Oscar Wilde (the most iconic figures from late Victorian society)

Oscar     Wilde    is one           of   the most iconic figures              from        late     Victorian         society. Enjoying   a      meteoric         rise   to the     top of society,  his  wit,  humour   and  intelligence shine through his      plays        and          writings. However, due to his sexuality, he suffered the          indignity                                      and  shame                          of imprisonment.  For a  long time, his name was synonymous            with               scandal    and intrigue.  However,  with       changing  social attitudes,  he is remembered with greater affection for   his     biting     social    criticism, wit and linguistic skills.

“To    get   back            my            youth        I    would    do anything                       in  the    world,    except         take exercise,       get                          up                           early   or             be respectable.”

– Oscar Wilde

Oscar    Wilde    was  born            on     16 October 1854 in Dublin, Ireland.  His  parents  were well      known   and    attracted a      degree     of gossip    for  their extravagant lifestyles. In 1864, his father Wille Wilde was knighted for his services to medicine.

Oscar_WildeOscar    Wilde proved   to  be   a student  of great  talent. He  was awarded a    scholarship   to     Trinity   College   Dublin. Here he studied the classics, in particular developing       an  interest                      in    the  Greek philosophers   and the  Hellenistic view   of life.     From   Trinity        College,    he            won       a scholarship to Magdalen  College, Oxford University.  He   enjoyed his time  in Oxford and   was            able  to       develop           his   poetic sensibilities   and      love  of        literature.      He also      became   more       conscious           of    his bisexual    nature.     For         his          increasingly “feminine”  style   dress   he  often received stick    from               more       “traditional”     Oxford students.  He     was  a brilliant scholar,  but also                  increasingly    rebellious.        In      one academic           year,         he got   rusticated     for turning  up to  College    three  weeks      after the start of  term.  Thus, after  a    while,  he lost     interest  in         pursuing       an academic career in Oxford and moved to London. It was    in        London      that     he     was          able   to skillfully           enter       into   high  society,   soon becoming well  known          as   a      playwright and   noted    wit.          Oscar        Wilde       became famous throughout    London      society.  He was  one   of     the   early        “celebrities”  –    in some respects, he was famous for being famous. His dress was a target for satire in   the cartoons,  but   Wilde didnt  seem to mind.    In         fact,              he    learnt     the    art           of self-publicity and seemed  to revel in it, at least up until his trial in 1898.

oscar-WildeOn      18      February       1895,     the Marquess    of  Queensbury   (who   devised the Queensburys rules for    boxing)     left a calling   card  accusing    Wilde  of   sodomy. Wilde    initiated    a     private    libel             against Queensbury for defamation.  Queensbury was           arrested   and       so     hired   a     private detective to find evidence  that Wilde was involved       in homosexual     behaviour  with young  men. At        the trial,  Wilde defended himself  with  his  usual  wit and  flippancy, but the counsel for the Marquees William Carson Esq. was able to   provide     factual evidence        and                     testimonies       of    male prostitutes  who        were       willing   to  testify against                       Wilde.   Realising            he              had miscalculated,      Wilde  dropped        his    libel case  but became     liable  for  the financial cost (which left him bankrupt)

Shortly,    after   the case ended, a     warrant was   issued     for        Wildes             arrest      under Section         11                of                 the         Criminal      Law Amendment  Act 1885  – which  outlawed homosexuality         –                  even                         between consenting adults.

Oscar Wildes trial gripped  the nation,  the subject                  matter    a      source  of       intense gossip  and speculation in the  press. The trial    moved   to      a      quick    conclusion and Wilde was found guilty. For his “crime” of homosexual         acts,    Wilde  was given   the maximum jail sentence of two years hard labour  in Wandsworth and then    Reading Gaol. It is     no  understatement to say this experience  deeply  shocked and affected the previously ebullient Wilde.

In        some    respects             he              never         really recovered; on his release, he left for Paris where he lived in comparative anonymity. However,        he    retained               his            wit         and continued  to   write,  heavily  influenced by his     chastening       experiences. Of          these post    gaol writings,   his    poem “Ballad      of Reading      Gaol” is  perhaps the   most  well known,  illustrating  a    new     dimension     to Wildes writing.

I never saw a man who looked With  such a  wistful   eye  Upon that little  tent  of  blue Which prisoners call the sky, And at every drifting   cloud    that            went With      sails    of silver by.

I walked, with  other   souls   in pain, Within another  ring,     And was wondering    if    the man         had  done  A          great     or    little thing, When a voice behind me whispered low,

“That fellows got to swing.”

From: Ballad of Reading Gaol

Although      Wilde       couldnt       return         to his previous     level     of    writing  he      developed new capacities, whilst retaining his sharp intellect.  As Jonathon  Fryer   commented on Oscar         Wildes     final   part    of    life          he was.

“beaten   but              not bowed,   still    a        clown behind a mask of tragedy.”

The  Life    of    Wilde         was         turbulent      and volatile   –        never    short    of       incident.           It reflected his own         inner      paradoxes and revolutionary     views.     In  some       ways,  he was   both a saint and  sinner at the  same time.      Rightly             or     wrongly      Wilde                     is remembered  as   much for  his    life as  his writings. However he himself said.

“I     have  put my     talent  into    writing,            my genius I have saved for living.”

His                           writings             reflect   in part                  his paradoxical        view          of         life,      suggesting things              were            not          always     as              they appeared.       As        his       biographer,  Richard Ellman said of Wilde.

“Along with Blake and Nietzsche , he was proposing     that   good   and       evil          are  not what     they   seem,     and  that           moral  tabs cannot    cope     with         the     complexity           of behaviour”

Whatever  one may   make   of      Wildes  life, his                     capacity                    for     writing    remains undeniable.         His         greatest       work            and comedy  is  arguably  “The Importance     of Being Earnest”. Here  the   plot  line  is thin, to say the least, but    Wilde    brings   it alive through his  scintillating   repertoire  of wit and biting humour.

“Relations are   simply    a tedious   pack    of people,         who   havent      got    the     remotest knowledge   of    how                to          live,          nor    the smallest instinct about when to die.”

– Algernon, Act I

“Thirty-five   is      a          very           attractive        age. London   society is full   of  women  of         the very highest  birth  who have, of  their own free  choice,   remained                 thirty-five            for years.”

– Lady Bracknell, Act III

Wilde         was       not       an         overtly              political commentator,         but          through     his    plays, there      is an      underlying critique of  social norms        that       are             illumined    for             their absurdities.

Wilde   remains  a      fascinating    character; someone       who           lived    life                to   the   full, experiencing both  the  joy and   tragedy of societys vacillating judgements. With the distance   of over a  century, it is    easier to judge  Wilde   for  his unique   contributions to literature  rather than through  the eyes of  Victorian moral standards. His quotes have become immortal a fitting tribute to a genius of the witticism

“I  am so       clever  that      sometimes   I    dont understand a   single  word  of what       I   am saying.”

-Oscar Wilde

As Stephen Fry wrote of Oscar Wilde.

“What  of   Wilde         the     man?  He stood  for Art.   He stood for  nothing less  all his life. He is still enormously underestimated as an artist and a thinker.. Wilde was a great writer and a great man.”