Oscar Wilde

O.W. was born in Dublin on 16th October 1854. His father, sir William Wilde, was an
important surgeon and his mother was a writer who, under the pen-name of
“Speranza”, wrote for the radical newspaper The Nation. He had a happy childhood,
but was somewhat influenced by “Speranza”: she used to dress her son up as a little
girl. He attended Trinity College in Dublin and Oxford , his favourite subject was
Greek, loved the classics in general and took a first-class in Literae Humaniores.
In Oxford he spent four happy years, he gained a reputation for flamboyant
behaviour ( he used to wear extravagant clothes, to have long hair, to decorate his
rooms with sunflowers, lilies, collected peacock’s feathers. He was a gifted speaker
and became very popular with the intellectual circle of Oxford. At Oxford he became
Walter Pater’s favourite disciple and attended John Ruskin’s lectures, even if he,
later, rejected Ruskin’s ideas on the function of art in society declaring that art did
not have a moral purpose: it should simply produce beauty or, in other words, “Art for
Art’s sake”. He applied the aesthetic ideals to all areas of his life. In 1879 he settled
in London and soon became the leading personality of the English Decadentism. Here
he led an intense social life; his wit and his brilliant conversation, his extravagant
attitudes, made him the lion of London high society and he became notorious before
proving his worth as a writer. In 1882 Wilde went to the USA on a lecture tour on the
“ aesthetics”. His reply to a New York customs official asking if he had anything to
declare: “Nothing but my genius” gained him immediate popularity. In 1884 he married
Constance Lloyd and within two years they had two boys, Cyril and Vyvyan. The family
settled in Chelsea, London, where Wilde worked as a journalist and editor of a
successful magazine, The Woman’s World. He didn’t like the routine existence and,
being homosexual, he fell in love with Robert Ross before and for Lord Alfred
Douglas later. This last close relationship was fatal to him because Alfred’s father
accused Wilde of homosexual conduct and, after a trial Wilde, was sentenced to two
year imprisonment with hard labour. The prison ruined his spirit and his health and
when he was released he had become poor and unpopular; his wife refused to join him,
he left England and wandered around Europe under the false name of Sebastian
Melmoth. His death in Paris on 30th of November 1900, at the age of 46, put an end
to his squalid and miserable last years. Before dying, Oscar Wilde had become a
Roman Catholic and fervent believer. Two works were the result of his experience in
prison, De profundis and The Ballad of Reading Gaol, a poem which shows sympathy
for the outcasts of society.
Literary career
Oscar Wilde can be considered an eclectic writer because his output covered nearly
all the literary forms, from verse to narrative, from essay to drama. Each of his
works is full of originality, of wit, and brilliant in expression. His first printed book
was a collection entitled Poems (1881). He then began writing short stories, fairy
tales, The Happy Prince and Other Tales, The Canterville Ghost (1891). In the same
year Wilde published The Picture of Dorian Gray, a novel which contains his aesthetic
creed. Dorian believed in eternal beauty and, when he saw the beautiful painting of
himself, he made a wish of eternal beauty and his wish came true: the image on the
picture grew old and ugly while Dorian remained young and beautiful. The Victorian
society considered the novel shocking and immoral. In several ways this novel
reflects Wilde’s own life as Dorian and Wilde had the same tragic end. In 1892 he
wrote in French Salomè, that was represented in Paris after being refused in England.
Success came with the witty and brilliant comedies: A Woman of No Importance
(1893), An Ideal Husband (1895), The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).

Style and Themes

Oscar Wilde is closely linked to Aestheticism and Decadentism. He believed that art
was superior to life and should not be didactic, as Arnold and Ruskin believed. In the
essay, the Critic as an Artist, he wrote: “ It is through art and art only that we can
realize our perfection, that we can shield ourselves from the sordid perils of actual
existence”. He believed in art for art’s sake and used to discuss this principle with his
friends whom he used to meet at Café Royal in London. They were fascinated by the
contrast “art-life”, asserting the superiority of art, and their supreme aim was the
cult of beauty: beauty as pure form. In his plays, Wilde’s wit was always intelligent
and biting and his language was a perfect vehicle for this wit, with its paradoxes, puns
and epigrams. His language was always polished and elegant but never difficult. He
believed in style and his whole life was built on style. Wilde challenged Victorian
society with his wit, aphorisms, such as: “ Women are meant to be loved, not to be
understood” and “The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it”.
It is often said that Oscar Wilde’s greatest work of art is his life.
 OSCAR WILDE

Questions about: his life

1. When and where was he born?
2. What did his father do?
3. What did his mother do?
4. What was her pen-name?
5. Who did she write for?
6. How was Wilde’s childhood?
7. How did his mother use to dress him?
8. Where was he educated?
9. Did he have any favourite subjects when he attended Trinity College?
10. Where did he continue his studies?
11. What was he considered eccentric for?
12. Why did he become popular?
13. Why was he often attacked?
14. Where did he go in 1891?
15. How did he use to get dressed?
16. Why were the Americans amazed at him?
17. Did they take him seriously?
18. When and whom did he get married to?
19. Did they have any children?
20. Where did they settle?
21. Why did he split up from his wife?
22. Who did he fall in love with?
23. Who did he meet in 1991?
24. Why was he arrested?
25. Where did he go when he was released?
26. What kind of life did he spend there?
27. Did he believe in God?
His literary career
1. When did Wilde’s career start?
2. When did he publish his first collection of poems?
3. Why was the book criticized?
4. What did he write between 1880 and 1883?
5. What did he write in 1891?
6. What did he deal with in the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray?
7. What did he write after his experience in prison?
8. Why was his De Profundis published in 1962?
9. What did he deal with in The Ballad of Reading Gaol?
10. What was Wilde’s excessive hedonism responsible for?
His style and themes
1. Which literary movement was Wilde linked to?
2. What did he believe as far as Art?
3. What did he write in the essay The Critic as an Artist?
4. What was his language like?
5. Did he believe in style?
6. What did he write as regards style?