Oscar Wilde is one of the most iconic figures of late Victorian society. Enjoying a meteoric rise to the top of society. His wit, humor and intelligence shine through in his works and writings. Because of 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 fondly remembered for his scathing social criticism, wit, and linguistic skills.
“To get my youth back, I would do anything in the world except exercise, get up early, or be respectable.”
-Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde was born on October 16, 1854 in Dublin, Ireland. His parents were well known and attracted their share of gossip for his extravagant lifestyle. In 1964, his father, Wille Wilde, was knighted for his services to medicine. However, his pride in receiving this honor was overshadowed by an accusation of rape by one of his patients. Although never proven, he did cast a shadow on William Wilde.
Oscar Wilde proved to be a very talented student. He got 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 at Oxford and was able to develop his poetic sensibility and his love of literature. He also became more aware of his bisexual nature. Because of his increasingly “feminine” attire, he often received sticks from more “traditional” Oxford undergraduates. He was a brilliant scholar but also increasingly rebellious. In one academic year, he was rejected for showing up at the university 3 weeks after the start of the term. So, after a while, he lost interest in pursuing an academic career at Oxford and moved to London. It was in London that he was able to skillfully enter high society, and soon became known as a playwright and remarkable wit. Oscar Wilde became famous throughout London society. He was one of the first “celebrities” in some respects, he was famous for being famous. His dress was the subject of satire in cartoons, but Wilde didn’t seem to care. In fact, he learned the art of self-advertising and seemed to enjoy it, at least until his trial in 1898.
The Oscar Wilde trial gripped the nation, the subject being the source of intense gossip and speculation. For his “crime” of homosexual acts, Wilde was subjected to 2 years hard labor at Wandsworth and then at Reading Gaol. It is no understatement to say that this experience deeply shocked and affected the previously enthusiastic Wilde. In some respects he never really recovered, when he was released he went to Paris where he lived in relative anonymity. However, he retained his wit and continued to write, heavily influenced by his punishment experiences. Of these post-prison writings, his poem “Ballad of Reading Gaol” is perhaps the best known, illustrating a new dimension to Wilde’s writing.
“I never saw a man who seemed
With an eye so melancholy
About that little blue shop
that prisoners call heaven”.
Although Wilde was unable to return to his previous level of writing, he developed new abilities, while retaining his keen intellect. As Johnathon Fryer commented on the final part of Oscar Wilde’s life that he was.
“beaten but not broken, still a clown behind a mask of tragedy”.
Wilde’s life was turbulent and volatile. Never short of incident. He reflected his own inner paradoxes and revolutionary views. In a way, he was a saint and a sinner at the same time. Rightly or wrongly, Wilde is remembered as much for his life as for his writing. However, he himself said.
“I have put my talent in writing, my genius I have kept to live.”
His writings reflect in part his paradoxical view of life, suggesting that things were not always as they seemed. As his biographer Richard Ellman de Wilde said.
“Together with Blake and Nietzsche, he proposed that good and evil are not what they seem, and that moral chips cannot cope with the complexity of behavior”
Regardless of what can be done with Wilde’s life, his ability to write remains undeniable. Arguably his best play and comedy is “The Importance of Being Earnest.” Here, the plot is sparse, to say the least, but Wilde brings it to life through his brilliant repertoire of wit and biting humor.
“Relationships are just a tedious group of people, who have not the remotest knowledge of how to live, nor the slightest instinct as to when to die.”
– Algernon, Act I
Wilde was not an overtly political commentator, but throughout his works there is an underlying critique of social norms that is illuminated by his absurdities.
Wilde remains a fascinating character. Someone who lived life to the fullest, experiencing both the joy and tragedy of society’s wavering judgments. With the distance of more than a century, it is easier to judge Wilde by his unique contributions to literature than through the eyes of Victorian moral standards. Quotes from him have become immortal in a well-deserved tribute to a genius of sharpness
As Stephen Fry wrote about Oscar Wilde.
“What about Wilde the man? He defended art. He defended nothing less than his whole life. He is still hugely underrated as an artist and a thinker. Wilde was a great writer and a great man.”
References
Oscar Wilde – “Nothing… Except Genius” – Stephen Fry
Wilde – Johnathan Fryer