founder and first leader of a number of Irish nationalist parties and organizations, including the Irish Metropolitan Conservative Society in 1836, the Home Government Association in 1870 and in 1873 and Samuel Ferguson Sir Samuel Ferguson was an Irish poet, barrister, antiquarian, artist and public servant. Perhaps the most important Ulster-Scot poet of the 19th century, because of his interest in Irish mythology and early Irish history he can be seen as a forerunner of William Butler Yeats and the other poets of the Celtic Twilight. Wilde was educated at home up to the age of nine. He attended Portora Royal School in Enniskillen Enniskillen is the county town (and largest town) in County Fermanagh. It is located almost exactly in the centre of the county between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 13,599 in the 2001 Census. It is also the seat of local government for Fermanagh District Council, Fermanagh County Fermanagh – from the Irish: Fear Manach meaning "men of Manach") is one of the traditional counties of Ireland. It is located within the province of Ulster and is part of Northern Ireland. Fermanagh is often referred to as Ireland's Lake District, together with neighbouring County Cavan. The county is approximately 120 km (75 mi) from the ages of nine to sixteen,[2] spending the summer months with his family in rural Waterford County Waterford is one of the traditional Counties of Ireland. It is located within the province of Munster in the Republic of Ireland. It was named after the city of Waterford (which derives from the Old Norse name Veðrafjǫrðr or Vedrarfjord), Wexford County Wexford is one of the traditional Counties of Ireland. It is located within the province of Leinster in the Republic of Ireland. It was named after the town of Wexford (which derives from the Old Norse name Veisafjǫrðr or Waesfjord). In pre-Norman times it was part of the Kingdom of Uí Cheinnsealaig, whose capital was at Ferns. The and at Sir William's family home in Mayo County Mayo is one of the traditional counties of Ireland and is located within the province of Connacht. It was named after the village of Mayo (Irish: Maigh Eo). Here the Wilde brothers played with the older George Moore George Augustus Moore was an Irish novelist, short-story writer, poet, art critic, memoirist and dramatist. Moore came from a Roman Catholic landed family. He originally wanted to be a painter, and studied art in Paris during the 1870s. There, he befriended many of the leading French artists and writers of the day.

After leaving Portora, Wilde studied classics at Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College, Dublin , corporately designated as the Provost, Fellows and Scholars of the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", and is the only constituent college of the University of Dublin. Trinity and the University of, from 1871 to 1874, sharing rooms with his older brother Willie Wilde for two years. His tutor, John Pentland Mahaffy, the leading Greek scholar at Trinity awakened his interest in Greek literature Greek literature refers to writings composed in areas of Greek influence, typically though not necessarily in one of the Greek dialects[citation needed], throughout the whole period in which the Greek-speaking people have existed. He was an outstanding student, and won the Berkeley Gold Medal, the highest award available to classics Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean World; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity . Initially, study of the Classics (the period’s literature) was the principal study in the humanities students at Trinity. He was awarded a scholarship A scholarship is an award of access to an institution, or a financial aid award for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award to Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million, where he continued his studies from 1874 to 1878 and where he became a part of the Aesthetic movement The Aesthetic Movement is a loosely defined movement in literature, fine art, the decorative arts, and interior design in later nineteenth-century Britain. Generally speaking, it represents the same tendencies that symbolism or decadence stood for in France, or decadentismo stood for in Italy, and may be considered the British branch of the same, one of its tenets being to make an art of life.

Wilde had a less than happy relationship with the prestigious Oxford Union The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford, UK, whose membership is drawn primarily but not exclusively from the University of Oxford. Founded in 1823, it is Britain's second oldest University Union, and has gained a worldwide reputation for the cut and thrust of its. On matriculating in the autumn of 1874, Wilde applied to join the Union, but failed to be elected.[3] When the Union's librarian requested a presentation copy of Poems (1881), Wilde complied. After a debate called by Oliver Elton, the gift was condemned for supposed plagiarism Plagiarism, as defined in the 1995 Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary, is the "use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work." Within academia, plagiarism by students, professors, or researchers is considered academic dishonesty or academic fraud and returned.[4] [5]

While at Magdalen, he won the 1878 Newdigate Prize Sir Roger Newdigate's Prize is awarded to students of the University of Oxford for Best Composition in English verse by an undergraduate who has been admitted to Oxford within the previous four years. It was founded by Sir Roger Newdigate, Bt in the 18th century. The winning poem is read at Encaenia for his poem Ravenna, which he read out at Encaenia Encaenia is an academic ceremony usually performed at colleges or universities. It generally occurs some time near the annual ceremony for the general conference of degrees to students. The word is from Latin, meaning dedication or consecration, and is ultimately derived from the Greek word 'εγκαίνια', meaning a festival of renewal or; he failed, though, to win the Chancellor's English Essay Prize for an essay that would be published posthumously as The Rise of Historical Criticism (1909). In November 1878, he graduated with a double first The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading scheme for undergraduate degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variations) in other countries, such as Australia, Barbados, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Malta, New Zealand, Nigeria, Singapore, South in classical moderations and Literae Humaniores, or "Greats".

