DE Profundis of Oscar Wilde

This Rough draft is submitted in partial fulfilment of the project in “Law and
Literature” for the requirement of the degree of B.B.A. L.L.B(Hons.)

Submitted to: Submitted by:

Dr. Pratyush Kaushik ASHUTOSH RANJAN

Assistant Professor of Law Roll No. - 2812

B.B.A. LL.B.(Hons.)

Semester – 2nd

Chanakya National Law University, Patna

January, 2023

1|Page
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ......................................................................................................................................... 3
DECLARATION ...................................................................................................................................................... 4
1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 5
1.1.1. Review of Literature .............................................................................................................................. 6
1.2 Present Study:- .............................................................................................................................................. 7
1.2.1. Research Objectives .............................................................................................................................. 7
1.2.2. Research Questions ............................................................................................................................... 7
1.3 Hypothesis * .............................................................................................................................................. 7
1.4 Research Methodology.............................................................................................................................. 7
1.5 Scope & Limitation of Study ..................................................................................................................... 8
1.6 Tentative Chapterisation ........................................................................................................................... 8
Bibliography:- ...................................................................................................................................................... 9

2|Page
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my profound gratitude and deep regards to my guide, Dr. Pratyush
Kaushik Assistant Professor of Law, for assigning me the topic I was most interested in. It
was under his guidance that I structured my project and built on my abilities to research on the
subject.

I owe the present accomplishment of my project to everyone, who helped me immensely with
materials throughout the project and without whom I couldn’t have completed it in the present
way.

I would also like to extend my gratitude to my friends, family members and all those unseen hands
that helped me out at every stage of my project either financially, intellectually or emotionally.

Thank You,
Ashutosh Ranjan
Semester- 2nd
CNLU, Patna

3|Page
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the work reported in the B.B.A. L.L.B.(Hons.) project report entitled "De

Profundis of Oscar Wilde" submitted at Chanakya National Law University,

Patna is an authentic record of my work carried out under the supervision of Dr Pratyush
Kaushik . I have not submitted this work elsewhere for any other degree or diploma. I am fully
responsible for the contents of my project report.

(Signature of the candidate)

Ashutosh Ranjan (2812)

B.B.A. LL.B.(Hons.)
2nd Semester
Chanakya National Law University, Patna

4|Page
1.1 Introduction

The aim of this project is to do a thorough research about ‘De Profundis of Oscar Wilde’. It
is basically a letter written by Oscar Wilde during his imprisonment for the charges of gross
indecency. More about the reason of his conviction will be dealt in the later parts of this
research work. Before delving deep into this topic, let’s first talk about Oscar Wilde.

Oscar Wilde’s full name was Oscar Fingal O’ Flahertie Wills Wilde, who was born in 1854
and died in 1900 after greatly establishing his name in the field of philosophy, poetry, drama,
literature etc. Some of his very famous novels are – The Picture of Dorian Grey, The
Importance of Being Earnest. He was also a spokesman in one of the movements in England
in late 19th century which advocated the slogan ‘Art for art’s sake’.

Talking about his letter ‘De Profundis’, this letter, as already been mentioned, was written
by him during the time of his imprisonment. The phrase De Profundis is a Latin phrase which
literally means ‘from the depths’. This was a letter which was published in the form of a book
after Oscar Wilde’s death upon his will in the year 1905. It is a well written letter of 80 pages
in which he has described his emotions for his love for a man named Alfred Douglas who
was also known as Bosie among his friends. Bosie and his father took great advantage of
Wilde as by the time he met Bosie, Wilde was already a well-known personality. Bosie
conspired with his father against Wilde so as to get money out of the fake case that they built
against him for gross indecency.

In today’s world if we see where we are normalizing things like homosexuality and in a
world where in most of the countries homosexuality is already normal, such conviction of
Wilde because he was a gay, seems very unreasonable and very unjustified.

These are the main pointers that I will be further elaborating upon in this project. We will
see the legal connectivity of the letter written by such a great 6 writer of all time, we will
also see a comparative study of today’s society to the society at that time when he was
convicted.

5|Page
1.1.1. Review of Literature

1. Oscar Wilde, ‘De Profundis’, Dover publication,

(8th edition, 2011 ),

De Profundis is a letter that Oscar Wilde wrote to his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas,
while he was detained in Reading Gaol. Between January and March 1897, Wilde
penned the letter; he was not authorised to mail it, but after his release, he brought it
with him. In it, he rejects Lord Alfred for what Wilde ultimately perceives as his
haughtiness and vanity; he had not forgotten Douglas's remark, which he had made to
Douglas while he was unwell, "When you are not on your pedestal you are not
fascinating." He also experienced a sense of redemption and fulfilment from his ordeal,
realising that, despite how unpleasant it initially tasted, it had given the soul the
opportunity to bear the fruit of experience..

6|Page
1.2 Present Study:-
1.2.1. Research Objectives

1. To give a brief study about Oscar Wilde’s life and work.

2. To critically study the idea and content of De Profundis.
3. To critically analyse the writing style of Oscar Wilde.
4. To Talk about Oscar Wilde’s love life.

1.2.2. Research Questions

1.) What is the literary Significance of De Profundis of Oscar Wilde?

2.) How has the life experiences of Oscar Wilde affected his writing style?
3.) Which were the important events in Oscar Wilde’s live that have great reflection in
his work De Profundis?

1.3 Hypothesis *

In this project report, the researcher presumes that the life experiences of Oscar Wilde had
greatly affected his writing style and the effect of these important life events is reflected
significantly in his work De Profundis .

1.4 Research Methodology

The researcher has adopted a purely doctrinal method of research. The study is based on
various primary and secondary sources of data collection such as websites of numerous
organizations, books, journals, articles and research papers.

7|Page
1.4.1. Mode of Citation

The researcher has followed the citation style as mentioned in the Bluebook 20th Edition.

1.5 Scope & Limitation of Study

The scope of the research is to study the literary significance of Oscar Wilde’s work De
Profundis.

The limitation of the study is that it is more inclined to know about the impact it created in the
society of the time it was published.

1.6 Tentative Chapterisation

1.6.1 Introduction

1.6.2 Oscar Wilde

1.6.3 De Profundis

1.6.4 Homosexuality as a stigma

1.6.5 Legal Connectivity

1.6.6 Conclusion and suggestions

8|Page
Bibliography:-

1. Oscar Wilde, ‘De Profundis’, Dover publication,

(8th edition, 2011 ),

9|Page