Wilde was greatly disliked by some of his fellow students, who threw his china out of his room.[6]

Aestheticism and philosophy

1881 caricature Caricatures can be insulting or complimentary and can serve a political purpose or be drawn solely for entertainment. Caricatures of politicians are commonly used in editorial cartoons, while caricatures of movie stars are often found in entertainment magazines in Punch Punch was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire published from 1841 to 1992 and from 1996 to 2002. Punch material was also collected in book formats as early as the 1800s, including Pick of the Punch annuals with cartoons and text features, Punch and the War a 1941 collection of WWII-related cartoons, and A Big Bowl of Punch which was Keller cartoon from the Wasp of San Francisco The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the 13th most populous city in the United States, with a 2008 estimated population of 808,976. It is the second most densely populated major city in the U.S. and is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the larger San Francisco Bay Area, a depicting Wilde on the occasion of his visit there in 1882

While at Magdalen College, Wilde became particularly well known for his role in the aesthetic The Aesthetic Movement is a loosely defined movement in literature, fine art, the decorative arts, and interior design in later nineteenth-century Britain. Generally speaking, it represents the same tendencies that symbolism or decadence stood for in France, or decadentismo stood for in Italy, and may be considered the British branch of the same and decadent movements. He began wearing his hair long and openly scorning so-called "manly" sports, and began decorating his rooms with peacock The term peafowl can refer to the two species of bird in the genus Pavo of the pheasant family, Phasianidae. The African Congo Peafowl is placed in its own genus Afropavo. Peafowl are best known for the male's extravagant tail feathers, which it displays as part of courtship. The male is called a peacock, the female a peahen, though it is common feathers, lilies, sunflowers, blue china and other objets d'art A work of art, artwork, work or art object is a creation, such as an art object, design, architectural piece, musical work, literary composition, performance, film, conceptual art piece, or even computer program that is made and or valued primarily for an "artistic" rather than practical function. This article is concerned with the.

Legends persist that his behaviour cost him a dunking in the River Cherwell The River Cherwell (pronounced /ˈtʃɑrwɛl/ CHAR-well) is a river which flows through the Midlands of England. It is a major tributary of the River Thames in addition to having his rooms (which still survive as student accommodation at his old college) trashed, but the cult spread among certain segments of society to such an extent that languishing attitudes, "too-too" costumes and aestheticism The Aesthetic Movement is a loosely defined movement in literature, fine art, the decorative arts, and interior design in later nineteenth-century Britain. Generally speaking, it represents the same tendencies that symbolism or decadence stood for in France, or decadentismo stood for in Italy, and may be considered the British branch of the same generally became a recognised pose. Publications such as the Springfield Republican commented on Wilde's behaviour during his visit to Boston Boston (pronounced /ˈbɒstən/ ) is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England". Boston in order to give lectures on aestheticism, suggesting that Wilde's conduct was more of a bid for notoriety rather than a devotion to beauty and the aesthetic. Wilde's mode of dress also came under attack by critics such as Higginson Thomas Wentworth Higginson was an American minister, author, abolitionist, and soldier. He was active in the American Abolitionism movement during the 1840s and 1850s, identifying himself with disunion and militant abolitionism. During the Civil War, he served as colonel of the 1st South Carolina Volunteers, the first federally authorized African-, who wrote in his paper Unmanly Manhood, of his general concern that Wilde's effeminacy would influence the behaviour of men and women, arguing that his poetry "eclipses masculine ideals [..that..] under such influence men would become effeminate dandies". He also scrutinised the links between Oscar Wilde's writing, personal image and homosexuality Homosexuality refers to sexual attraction or sexual behavior between people of the same sex, or to a sexual orientation. As an orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions primarily to" people of the same sex; "it also refers to an individual’, calling his work and lifestyle "immoral".

Wilde was deeply impressed by the English writers John Ruskin and Walter Pater, who argued for the central importance of art in life, an argument laced with a strongly philhellenic and homoerotic subtext[attribution needed]. Wilde later commented ironically on Pater's suppressed emotions: on being informed of the man's death, he replied, "Was he ever alive?" Reflecting on Pater's view of art, he wrote in The Picture of Dorian Gray "All art is quite useless". The statement was meant to be read literally, as it was in keeping with the doctrine of Art for art's sake, coined by the philosopher Victor Cousin, promoted by Théophile Gautier and brought into prominence by James McNeill Whistler. In 1879 Wilde started to teach Aesthetic values in London.

Trade card for 'Aesthetic' cigars, using a photo taken by Napoleon Sarony, 1882

The aesthetic movement, represented by the school of William Morris and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, had a permanent influence on English decorative art. As the leading aesthete in Britain, Wilde became one of the most prominent personalities of his day. Though he was sometimes ridiculed for them, his paradoxes and witty sayings were quoted on all sides.

Aestheticism in general was caricatured in Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera Patience (1881). While Patience was a success in New York, it was not known how much the aesthetic movement had penetrated the rest of America. So producer Richard D'Oyly Carte invited Wilde for a lecture tour of North America. D'Oyly Carte felt this tour would "prime the pump" for the U.S. tour of Patience, making the ticket-buying public aware of one of the aesthetic movement's charming personalities. Duly arranged, Wilde arriving on 3 January 1882 aboard the SS Arizona. Wilde reputedly told a customs officer that "I have nothing to declare except my genius", although there is no contemporary evidence for the remark.

During his tour of the United States and Canada, Wilde was torn apart by no small number of critics—The Wasp, a San Francisco newspaper, published a cartoon ridiculing Wilde and Aestheticism—but he was also surprisingly well received in such rough-and-tumble settings as the mining town of Leadville, Colorado.[7] On his return to the United Kingdom, Wilde worked as a reviewer for the Pall Mall Gazette in the years 1887-1889. Afterwards he became the editor of The Woman's World.

Politics

For much of his life, Wilde advocated socialism, which he argued "will be of value simply because it will lead to individualism".[8] He also had a strong libertarian streak as shown in his poem Sonnet to Liberty and, subsequent to reading the works of Peter Kropotkin—whom he described as "a man with a soul of that beautiful white Christ which seems coming out of Russia"[9]—he declared himself an anarchist.[10] Other political influences on Wilde may have been William Morris and John Ruskin.[11] Wilde was also a pacifist and quipped that "When liberty comes with hands dabbled in blood it is hard to shake hands with her". In addition to his primary political text, the essay The Soul of Man under Socialism, Wilde wrote several letters to the Daily Chronicle advocating prison reform and was the sole signatory of George Bernard Shaw's petition for a pardon of the anarchists arrested (and later executed) after the Haymarket massacre in Chicago in 1886.[12]

In Lady Florence Dixie's 1890 novel "Gloriana, or the Revolution of 1900" women win the right to vote after the protagonist, Gloriana, poses as a man to get elected to the House of Commons. The male character she impersonates is clearly based on that of Wilde. Dixie was an aunt of Lord Alfred Douglas.[13]

Marriage and family

After graduation from Oxford, Wilde returned to Dublin, where he met and courted Florence Balcombe. She, however, became engaged to the writer Bram Stoker.[14] On hearing of her engagement, Wilde wrote to her stating his intention to leave Ireland permanently. He left in 1878, and returned to his native country only twice, for brief visits. He spent the next six years in London and Paris, and in the United States, where he travelled to deliver lectures. Wilde's address in the 1881 British Census is given as 1 Tite Street, London. The head of the household is listed as Frank Miles, with whom Wilde shared rooms at this address.

In London, he met Constance Lloyd, daughter of wealthy Queen's Counsel Horace Lloyd. She was visiting Dublin in 1884, when Wilde was in the city to give lectures at the Gaiety Theatre. He proposed to her, and they married on 29 May 1884 in Paddington, London. Constance's allowance of £250 allowed the Wildes to live in relative luxury. The couple had two sons, Cyril (1885) and Vyvyan (1886).

After Wilde's downfall, Constance took the surname Holland for herself and the boys. She died in 1898 following spinal surgery and was buried in Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno in Genoa, Italy. Cyril was killed in France in World War I. Vyvyan also served in the war and later became an author and translator. In 1954, he published his memoirs, entitled Son of Oscar Wilde, which relate the difficulties he and his family faced in the wake of his father's imprisonment. Vyvyan's son, Merlin Holland, has edited and published several works about his grandfather. Wilde's niece, Dolly Wilde, had a lengthy lesbian relationship with writer Natalie Clifford Barney, which is documented in Joan Schenkar's book, Truly Wilde: The Story of Dolly Wilde, Oscar's Unusual Niece.

Sexuality

Robert Ross at twenty-four

Though Wilde's sexual orientation has variously been considered bisexual and homosexual, Wilde himself felt he belonged to a culture of male love inspired by the Greek paederastic tradition.[15] In describing his own sexual identity, Wilde used the term Socratic.[16] He had significant sexual relationships with (in chronological order) Frank Miles, Constance Lloyd (Wilde's wife), Robbie Ross, and Lord Alfred Douglas (known as "Bosie"). Wilde also had numerous sexual encounters with working-class male youths, who were often male prostitutes.

Some biographers believe Wilde was made fully aware of his own and others' homosexuality in 1885 (the year after his wedding) by the 17-year-old Robbie Ross. Neil McKenna's biography The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde (2003) theorises that Wilde was aware of his homosexuality much earlier, from the moment of his first kiss with another boy at the age of 16. According to McKenna, after arriving at Oxford in 1874, Wilde tentatively explored his sexuality, discovering that he could feel passionate romantic love for "fair, slim" choirboys, but was more sexually drawn towards the swarthy young rough trade. By the late 1870s, Wilde was already preoccupied with the philosophy of same-sex love, and had befriended a group of Uranian (pederastic) poets and homosexual law reformers, becoming acquainted with the work of gay-rights pioneer Karl Heinrich Ulrichs. Wilde also met Walt Whitman in America in 1882, boasting to a friend that "I have the kiss of Walt Whitman still on my lips". He even lived with the society painter Frank Miles, who was a few years his senior and may have been his lover. However, writes McKenna, Wilde was at one time unhappy with the direction of his sexual and romantic desires and, hoping that marriage would "cure" him, he married Constance in 1884. McKenna's account has been criticised by some reviewers who find it too speculative, although not necessarily implausible.[17]

Oscar Wilde by Napoleon Sarony

Whether or not Wilde was still naïve when he first met Ross, the latter did play an important role in the development of Wilde's understanding of his own sexuality. Ross was aware of Wilde's poems before they met, and indeed had been beaten for reading them. He was also unmoved by the Victorian prohibition against homosexuality. By Richard Ellmann's account, Ross, "...so young and yet so knowing, was determined to seduce Wilde". Later, Ross boasted to Lord Alfred Douglas that he was "the first boy Oscar ever had" and there seems to have been much jealousy between them. Soon, Wilde entered a world of regular sex with youths such as servants and newsboys, in their mid to late teens, whom he would meet in homosexual bars or brothels. In Wilde's words, the relations were akin to "feasting with panthers,"[9] and he revelled in the risk: "the danger was half the excitement."[9] In his public writings, Wilde's first celebration of romantic love between men and boys can be found in "The Portrait of Mr. W. H." (1889), in which he propounds a theory that Shakespeare's sonnets were written out of the poet's love of Elizabethan boy actor "Willie Hughes."

In the early summer of 1891 poet Lionel Johnson introduced Wilde to the twenty-two-year-old Lord Alfred Douglas, an undergraduate at Oxford at the time. An intimate friendship immediately sprang up between Wilde and Douglas, but it was not initially sexual, nor did the sexual activity progress far when it did eventually take place. According to Douglas, speaking in his old age, for the first six months their relations remained on a purely intellectual and emotional level. Despite the fact that "from the second time he saw me, when he gave me a copy of Dorian Gray which I took with me to Oxford, he made overtures to me. It was not till I had known him for at least six months and after I had seen him over and over again and he had twice stayed with me in Oxford, that I gave in to him. I did with him and allowed him to do just what was done among boys at Winchester and Oxford ... Sodomy never took place between us, nor was it attempted or dreamed of. Wilde treated me as an older one does a younger one at school." After Wilde realised that Douglas only consented in order to please him, as his instincts drew him not to men but to younger boys, Wilde permanently ceased his physical attentions.[18]

Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas in 1893

For a few years they lived together more or less openly in a number of locations. Wilde and some within his upper-class social group also began to speak about homosexual-law reform, and their commitment to "The Cause" was formalised by the founding of a highly secretive organisation called the Order of Chaeronea, of which Wilde was a member. A homosexual novel, Teleny, or The Reverse of the Medal, written at about the same time and clandestinely published in 1893, has been attributed to Oscar Wilde, although it was probably, in fact, a combined effort by a number of Wilde's friends, with Wilde as editor. Wilde also periodically contributed to the Uranian literary journal The Chameleon.

Lord Alfred's first mentor had been his cosmopolitan grandfather Alfred Montgomery. His older brother Francis Douglas, Viscount Drumlanrig possibly had an intimate association with the Prime Minister Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, which ended on Francis' death in an unexplained shooting accident. Lord Alfred's father John Sholto Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry came to believe his sons had been corrupted by older homosexuals, or as he phrased it in a letter, "Snob Queers like Rosebery".[19] As he had attempted to do with Rosebery, Queensberry confronted Wilde and Lord Alfred on several occasions, but each time Wilde was able to mollify him.

Divorced and spending wildly, Queensberry was known for his outspoken views and the boxing roughs who often accompanied him. He abhorred his younger son and plagued the boy with threats to cut him off if he did not stop idling his life away. Queensberry was determined to end the friendship with Wilde. Wilde was in full flow of rehearsal when Bosie returned from a diplomatic posting to Cairo, around the time Queensberry visited Wilde at his Tite Street home. He angrily pushed past Wilde's servant and entered the ground-floor study, shouting obscenities and asking Wilde about his divorce. Wilde became incensed, but it is said he calmly told his manservant that Queensberry was the most infamous brute in London, and that he was not to be shown into the house ever again. It is said that, despite the presence of a bodyguard, Wilde forced Queensberry to leave in no uncertain terms.

On the opening night of The Importance of Being Earnest Queensberry further planned to insult and socially embarrass Wilde by throwing a bouquet of turnips. Wilde was tipped off, and Queensberry was barred from entering the theatre. Wilde took legal advice against him, and wished to prosecute, but his friends refused to give evidence against the Marquess and hence the case was dropped. Wilde and Bosie left London for a holiday in Monte Carlo. While they were there, on 18 February 1895, the Marquess left his calling card at Wilde's Club, with a scrawled inscription accusing Wilde of being a "posing somdomite" [sic].[20]

Trial, imprisonment, and transfer to Reading Gaol

The Marquess of Queensberry's calling card with the offending inscription "For Oscar Wilde posing Somdomite" [sic]"

Wilde made a complaint of criminal libel against the Marquess of Queensberry based on the calling card incident, and the Marquess was arrested but later freed on bail. The libel trial became a cause célèbre as salacious details of Wilde's private life with Alfred Taylor and Lord Alfred Douglas began to appear in the press. A team of detectives, with the help of the actor Charles Brookfield, had directed Queensberry's lawyers (led by Edward Carson QC) to the world of the Victorian underground. Here Wilde's association with blackmailers and male prostitutes, crossdressers and homosexual brothels was recorded, and various persons involved were interviewed, some being coerced to appear as witnesses.[21]

The trial opened on 3 April 1895 amongst scenes of near hysteria both in the press and the public galleries. After a shaky start, Wilde regained some ground when defending his art from attacks of perversion. The Picture of Dorian Gray came under fierce moral criticism, but Wilde fended it off with his usual charm and confidence on artistic matters. Some of his personal letters to Lord Alfred were examined, their wording challenged as inappropriate and evidence of immoral relations. Queensberry's legal team proposed that the libel was published for the public good, but it was only when the prosecution moved on to sexual matters that Wilde balked. He was challenged on the reason given for not kissing a young servant; Wilde had replied, "He was a particularly plain boy—unfortunately ugly—I pitied him for it."[22] Counsel for the defence, scenting blood, pressed him on the point. Wilde hesitated, complaining of Carson's insults and attempts to unnerve him. The prosecution eventually dropped the case, after the defence threatened to bring boy prostitutes to the stand to testify to Wilde's corruption and influence over Queensberry's son, effectively crippling the case.

After Wilde left the court, a warrant for his arrest was applied for and (after a delay that would have permitted Wilde, had he wished, to escape to the continent) later served on him at the Cadogan Hotel, Knightsbridge. That moment was immortalised in a poem by Sir John Betjeman, although he himself said that it was "complained that it wasn't true - but I happened to like it"[citation needed]. Wilde was arrested for "gross indecency" under Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885. In British legislation of the time, this term implied homosexual acts not amounting to buggery, which was an offence under a separate statute.[23][24] After his arrest Wilde sent Robert Ross to his home in Tite Street with orders to remove certain items and Ross broke into the bedroom to rescue some of Wilde's belongings. Wilde was then imprisoned on remand at Holloway where he received daily visits from Lord Alfred Douglas.

Wilde in the dock, from The Illustrated Police News, 4 May 1895

Events moved quickly and his prosecution opened on 26 April 1895. Wilde had already begged Douglas to leave London for Paris, but Douglas complained bitterly, even wanting to take the stand; however, he was pressed to go and soon fled to the Hotel du Monde. Ross and many others also left the United Kingdom during this time. Under cross examination Wilde presented an eloquent defense of pederasty:

Charles Gill (prosecuting): What is "the love that dare not speak its name?"

Wilde: "The love that dare not speak its name" in this century is such a great affection of an elder for a younger man as there was between David and Jonathan, such as Plato made the very basis of his philosophy, and such as you find in the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare. It is that deep spiritual affection that is as pure as it is perfect. It dictates and pervades great works of art, like those of Shakespeare and Michelangelo, and those two letters of mine, such as they are. It is in this century misunderstood, so much misunderstood that it may be described as "the love that dare not speak its name," and on that account of it I am placed where I am now. It is beautiful, it is fine, it is the noblest form of affection. There is nothing unnatural about it. It is intellectual, and it repeatedly exists between an older and a younger man, when the older man has intellect, and the younger man has all the joy, hope and glamour of life before him. That it should be so, the world does not understand. The world mocks at it, and sometimes puts one in the pillory for it."

The trial ended with the jury unable to reach a verdict and Wilde's counsel, Sir Edward Clark, was finally able to agree bail. Wilde was freed from Holloway and went into hiding at the house of Ernest and Ada Leverson, two of Wilde's firm friends. The Reverend Stewart Headlam put up most of the £5,000 bail,[25] having disagreed with Wilde's heinous treatment by the press and the courts. Edward Carson, it was said, asked for the service to let up on Wilde.[26] His request was denied. If the Crown was seen to give up at that point, it would have appeared that there was one rule for some and not others, and outrage could have followed.

The final trial was presided over by Justice Sir Alfred Wills. On 25 May 1895 Wilde was convicted of gross indecency and sentenced to two years' hard labour. The judge himself described the sentence as "totally inadequate for a case such as this," although it was the maximum sentence allowed for the charge under the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885.[27]

His conviction angered some observers, one of whom demanded, in a published letter, "Why does not the Crown prosecute every boy at a public or private school or half the men in the universities?" in reference to the presumed pederastic proclivities of British upper class men.[28]

Wilde was imprisoned first in Pentonville and then in Wandsworth prison in London, and finally transferred in November to Reading Prison, some 30 miles west of London. Wilde knew the town of Reading from happier times when boating on the Thames and also from visits to the Palmer family, including a tour of the famous Huntley & Palmers biscuit factory which was quite close to the prison.

Now known as prisoner C. 3.3, (which described the fact that he was in block C, floor three, cell three) he was not, at first, even allowed paper and pen, but a later governor was more amenable. Wilde was championed by the Liberal MP and reformer Richard B. Haldane who had helped transfer him and afforded him the literary catharsis he needed. During his time in prison, Wilde wrote a 50,000-word letter to Douglas, which he was not allowed to send while still a prisoner, but which he was allowed to take with him at the end of his sentence. On his release, he gave the manuscript to Ross, who may or may not have carried out Wilde's instructions to send a copy to Douglas (who later denied having received it). Ross published a much expurgated version of the letter (about a third of it) in 1905 (four years after Wilde's death) with the title De Profundis, expanding it slightly for an edition of Wilde's collected works in 1908, and then donated it to the British Museum on the understanding that it would not be made public until 1960. In 1949, Wilde's son Vyvyan Holland published it again, including parts formerly omitted, but relying on a faulty typescript bequeathed to him by Ross. Its complete and correct publication first occurred in 1962, in "The Letters of Oscar Wilde."

Release and death

Prison was unkind to Wilde's health and after he was released on 19 May 1897, he spent his last three years penniless, in self-imposed exile from society and artistic circles. He went under the assumed name of Sebastian Melmoth, after the famously "penetrated" Saint Sebastian and the devilish central character of Wilde's great-uncle Charles Robert Maturin's gothic novel Melmoth the Wanderer.

Nevertheless, Wilde lost no time in returning to his previous pleasures. According to Douglas, Ross "dragged [him] back to homosexual practices" during the summer of 1897, which they spent together in Berneval-le-Grand. After his release, he also wrote the famous poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol. Wilde spent his last years in the Hôtel d'Alsace, now known as L'Hôtel, in Paris, where it is said he was notorious and uninhibited about enjoying the pleasures he had been denied in Britain. Again, according to Douglas, "he was hand in glove with all the little boys on the Boulevard. He never attempted to conceal it." In a letter to Ross, Wilde laments, "Today I bade good-bye, with tears and one kiss, to the beautiful Greek boy... he is the nicest boy you ever introduced to me."[29] Just a month before his death he is quoted as saying, "My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One of us has got to go." His moods fluctuated; Max Beerbohm relates how, a few days before Wilde's death, their mutual friend Reginald 'Reggie' Turner had found Wilde very depressed after a nightmare. "I dreamt that I had died, and was supping with the dead!". "I am sure", Turner replied, "that you must have been the life and soul of the party."[30] Reggie Turner was one of the very few of the old circle who remained with Wilde right to the end, and was at his bedside when he died.

The tomb of Oscar Wilde in Père Lachaise Cemetery

Wilde died of cerebral meningitis on 30 November 1900. Different opinions are given as to the cause of the meningitis; Richard Ellmann claimed it was syphilitic; Merlin Holland, Wilde's grandson, thought this to be a misconception, noting that Wilde's meningitis followed a surgical intervention, perhaps a mastoidectomy; Wilde's physicians, Dr. Paul Cleiss and A'Court Tucker, reported that the condition stemmed from an old suppuration of the right ear (une ancienne suppuration de l'oreille droite d'ailleurs en traitement depuis plusieurs années) and did not allude to syphilis. Most modern scholars and doctors agree that syphilis was unlikely to have been the cause of his death.[31]

On his deathbed Wilde was received into the Roman Catholic church and Robert Ross, in his letter to More Adey (dated 14 December 1900), states "He was conscious that people were in the room, and raised his hand when I asked him whether he understood. He pressed our hands. I then sent in search of a priest, and after great difficulty found Father Cuthbert Dunne ... who came with me at once and administered Baptism and Extreme Unction. - Oscar could not take the Eucharist".[32]

Wilde was buried in the Cimetière de Bagneux outside Paris but was later moved to Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. His tomb in Père Lachaise was designed by sculptor Sir Jacob Epstein, at the request of Robert Ross, who also asked for a small compartment to be made for his own ashes. Ross's ashes were transferred to the tomb in 1950. The epitaph is a verse from The Ballad of Reading Gaol:

And alien tears will fill for him Pity's long-broken urn, For his mourners will be outcast men, And outcasts always mourn.

The modernist angel depicted as a relief on the tomb was originally complete with male genitals which were broken off and kept as a paperweight by a succession of cemetery keepers; their current whereabouts are unknown. In the summer of 2000, intermedia artist Leon Johnson performed a forty minute ceremony entitled Re-membering Wilde in which a commissioned silver prosthesis was installed to replace the vandalised genitals.[33]

Biographies

Oscar Wilde's house in Tite Street, Chelsea

In 1987, Robert Reilly wrote and published "The God Of Mirrors", a novel based on the facts of Wilde's "dazzling life and tragic fate."

Biographical films, television series and stage plays

Works

Main article: List of works by Oscar Wilde

The bulk of Wilde's letters, manuscripts, and other material relating to his literary circle are housed at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library.[34][35] A number of Wilde's letters and manuscripts can also be found at The British Library, as well as public and private collections throughout Britain, the United States and France.

Music based on the work of Oscar Wilde

Main article: Music based on the works of Oscar Wilde

A number of composers have been inspired by the works of Oscar Wilde. These include Sir Granville Bantock, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Alexander Glazunov, Jacques Ibert, Antoine Mariotte, Franz Schreker, Richard Strauss, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Company of Thieves - and, indirectly, Sergei Prokofiev.

Notes

  1. ^ a b "Literary Encyclopedia - Oscar Wilde". Litencyc.com. 2001-01-25. http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4718. Retrieved on 2009-04-03.
  2. ^ Richard Ellmann, Oscar Wilde
  3. ^ See pages 183-5 of Thomas Toughill's "The Ripper Code" (The History Press, 2008) which mention Toughill's research in the archives of the Oxford Union. This book also contains a photograph of Wilde's unsuccessful entry in the Union's "Probational Members Subscriptions" (022/8/F2/1) for the period 1862-1890.
  4. ^ Morley, Sheridan (1976). Oscar Wilde. London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson. p. 39. ISBN 0297771604.
  5. ^ Hyde, Harford Montgomery (1948). The Trials of Oscar Wilde. Famous Trials. London: William Hodge. p. 39. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=OQNRN8EJoAIC&pg=PA40&lpg=PA40&dq=%22oscar+wilde%22+%22oxford+Union%22&source=web&ots=foYKNecrGY&sig=FmhHlkTGatM5SSg0Yp8jAa462QI&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result#PPA39,M1.
  6. ^ Breen, Richard; Suresh Mudannyake (1977, 2000). Oxord, Oddfellows & Funny Tales. London: Penny Publishing Limited London. p. 22-23. ISBN 1-901374-00-9.
  7. ^ "Oscar Wilde - Wilde in America". Todayinliterature.com. http://www.todayinliterature.com/stories.asp?Event_Date=12/24/1881. Retrieved on 2009-04-03.
  8. ^ Wilde, Oscar, The Soul of Man Under Socialism, The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde, Collins.
  9. ^ a b c Wilde, Oscar, De Profundis, The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde, Collins.
  10. ^ In England, in the Irish PUTI and dramatist Oscar Wilde declared himself an anarchist and, under Kropotkin's inspiration, wrote the essay "The Soul of Man Under Socialism" — "Anarchism as a movement, 1870–1940", Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2007
  11. ^ Muckley, Peter A, "'With them, in some things': Oscar Wilde and the Varieties of Socialism", C/Hernani, 36, 2A, 28020 MADRID, Spain. Retrieved August 16, 2007.
  12. ^ Ireland, Doug (26 August 2005). "Wildes Second Coming Out" [sic]. In These Times. Retrieved on April 20, 2007.
  13. ^ Heilmann, Ann, Wilde's New Women: the New Woman on Wilde in Uwe Böker, Richard Corballis, Julie A. Hibbard, The Importance of Reinventing Oscar: Versions of Wilde During the Last 100 Years (Rodopi, 2002) pp. 135-147, in particular p. 139
  14. ^ Kilfeather, Siobhán Marie (2005). Dublin, a cultural history. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 101. ISBN 0-19-518202-2.
  15. ^ "We know that Wilde engaged in sexual acts with males, loved obsessively at least one male, cultivated a style of male intimacy and of Aesthetic transgression, thought of himself as in a tradition fostered by Greek pederastic love, expressed guilt for his same-sex acts/desires." John Maynard, "Sexuality and Love", in A Companion to Victorian Poetry, Ed. Richard Cronin et al.
  16. ^ Rictor Norton, A Critique of Social Constructionism and Postmodern Queer Theory, "A False 'Birth'", 1 June 2002 [1]
  17. ^ Jad Adams, Strange Bedfellows, The Guardian, October 25, 2003 (review of Neil McKenna's The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde). Retrieved 15 October 2007.
  18. ^ Hyde (1948) p.144
  19. ^ Richard Ellmann 'Oscar Wilde' Pulitzer prize winning biography
  20. ^ Queensberry's handwriting is so difficult to read that the interpretation of the words is disputed. Queensberry himself claimed that he'd written "posing 'as' a somdomite". The hall porter interpreted it as "ponce and somdomite". Merlin Holland concludes that "what Queenbeery almost certainly wrote was "posing somdomite", Merlin Holland, The Real Trial of Oscar Wilde, Harper Collins, 2004, p.300
  21. ^ Richard Ellmann 'Oscar Wilde'
  22. ^ Irish Peacock & Scarlet Marquis, Merlin Holland
  23. ^ Offences against the Person Act 1861, ss 61, 62
  24. ^ Hyde (1948) p.5
  25. ^ Trials Of Oscar Wilde - Introduction by Sir Travers Humphrey QC
  26. ^ Richard Ellmann, Oscar Wilde p. 435. Carson Approached Frank Lockwood (QC) and asked 'Can we not let up on the fellow now?
  27. ^ Hyde (1948) p.144 [2]
  28. ^ Hyde (1948) p.170
  29. ^ Hyde (1948) p.152
  30. ^ M. Beerbohm (1946) "Mainly on the Air"
  31. ^ Oscar Wilde [3]
  32. ^ Holland, A. and Rupert Hart-Davis (2000): The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde. pp. 1219-1220, New York: Henry Holt and Co. ISBN 0805059156
  33. ^ (RE)membering Wilde, retrieved on 2007-01-12
  34. ^ "Register of the Oscar Wilde and his Literary Circle Collection of Papers, 1819-1953" http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf338nb1zb
  35. ^ "Oscar Wilde and the 1890s" http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/clarklib/Clark%20Pages/ Collection%20Links/Oscar%20Wilde%20and%20the%201890s.htm

Bibliography

External links

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Learning resources from Wikiversity
Oscar Wilde
Novels The Picture of Dorian Gray · Teleny, or The Reverse of the Medal
Articles "The Decay of Lying" · "The Soul of Man under Socialism"
Short stories "The Canterville Ghost"
Collections Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories · The Happy Prince and Other Stories · A House of Pomegranates
Poems The Ballad of Reading Gaol
Plays The Duchess of Padua · A Florentine Tragedy · An Ideal Husband · The Importance of Being Earnest · Lady Windermere's Fan · Salome · Vera; or, The Nihilists · A Woman of No Importance
Other List of works by Oscar Wilde · The Letters of Oscar Wilde · Music based on the works of Oscar Wilde
Portal · Category listings
Persondata
NAME Wilde, Oscar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wilde, Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills
SHORT DESCRIPTION Irish writer
DATE OF BIRTH 16 October 1854
PLACE OF BIRTH Dublin, Ireland
DATE OF DEATH 30 November 1900
PLACE OF DEATH Paris, France

Categories: 19th-century theatre | Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford | Alumni of Trinity College, Dublin | Anglo-Irish artists | Aphorists | Bisexual writers | Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery | Converts to Roman Catholicism | Former Protestants | Immigrants to France | Irish anarchists | Irish dramatists and playwrights | Irish journalists | Irish novelists | Irish poets | Irish socialists | LGBT Christians | LGBT people from Ireland | Old Portorans | Oscar Wilde | People associated with Trinity College, Dublin | People from Dublin (city) | People prosecuted under anti-homosexuality laws | Protestant converts to Catholicism | Victorian pederasty | Victorian poetry | 1854 births | 1900 deaths

 

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Oscar Fingal O Flahertie Wills Wilde was born on October 16 1854 at 21 Westland Row Dublin Ireland Wilde s father William Wilde was Ireland s leading ear and eye surgeon at Dublin

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Oscar Wilde. |||; "Should any American soldier be so base and infamous as to injure any prisoner ... I do most earnestly enjoin you to bring him to such severe and exemplary punishment as the enormity of the crime may require. ...

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What is the best poem written by Oscar Wilde?
Q. My class is having a best poem contest and I figured Oscar Wilde is a good author [loved Earnest and Dorian Grey] but he has many poems and I need one that is his best but not too long. If you know any other poems that are wonderful, that would be great [I don't like Trees by Joycee Something] This will help me tons. Please help Thanks, but those are kinda long and they wouldn't win the contest >___>
Asked by Rolan M - Sat Apr 12 16:14:10 2008 - - 2 Answers - 0 Comments

A. I rather like "Requiescat" - just a matter of opinion. He isn't my favorite poet, though I do think he was brilliant and is one of my favorite literary figures - just not for poetry. Choose something by Edna St. Vincent Millay - one of her sonnets. Genius! Or you could go the depressing route with Sylvia Plath ("Lady Lazarus") or Ann Sexton ("Wanting to Die"). I am also partial to Elliot ("HYSTERIA") and to E.E. Cummings ("anyone lived in a pretty how town"). Good luck! BTW, I agree with Tony below, but didn't recommend it because of the length. Great, great poem and probably best overall.
Answered by pamreid - Sat Apr 12 17:17:24 2008

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